I sat at the white plastic table in the break room and opened my lunch. My coworker watched as I walked to the sink and poured a cup of water out of a plastic container. “What the hell is that?” she asked with a disgusted look. “Just my lettuce,” I replied as I ripped a paper towel to soak up the rest. “Don’t you have a salad spinner?” she said.
“A what, now?”
“OMG, girl, you need a salad spinner.”
Eat your greens, blah, blah, blah. We’ve heard it all before. We try, we really do. But eat your greens and save green at the same time? OK, I’m in.
Yes, there are packages of lettuce in the store that are already washed and ready to eat. They are convenient. And they cost about 500% more than regular lettuce.
I also found a rusty nut and bolt in a bag of “pre-washed” lettuce one time. So disturbing.
After breaking a fork on a rusty bolt I stopped eating lettuce.
Just kidding, but buying lettuce was pretty ridiculous. I would peel off each leaf, wash it, then painfully towel it off – because who wants watery salad dressing? Then I would repeat this with every freaking leaf. If only I hadn’t wasted precious hours of my life.
If you clean lettuce like I used to, or avoid lettuce because cleaning it sucks, then you need a salad spinner.
What the heck is a salad spinner? It is a basket that looks like a strainer and fits inside a bowl. The lid fits on top and has a handle that you push down or spin to make the inner basket spin all the water off of your greens. Pretty clever, really. Leave it to the French.
How Can a Salad Spinner save you over $400?
A heart of romaine in my neck of the woods costs $.99 and weighs about a pound. A 16 oz package of romaine costs $4.99. That’s a 500% markup.
Get yourself a good salad spinner like this one at Amazon and spend about $30. Buy 2 heads of lettuce a week and it will pay for itself in 5 weeks. In a year, you can cut $416 off your grocery bill – that’s a lot of extra cashola in your pocket!
The salad spinner can save you more money if you use it to revive wilted lettuce instead of tossing it. If you use the spinner for fresh herbs and spices, you could save even more. They gouge us with those teeny little herb packages that cost as much as a venti mocha.
Better yet, grow your own herbs! Get in the garden and you could save a ton more money, but I’m getting ahead of myself. The only green thumb I have is the one with the salad spinner.
“Gee Jadie, how does a salad spinner work?”
This is my favorite part, and why my kids love playing with my salad spinner all the time.
Centrifugal force. Think Gravitron (or Starship or Alien Abduction) at the state fair. Or the merry-go-round at the park. Let go of the merry-go-round and off you go to the emergency room.
The lettuce doesn’t really want to spin; it wants to fly off in a straight line, but the side of the salad spinner catches it. The lettuce is caught by an inner liner and the water flies to the outer bowl. Voila, dry lettuce. The salad spinner is the Gravitron for greens.
Next time you use the salad spinner, you can imagine your lettuce shouting “Woo-hoo! This is awesome!” Then you can stop draining your lunch and eat something a little more fresh.
I love/hate kitchen gadgets. I love them when they save time because the less time I have to spend in the kitchen the better. But I hate that I love them sometimes because that means I’m in the kitchen using them. Life is weird.
What are your favorite money and time-saving kitchen gadgets? Tell me what my next love/hate relationship object will be. Post in the comments below and let me know!
After many years having the same issue as you, I invested in a salad spinner. The outer bowl on mine can be used for serving and even storing leftover salad. One of my favorite kitchen tools is my garlic press. It saves me lots of chopping time.
Oh yes, the garlic press. I love mine. I don’t think I ever chopped garlic without it, it’s probably my oldest kitchen gadget. It’s so easy!
Are you SERIOUS?! As you know… I have never had a “Salad Spinner”, just my water and toweling.. AND we always have some water in the bottom of the bowl that messes up ranch dressing! Thanks for the information.. there will be more delicious salads on our table.
It is so worth it!