The Weekly Waste Word: Dressed for Spoilage

At the beginning of each week, I try to give readers one tip on how to avoid food waste. This week’s advice: Don’t dress a big salad.

You can avoid wilty lettuce waste by serving the salad “dry.” With the dressing on the side, diners can disperse it as they see fit. One of my real pet peeves is when a restaurant gives you an “impossible-to-finish” salad that’s dressed, so you know it won’t be good the next day. Whether eating out or in, you can sidestep this problem by making sure the dressing is on the side.

Also, when storing the leftover salad for next day, keep “wet” items like tomatoes and cucumber in a separate container. Yeah, it’s a pain, but at least the lettuce will be worth eating the next day.