Pre-packaged salad

fresco · June 19, 2003

Prepackaged salad ingredients have become the second fast selling item in food stores, surpassed only by bottled water (and pay special attention to the byline):

http://www.msnbc.com/news/928320.asp?0cv=BB10

fresh_a · June 19, 2003

It's huge here in France. Everyone buys packaged salads.

nerissa · June 19, 2003

I usually buy salad mix in bulk and bunches of argulua. I occasionally buy a bag of mache as a treat or a bag of the ubiquitous Earth Valley organic mesclun mix.... but there are a lot of terrible bagged salads out there. Ice berg with a few carrot shavings.

I hadn't thought about all the waste this must generate, nor had I realized how big of an industry this was.

fifi · June 20, 2003

The waste they generate is nothing compared to what I would. I live alone and if I bought all of the greens in their original heads they would rot long before I got through them. The bagged salad mixes are the only way I can get a good variety without an unreasonable amount of waste.

I use those round disc things in my crisper that I get at Bed Bath & Beyond. They really work. They have a catalyst in them that inactivates ethylene gas, the natural respiration product of ripening fruits and veggies that causes them to ripen (first stage to rot). My stuff lasts at least three times as long as without them. Bagged salad greens last at least three weeks.

Chef/Writer Spencer · June 20, 2003

It's huge here in France. Everyone buys packaged salads.

The title of this thread should be "The Vindication of Rachael Ray."

Marlene · June 20, 2003

I will occassionally buy prepackaged coleslaw mix, but not the bagged salads. Whenever I did, they always seem to have a weird smell to them.

Xanthippe · June 20, 2003

I will occassionally buy prepackaged coleslaw mix, but not the bagged salads. Whenever I did, they always seem to have a weird smell to them.

Aren't some of the bagged salad greens treated with chlorine? I seem to recall reading just that -- but of course I don't remember where.

TPO · June 20, 2003

Aren't some of the bagged salad greens treated with chlorine? I seem to recall reading just that -- but of course I don't remember where.

I don't know about chlorine, but they are treated with chemicals and many are irradiated. In theory they seem great -- salad that lasts a long time in the fridge. But the treatments preserve the freshness of the salad, but not necessarily the vitamins or flavor.

I get them once in a while, when I need lettuce and the heads don't look good at the store. But normally I buy a head of green or red leaf lettuce, wash it as soon as I get home, and keep it in a lettuce container. It keeps quite some time, and it's washed and ready when I need it.

mrsadm · June 21, 2003

I use those round disc things in my crisper that I get at Bed Bath & Beyond. They really work. They have a catalyst in them that inactivates ethylene gas, the natural respiration product of ripening fruits and veggies that causes them to ripen (first stage to rot). My stuff lasts at least three times as long as without them. Bagged salad greens last at least three weeks.

what are the round disc things you refer to?

marie-louise · June 21, 2003

The household penetration on bagged salads is currently at about 73 to 74 percent,” said Schwartz. “And if you compare that to salad dressings at 98 percent, you still have a big growth curve there to fill.”

Does that mean that only 2% of households are still making their own salad dressings? That's sad, but somehow not surprising.

I rarely buy packaged lettuce, but then we have a lot of lettuce mixtures/ spinach /braising greens sold in bulk in our stores. I just buy as much or as little as I need. I agree about the funny smell-they must insert some sort of gas into the bag to keep it fresher.

nerissa · June 21, 2003

It's huge here in France. Everyone buys packaged salads.
The title of this thread should be "The Vindication of Rachael Ray."

:laugh: :laugh:

Tahoe · December 10, 2003

Bagged Salads are 100% fresh.

Bagged or packaged salads are 100% natural and do not contain any preservatives or additives. The lettuces are kept fresh with modified atmosphere packaging and cold temperatures. Bagged salads must be kept refrigerated at all times.

The modified atmosphere packaging system regulates and slows down the breathing rate of the lettuces extending the shelf life of the salad. Each salad blend breathes at a different rate and requires a customized bag or film to properly regulate the oxygen inside. Under refrigeration, the bag will naturally keep salads fresh and the bag also protects lettuces inside.

The off odors or the weird smell that some have mentioned occurs when the salads warm-up and haven't been kept continuously cold. The warmer lettuces will produce a gas and then it builds up in the bag. Once the bag is opened it goes away but it is unappealing.

fifi · December 11, 2003

Welcome to eGullet Tahoe!

Do you know what the modified atmosphere is in the bags? I am guessing that they increase the nitrogen.

I am also guessing that the funny smell on just opening the bag is also a product of whatever the lettuce is "breathing off" anyway. Actually that happens with a lot of (all?) produce. Picked fruits and veggies are not dead. They continue to metabolise and respire. As to the deleterious aspects of that on nutrition, I would expect anything that retards spoilage is more likely to preserve the nutritional value longer. With fast turnover of the bagged product, that whole head of lettuce may very well have spent longer getting to you than the bags, whether purchased in your local grocery or in the farmer's market. The only way you are going to know what you are getting is to go out into your own garden and pick it. I don't have any nutritional data on salad greens and degradation over time. That would be interesting. Produce has a very broad range of sensitivity to nutritional degradation depending upon time and storage conditions.

