Is raw produce worth it given washing hassles?

[Anonymous]

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/guides/how-to-clean-produce/

Yikes. How much time and running water is this all taking? Plus the vinegar, cleanup...
Those prewashed bagged salads had e coli once iirc.
I just eat cooked vegetables.
Salads used to be nice but taking the wilted lettuce to be composted and their use as blue cheese dressing carrier for DH, eh.

DO YOU DO ALL THIS?

[Anonymous]

What? We eat green salad every night. I rinse the lettuce and dry it in a spinner. Peel the cucumber, rinse the tomatoes, peel carrots if they don't come that way. Easy.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I use either white vinegar or salt, which also works. I rinse until water is clear, which is several rinses. I get a lot of our produce from a local organic farm, but it’s often right from the field and dirty.

[Anonymous]

If washing produce is too much for you, life must be too much for you, OP.

[Anonymous]

That video of scrubbing an apple — no words.

[Anonymous]

My DH is the produce rinser in our house. He’s really grossed out at the idea of eating raw foods that have been who knows where, so I appreciate him for doing this. He always lets berries sit in a vinegar rinse and there is some gross stuff that floats to the surface. Also I’ve noticed it seems to help them stay fresh longer.

[Anonymous]

You just need to go over the entire surface while applying a little pressure with your fingers when rinsing fruits and veggies with water. For soft produce (raspberries, lettuce, etc), you apply the pressure you can without squashing them. A lot of people just submerge their heads of lettuce in a big bowl of water - it lifts most bacteria off the leaves. No special equipment and chemicals necessary.

If you’re pregnant or severely immunocompromised, then stronger measures might be necessary, and you don’t want to eat raw foods in a restaurant.

- microbiologist.

[Anonymous]

"baby lettuce" is one of the easiest and cheapest things to grow. They don't even need a grow light in summer; just put them by a window.

If you're this concerned about washing produce, maybe try growing some of your own?

[Anonymous]

I just give everyone a quick rinse. What’s the big deal? I sometimes buy the pre washed arugula or baby kale…there seems to be less e. Coli risk is you are buying a bag of one item, not the mixed salads/vegetables/sprig mix, and no spinach.

[Anonymous]

It is to me. I eat salad most days.

[Anonymous]

I rarely ever rinse my produce. Not dead yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I rarely ever rinse my produce. Not dead yet.

I had no idea I was supposed to rinse lettuce. I just remove the outer leaves and cut up the inner ones.

[Anonymous]

This is disordered behavior.

Yes, do that scrubbing and then enjoy dying from crashing your car on the way to the grocery store, which is a far more severe health risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"baby lettuce" is one of the easiest and cheapest things to grow. They don't even need a grow light in summer; just put them by a window.

If you're this concerned about washing produce, maybe try growing some of your own?

This is silly. You aren't growing a year's supply of lettuce without major effort.

[Anonymous]

Is this a real thread?