Can You Vacuum Seal Lettuce?

Vacuum sealing as a preservation method is increasing in popularity.

This is unsurprising because with the benefits of efficiently preserving food, protecting it from dehydration and freezer burn and increasing the food’s shell life you can save time, effort and money in the kitchen.

So, what is vacuum sealing?

This may also be termed as vacuum packing, which is the process of removing air from items that require packing, mostly foods, before actually packing them. These items are placed in a plastic bag and the air is sucked out either manually or automatically, then the bag is sealed.

Storing lettuce

Storage of this vegetable varies depending on the kind of lettuce you want to use. This is to mean that each kind of lettuce has its own ‘fresh’ period. You could also assume that they are all the same but you need to know this. 

The likes of Romaine lettuce will last close to a month whole Ground Rapids which usually grow faster, have the effects of going bad sooner.

This information and a more researched version of it helps you understand what type of lettuce to store and how long it will take before it goes bad. This is important guys! Trust me.

But have you ever wondered if you could vacuum seal your lettuce?

Can you vacuum seal lettuce?

Lettuce can in fact be vacuum sealed in a vacuum seal bag or canister. The vacuum sealers prevent the growth of mold and bacteria by depriving it from oxygen. They also protect the lettuce from dehydration and freezer burn. Lettuce needs moisture to stay crisp but too much of it makes it sad and wilted.  It’s an excellent barrier since it keeps it from contact with air so the lettuces’ moisture cannot evaporate.

Why would you want to vacuum seal lettuce?

You want to have fresh veggies, right? This comes off as a challenge because I mean, they are vegetables, they can only stay fresh for so long. Lettuces are known to stay fresh for three to six days depending on the variety you have and the storage measured you observed. 

Vacuum sealing increases the lifespan of this vegetable to two weeks. This means you will have doubled the stay for lettuces that go bad after six days. 

How can you increase the vacuum sealed lettuce lifespan?

There are many things to consider when you want to prolong the lifespan of the lettuce. Some of the things you should do are.

• Make sure to blanch the lettuce well after washing it-This is done
• Make sure the lettuce is dry when you’re sealing it.
• Wash the lettuce properly
• Cut it into small pieces
• Make sure the refrigerator that you put in is clean.

If you follow the above simple steps you can add an average of two to five times the actual lifespan of the lettuce. Amazing, right?

How to vacuum seal lettuce

Now that we know that lettuce can be sealed and why it is important to do this, here’s how this can happen. What you need is a vacuum sealer and some containers depending on the amount of lettuce you have. This container may be in the form of canisters or plastic bags. 

Canisters give the best results but plastic bags have also proven to be effective. The reason I say this, is because these containers do not necessarily subject the lettuce to compression when the air is sucked out. The canisters also come in handy in that now you can choose whether to use glass or plastic jars.

You already know that I will suggest you use glass. Glass offers more health benefits. Jars also have the advantage of jars. This is obvious, right? The good thing about this is that you can open the jars and seal them again at any time. With bags, you will have to cut them any time you want to consume your lettuce. Make the right choice. Back to the procedure now.

The method is as follows: 

You need to prepare the lettuce for preservation by chopping it up or cutting it into small pieces. Again, these pieces do not necessarily have to be small. You could cut them however you want just ensure they are cut. I say this because it helps in storing them in your canister.

The next step is washing the lettuce and drying it. This is very crucial because no one wants to store dirty lettuce. Washing keeps the lettuce fresh. After washing them properly, you should dry them in order to get rid of moisture since it’ll only be countering your objective since the excess moisture will activate rotting.

An addition to this point is that, you will find people or even demonstrations that store the lettuce while it’s wet. Do this and I guarantee that you will have shorter days to enjoy your lettuce compared to when you would have just washed them and dried.

Once your lettuce is dry you can now put them in a bag or canister and now suck the air out. The vacuum sealer is used here. If you have not used it before, worry not because these good machines have instructions on them on how to use .

Follow these instructions to vacuum and remove all the air from your bag or can. The canister or bag if you prefer, can be sealed now and your lettuce would be properly stored.

Can you store lettuce with other vegetables?

Whether you can or cannot is up to you but here are the facts. I have come to understand that vacuum sealing lettuce with other vegetables only ruins things. 

I say this because additional vegetables mean different life spans for each of the vegetables you will be adding. Things like cucumbers go bad after two to three days. 

If your cucumbers go bad before the lettuces do, this means it will be transferred on to the lettuces. Shortening the time, they would have been fresh for, compared to when stored separately. 

So, storing lettuces with other vegetables is not advisable. 

In conclusion

Lettuce is a common food in today’s consumption by a great population. This means that people will always want to have lettuce. 

Knowing how to store this vegetable is important because it helps ease the flow of our activities throughout the week.

 It also helps in ensuring that we have fresh lettuce whenever needed and we can all admit that no one wants to see their lettuce go bad even before they have to enjoy.