When you buy salad greens

how long do they last in your fridge?

They don't last very long for me, years ago I could keep lettuce and other greens up to a week, today I'm lucky if they don't start going bad within three days.

Today I went shopping for some tomatoes, all over ripe. Why are they so over ripe? Why are we paying the price for produce that is over ripe? Something just doesn't add up.

The store I frequent usually has great produce. Today, EVERY carton of strawberries I picked up had started to go moldy. All of the bananas looked like they were a few hours from being overripe. The grapes were turning brown. I have no idea what was wrong there.

I wound up going to a produce market after I finished at the grocery store.

As for the over-ripe, it's because what your store has...they've had for a little while. They don't come in that way.

As for keeping slald greens. I know this works for heads of lettuce, and should also work for salad greens.

Put them in a bowl, and cover the greens (right on top of them) with a damp paper towel. I've extended the life of heads of lettuce up to 2 or 3 weeks doing it this way. You need to pay a little attention to checking the paper towel every now and again. It should be kept moist, and the self defrosting refrigerators dry them out. I try to remember to just check the bottom drawer every 2 days. When I moisten the towel, I run it quickly under the running water, and squeeze it very lightly, then open it up flat and cover the lettuce.

Found this suggestion on some produce growers web site once, and it seems to work. I think that's why you see them spray water on the greens in the store. HAHHA, been caught in that darn shower several times as I was reaching for my stuff!

you can prepare them int he afternoon, damp paper towel them, and the salad will look as fresh as daisy at serving time...