Wire twist ties on tender lettuces and other such nonsense

[heidih]

In a complete time crunch today I found myself at Whole Foods to get a head of red leaf lettuce. The only option was organic at $2.49 each. I picked a nice big head (they stack them open face out) and ran. At home I wanted to kick myself. The wire tie was tight and had ruined the outer several layers by crushing the ribs. With such a tender lettuce that pretty much spells death in terms of using the leaf productively. I wanted whole leaves for wrapping, not tiny fragments.

I usually purchase lettuce at the farmers markets or at a Pavillions (upscale Safeway/Vons). Neither place puts anything on the lettuces to hold them together. Sometimes the heads are really large and do not fit in the produce bags at the grocery store so I pick up the larger carry out bags on the way in. I suppose I could leave it naked, but they are tender and usually wet (that is a whole other pet peeve).

I noticed that the Korean market and one of the larger Chinese markets started selling the lettuces in a loose plastic sleeve which they also sell their greens in.

Does this bother anyone else? How do your markets handle the tender lettuces?

[Country]

This time of year I go out to the garden and get it.

[nolnacs]

The wires drive me nuts too. Many of the greens at Iovine's at the Reading Terminal Market are bound that way often to the detriment of the outer leaves.

[ruthcooks]

Not only wires, but those tight rubber bands too close to the asparagus tips.

[runwestierun]

At my local grocery they tag the fennel bulb like you would a piece of clothing--they shoot a plastic fastener that is T shaped at both ends into the fennel bulb with a tagger gun and then hang a tag from that. The bulb is bruised brown all the way through where the fastener is shot through. Makes me CRAZY!

Also stickers on pears and nectarines, impossible to peel off without removing skin. Grrr...