You can get all kinds of funky smells on opening a closed container of just about any produce. (I find the smell on opening a plastic box of strawberries particularly unpleasant for some reason.) I suspect that most folks just don't expect it much with lettuce and the bagged product is fairly new so it seems to be a new phenomenon.

Anna N · December 11, 2003

Prepackaged salad ingredients have become the second fast selling item in food stores, surpassed only by bottled water (and pay special attention to the byline):
http://www.msnbc.com/news/928320.asp?0cv=BB10

Well I enjoyed the byline!

Toliver · December 11, 2003

I use those round disc things in my crisper that I get at Bed Bath & Beyond. They really work. They have a catalyst in them that inactivates ethylene gas, the natural respiration product of ripening fruits and veggies that causes them to ripen (first stage to rot). My stuff lasts at least three times as long as without them. Bagged salad greens last at least three weeks.
what are the round disc things you refer to?

Ha! I found it! You can buy the disks at Bed, Bath & Beyond-type stores (at about half the price you see listed here):

The green disk thingy

Mayhaw Man · December 11, 2003

I love to cook.

That being said I really hate making the basic ingrediants for salads. Tearing up lettuce, etc. is something that I consider to be a total pain. Those bagged salads mean that we eat more salad than we used to.

I wonder how this has changed the sales of lettuce in the US? One would think that the repackaging costs the producers a bit more, but I kind of assume that their volume is up thanks to lazy people such as myself.

Have you ever left a bag of shredded cabbage in the drawer and forgotten about it for a while? Woo hoo! :wacko: Talk about a big, bad smell. Yikes. I have determined from doing this a couple of times that I would not make a very good employee for a Kim Chee manufacturer. :laugh:

JPW · December 11, 2003

Prepackaged salad ingredients have become the second fast selling item in food stores, surpassed only by bottled water (and pay special attention to the byline):
http://www.msnbc.com/news/928320.asp?0cv=BB10
Well I enjoyed the byline!

I missed the byline first time past.

Absolutely hilarious!!!

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

fifi · December 11, 2003

I use those round disc things in my crisper that I get at Bed Bath & Beyond. They really work. They have a catalyst in them that inactivates ethylene gas, the natural respiration product of ripening fruits and veggies that causes them to ripen (first stage to rot). My stuff lasts at least three times as long as without them. Bagged salad greens last at least three weeks.
what are the round disc things you refer to?
Ha! I found it! You can buy the disks at Bed, Bath & Beyond-type stores (at about half the price you see listed here):
The green disk thingy

HOORAY FOR TOLIVER! :wub:

I drove myself NUTS looking for those things on the web. Somehow googling for "green disc thingy" wasn't working for me. :biggrin:

cbel964 · December 11, 2003

I use those round disc things in my crisper that I get at Bed Bath & Beyond. They really work. They have a catalyst in them that inactivates ethylene gas, the natural respiration product of ripening fruits and veggies that causes them to ripen (first stage to rot). My stuff lasts at least three times as long as without them. Bagged salad greens last at least three weeks.
what are the round disc things you refer to?
Ha! I found it! You can buy the disks at Bed, Bath & Beyond-type stores (at about half the price you see listed here):
The green disk thingy

I'm getting some tomorrow!

I agree with the bagged people.

I usually eat salad for lunch, and only if I eat a ton of it each day will it not go to waste.

As a matter of fact, i just threw out about 1/4 of a bag (this is after eating it for 3 days in a row)...

tryska · December 11, 2003

The waste they generate is nothing compared to what I would. I live alone and if I bought all of the greens in their original heads they would rot long before I got through them. The bagged salad mixes are the only way I can get a good variety without an unreasonable amount of waste.

word.

but it can't be anything containing iceberg for me - i usually get romaine and a spring mix.

cbel964 · December 11, 2003

then I go to the supermarket, get $1.00 worth of veggies at the salad bar, and I'm ready to go

lala · December 11, 2003

Love those bagged salads! 100% useable! Get your bagged greens at Trader Joes, and it's 1/2 the price of regular grocery stores. Their organic salad with herbs is wonderful!

cbel964 · December 11, 2003

Love those bagged salads! 100% useable! Get your bagged greens at Trader Joes, and it's 1/2 the price of regular grocery stores. Their organic salad with herbs is wonderful!

if only trader joes was near me.

i have an hour car ride to Marlton

=Mark · December 11, 2003

Bagged Salads are 100% fresh.
The off odors or the weird smell that some have mentioned occurs when the salads warm-up and haven't been kept continuously cold. The warmer lettuces will produce a gas and then it builds up in the bag. Once the bag is opened it goes away but it is unappealing.

Seems to be a bit of contradiction here. If a bag of salad is let go unrefrigerated long enough to produce "unappealing gas" then it is not exactly "100% fresh," eh?

Mayhaw Man · December 11, 2003

but it can't be anything containing iceberg for me - i usually get romaine and a spring mix.

Generally I agree with you on this matter, but differ in one area.

A quarter head of Iceberg (cut into a 1/4, not torn up), some thinly sliced white onions, and some very strong blue cheese dressing (I am talking 10 on the stink factor, here) with lots of black pepper is a highly underrated eating experience.

Charlie's Steakhouse in New Orleans (right around the corner from Pascal Manale's on Napoleon Ave.) serves this and I have been doing it at home for years. It really is good. Otherwise, no iceberg for me, generally. :wacko:

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