On holiday I use a colander and a teatowel to spin the salad leaves dry. But I like the convenience of a ’solid’ spinner because I don’t have to step outside to use it!

They are, just like ziplock bags, a nuisance to clean. I wouldn’t use them daily, but they would be great for camping or the like.

Another plastic bag.

This product has FAIL written all over it. And GreenFeet should be ashamed of even offering it.

As for “Salad Spinners” in general… It’s amazing how the ancient Romans and Greeks ever got around to enjoying salads at all without the use of a specialized device to shake the water off the greens. I mean really how could anyone ever stand to eat a salad if there were a few drops of water on the greens…

Anyway I’ve always hated making salads because growing up I’d have to hand wash each individual piece of lettuce (I don’t want to eat bugs or dirt) and lay them out to dry on a cloth or a paper towel. It took FOREVER.

I don’t like the idea of using cloth b/c I fear dust and germs would be on the cloth by the time I used it after washing, so then that would be in my salad.

An older lady raved about salad spinners and bought me a cheap one, but it was made with holes in the bottom of the outer bowl and I don’t understand how the lettuce can get clean if the leaves can’t be rubbing against each other like clothes in a washing machine because the holes won’t allow that to occur. Plus, the spinner is sometimes hard to operate because the crank and the basket aren’t always aligned properly. I don’t cook much so when people have me bring something over for dinner they tend to say, “Oh, just bring a salad!” and I absolutely HATE making them because it’s too much work….so I buy bagged salad and pray over each meal

Please advise and be nice. I know this sounds like a joke. I do have a smile on my face as I’m typing, but my question is real and I’ve never had a place to ask it..I never thought people would be conversing so much about making salads. Thanks!!

Would it really need to go to the landfill right away? How about donate, give away, garage sale? lots of other options.

Also I’ve done away with salad altogether. I’ve recently taken to a program that involves eating nothing but blueberry Poptarts. I don’t need a colander, tea towel or pillow case for those. Well actually the pillow case has come in handy for slamming them against the side of the cupboard to break them up so I can pour milk on them and eat them like cereal when the mood strikes me. It does get old after a few weeks always eating the same way. So I’ve decided to keep my blender too, as they they make a nice smoothy. They come in a space saving hermetically sealed mylar packet. This move to BPTs has been uncluttering at its best. And what with the blueberries, they’re so loaded with antioxidants that I really don’t need to eat any other foods at all. Also no bugs. No dirt. There’s just no downside here. I should start another blog just about this diet.

Aside from that, I find your idea about ditching the salad spinner for plastic bags a bit hypocritical. Your whole premise is about uncluttering your life, home, etc. And yet, even though you would be uncluttering your house, you’d actually be adding to the landfill.

Angela: My issue with these would be actually getting them clean, aired out and not ripping. At least with a normal salad spinner it can double as a strainer and is easy to clean.

and

Michelle: use my kitchen towels (or tea towels, as my Canadian grandma would call them) for “spinning” salad greens dry. I don’t find them unnecessarily bulky — they go from the linen closet to the kitchen to the laundry. It seems to me that these bags are just another kitchen gadget, albeit in low-profile plastic bag form.

I’d echo the concern about cleaning them, and whether they’re flimsy and would rip easily. So I’d also like to hear from people who have used them.

So my comment (perhaps redundant) is this – why do uncluttering columns sometimes seem to identify new products we all need, in order to do simple tasks? I do use a salad spinner (invented in the 80’s, and I believe quite useful!), or just a colander lined with kitchen towels, to prepare salad greens. Why a new product to accomplish a very simple task?

Thanks, and sorry if this post seems negative – not my intent!

I’ve tried the tea towel method but it bruises delicate salad greens so I still prefer the spinner.