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Every time I've tried to prepare salads for the week, they always go bad. I meal prep on Sunday and make 5 days worth of meals. I've been doing this for months but salads always give me trouble. Greens will go soft or veggies will get soggy.

Currently, I split the salad into four containers (per day) and only combine them on the day of. One for the greens, one for extra veggies, one for dressing, and the last for the dried stuff (like nuts, seeds, and dried fruit). Even with that, the salads on Day 4 and 5 just aren't as good. However, if I buy pre-packaged salads, all five will taste the exact same!

What are some of the best methods of meal-prepping salad so that the salad you eat on Day 1 tastes just like the salad you eat on Day 5? How can I get my meal-prep salads to stay crispy throughout the week?

  • *all five will taste the exact same* do they taste fresh/crisp? – Anastasia Zendaya Dec 07 '20 at 00:30
  • @user89857 -- yes, they do. Comparing if I buy 5 pre-packaged salads on Sunday vs. meal prepping 5 salads on Sunday, the pre-packaged ones are consistent and crisp. I guess *fresh* is a debatable point but the ingredients don't list any preservatives. –  Dec 07 '20 at 00:34
  • You cannot make a green salad at home that will stay *crisp* for four or five days. Pre-packaged salads you can buy don't contain regular air, which is the secret. – Johannes_B Dec 07 '20 at 06:30
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    @Johannes_B I thought the same, but [this page](https://www.chilledfood.org/modified-atmosphere-packaging-map-and-vitamin-levels-in-salads/) says normal air is used in most salad packaging (in the UK) - I wanted to find out what modification was used in this case, to see if the OP could benefit from something like an oxygen absorber. I suspect they carefully control the moisture in there though - we know that's an issue in fridge storage of veg. – Chris H Dec 07 '20 at 15:38
  • What happens if you store the same veg in the same fridge for the same time, but uncut? E.g. if you buy a whole lettuce on Sunday, and only cut off 1 or 2 days' worth, what's the rest like by Thursday? Same for other parts. I'm imagining that with lettuce/greens you cut then wash, with tomatoes you wash then cut if necessary, but either way yofirstu wash when you meal prep. For the experiment I suggest, try delaying the washing – Chris H Dec 07 '20 at 15:41
  • @Johannes_B : Back when I've looked at bagged chopped salads, the bags had lots of tiny holes in them, which would mean it's not special air. I don't know if they use specific varieties of lettuce that hold up better, or something about how they wash & dry it (maybe a vinegar wash to reduce microbes on it?). Also, see https://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/65792/67 – Joe Dec 07 '20 at 18:17
  • @Joe -- I didn't find that question when I searched but I think that could basically be a duplicate. I think I was just stuck on the "meal prep" keyword over storage-lifetime. Thanks for the find! –  Dec 07 '20 at 19:17
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    @C.Lange : "meal prep" is a relatively recent name for making meals in advance. And if the other question doesn't actually answer what you're trying to do (maybe there's a specific ingredient that seems to be a problem that you'd like to include) feel free to ask a new question. It's also possible that with "meal prep" being more of a thing now, it's knowledge has changed in the years since that other question was asked. – Joe Dec 07 '20 at 19:54

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