LOL!

Ha!

LOL!

I don't know what things are like there. The vegetables I get are mostly pretty clean. Loose bunched greens from the farm are gritty, but the same in the stores have at least been rinsed, but the lettuces are clean. I lightly wash the lettuce anyway, because one does...

What kind of salad spinner did you get? I have an Italian one from the mid-1980's--the kind with a big circle for the crank, which just about everybody had. Still works great. :)

So he has a really strong immune system! (grin)

I didn't even know what a salad spinner was for a long time, I just washed the salad greens and dried them slung inside a kitchen towel. A salad spinner is a lot easier, LOL, and mine definitely get washed because they often come in straight from the garden.

At least you got the bowls, though, how in the world could those kids be expected to have milk and cereal with no bowls? I guess they could put a handful of dry cereal in their mouth and wash it down with a drink of milk, but that's definitely the hard way...

I remember when individual cereal boxes had perforations so you could lie the box on its back, open the perforations and the inner liner, pour in your milk and use the box as the bowl. It was actually a pretty good idea except you had to get your hands on a spoon.

Annie

Plllog, lettuce here is variable depending on the supplier. Sometimes it’s quite sandy, sometimes it looks mostly clean and other times it’s mostly clean but with a few little midges lurking down among the leaves. So I prefer to wash it. I guess DH feels that if it looks clean it’s OK.😂. The salad spinner is all plastic, cost about $4.99 iirc. Works surprisingly well for such a cheap item. It’s also great for spinning the liquid out of grated potatoes when I make latkes 😁

Annie, I used to do the towel thing too, but for five bucks the spinner is worth it.

Breakfast Club was set up by our school Student Services manager, a man who I suspect doesn’t spend any time in the kitchen at home. The food comes from the Food Bank and I’m guessing they just dropped off a load of what they thought would be useful. So far we’ve only served finger food like toast, fruit, juice, hot Milo (a sort of malted chocolate drink), toasted cheese sandwiches and pancakes. But as the cold weather comes on I think something more substantial like cereal will be appreciated. I also got tea towels, a cutting board and a roll of disposable dish cloths because it drives me crazy that I can’t find any when I want them.

Wow! I don't think I've ever been in an Ikea (none near here) and the things in the catalog are pricier—but we have other sources for the cheap but good stuff, especially the little mom and pop ethnic stores. Your $5 spinner sounds highly worth the investment. They actually clean the lettuce here. I can't remember the last time I found anything visible and wash for what isn't. Bigger guffaw to your original post based on the gnarlier starting point! Great immune system, indeed!

Good for all of you for feeding the kids! They started giving breakfasts here when they realized that a lot of kids didn't get any food at home. Just a little breakfast improved their classroom outcomes immensely—an objective result beyond my basic feeling that kids shouldn't go hungry.

I so miss the like button for original posts. A laugh button would be awesome, too, as your post made me smile.

Colleen, I have a salad spinner now, I got it for $2 at Goodwill. It's very useful and a lot easier when cleaning those greens or lettuce from the garden. Somehow mine are always gritty, I have to wash them 3 or 4 times before they are clean.

I'm glad people step up to feed the kids, many here get nothing except what they get at school, our local school delivered food via the school bus route when the schools went all on line, thank goodness.

I've also never been inside an IKEA, nearest one is in the Detroit area and it's one more thing that I'd never consider driving 4 or 5 hours to see, LOL. Maybe when things calm down I'll visit Peppi, then I'll go. Maybe.

Annie

Annie, I don't know about grow your own, but the greens from my farm box are gritty they way the were in the grocery store when I was young, so I do the salt water soak that my mother taught me as a kid. In fact, I've moved the salt box to the dish cupboard next to the sink for that purpose. Soak 15 min. at least with a small handful of salt, rinse in running water, spin, and set out on veg drying mats (upgrade from paper or cloth towels). I don't know if they have less grit than yours, or if it's a difference in the soil or what, but they seem really clean once through.

LOL!

I thought the salty soak was to remove any little hitchhikers...?

I haven't seen any bugs, but it gets rid of the grit very nicely, and hopefully kills unseeables. :)

Lol, Colleen about your husband.

I have an allergy Tom salad spinners. Perhaps I just haven't found one that isnt

1. Enormous to find space for.

2. Clunky

3. A pain in the @#$%

This one isn't really huge, and the bowl can double as a salad bowl for casual occasions.

That too for sure, lindac!

I prefer to just assume any produce could have rolled across a filthy public bathroom floor. Even those items in bags. All of it is handled a few times. My few favorite markets put out stacks of crates directly from the farms so they need washing from the field dirt. Especially the basil and cucumbers.

I've been to the big wholesale transfer station in the Bronx. Produce flown in. I watched a crate being taken off a truck in mid-town to a smaller transfer station to be distributed to groceries. The forklift dropped it all over the intersection stopping traffic while they gathered. During a muddy multi day filthy snow melt.

Colleenoz, forgot to add the DH conversation is hilarious. 😂. Know it well.

I learned so much the early lock-down months. Getting a veg box every two weeks and knowing it was coming I prepared. Clean empty sink. I rinse all my greens asap in baking soda/vinegar/ water. Rinse, rinse. Then cut the root ends a 1/4 inch and stand in fresh water for an hour or so. Then lay out on cotton towels for a while, then spin dry.

Most interesting is how long my produce stays fresh now. Before covid we had this and that coming into the home and stuffed into the crisper anyway seemed fit. (shopping random)

Knowing the veg box is to be delivered I plan for that event. 10 minutes to prep.

I had a delivery yesterday and used cilantro from two weeks ago in last nights meal.

The greens I washed and then lay out to dry on cloth. The roots and cabbages are still in garage cold storage. Wash later. I use organic soap on all thick skinned veg. Avocados, melons, etc.

Two weeks ago I washed and prepped the veg box. Vinegar/baking soda. Then stainless bowl I added organic soap for the thick skinned veg/fruit. Greens soaking in filtered water. I have a tiny two quart spinner for herbs, micro greens, and salad greens. Fit easily in the fridge. Mesh laundry bags I bought for washing fabric masks but the big one I've been using for big greens like collard just out the kitchen door swinging.

Quick prep. Then pull out for a meal and soak in a bit of salt. Tonights salad heap is getting a second soak. (Meis-en-place). I always do a second meal soak to prep what might be good that night. Not surprised I get a bit more grime in this meal prep.

Not OCD but I like food to be as clean as possible. As well as counters and cutting boards.

Following the clean 15 and the dirty dozen...celery has been tested to have 12-14 pesticides after

washing being a ground water hog. I only buy organic celery.

I eat all garden things no problem after a bird poop check. Especially pole bean crops. Close to the ground crops I hesitate. Give a hose rinse.

Tonights salad is soaking as I'm prepping ahead. Salted. This would be the third washing?. As usual I will see some grit and dirt residue tomorrow when I clean the colander. The prep just before a meal rinse is key for me anywho.

I have a Mueller Salad Spinner in L.A., and I took my old Copco spinner (that I've had for decades) to Cathedral City. I like the new one a lot and had been wanting it for some time but could not justify buying it as long as my old one worked.

When I would visit my mother, I would put lettuce in an old pillow case and sling it outside to dry it, or else send someone else to do the slinging for me. There was usually a bored guest there with nothing to do who was happy to do the slinging for me, especially at holidays.