we eat a lot of salad but how do you keep salad crisp and tasty in a cooler (we dont have a fridge) i was thinking of making salad's in a jar (as i find it helps them stay longer in a fridge, probably would be the best option for a cooler as well - we dont include dressing in the jar). any tips to keep salad last longer while camping?
http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-Lettuce-Fresh Jars will definitely protect the lettuce from getting crushed but they take up way more space than a ZipLock baggie.
they do take up more space, but if it means our salad will last past 2 days.. i will sacrifice the space!
How about using Tupperware instead of a glass jar to eliminate the chance of breakage? In either case, I use a mixture of kale and/or spinach as greens because they last longer than other greens. I use small grape tomatoes and not cut them up. I use veggies that stay crisp and "dry". (Carrots, celery, peppers etc.)
I think the jar is a great idea as it will conduct cold well. I use romaine and spinach leaves. Have a separate jar for cut veggies with a lot of juice (tomatoes, peppers) with those on the bottom, add zucchini or cukes at the top. No cheese in the jar! Going to use jars on next trip, might try plastic to save on weight. Tight fitting lid is essential, I miss my seal a meal, it sealed mason jars.
Reading through this gets me to dreaming about sitting in a camp chair in the shade of a tree with a plate of greens freshly picked from our garden and topped with cucumber, sliced red cabbage, and shredded carrots, all perfectly chilled after a night in the cooler, and topped with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Yum! If you're packing your cooler really full of stuff then a ziplock makes sense in order to save space but otherwise keeping the greens and veggies in a glass jar or tupperware works great. Leave the really wet items such as tomatoes, peppers, and dressing separate of course and add those in during meal prep.
The last trip I went on I put a couple of paper towels on the bottom of a tuppperware than the green leaf lettuce on top of that. It stayed crispy for the three day trip and ate the last of it the night I got home. My thinking was the paper towels would prevent it from getting to cold and wilting. Seemed to work. Didn't do like the web link, I pulled the leaves off of the stem.
My DW has been storing her salad stuff in glass jars for years. She keeps them in a separate cooler. Salad stays crisp and fresh.
we use 1 gal freezer bags for the lettuce leaving air in the bag. 1qt for peppers and other stuff for salads. Nice thing about bags is it can conform to available space in the small fridge.
