One of the most unappetizing things on the planet is soggy lettuce. There is nothing worse than planning out the perfect salad all day in your head, only to come home ready to get started, and realize your lettuce has gone bad. Yah, you go through and try and pick out the bad pieces, but it’s no use, the idea has spoiled along with your salad fixins. Enter Produce Saver food storage container. Can Rubbermaid make my dreams of sugarplums and kick ass gourmet salads come true? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Luscious lettuce. Crumbled goat cheese. Grilled steak. Candied walnuts. And a little bit of balsamic vinaigrette. Unfortunately, short of making it the minute I get home from the grocery store, this delicious salad rarely comes to pass. I am notorious for purchasing bag salads and watching them go bad in my refrigerator. As are most Canadians apparently, as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada claims that Canadians throw out more than $1.5 billion worth of spoiled produce every year.

The introduction of Rubbermaid’s Produce Saver to the growing world of food storage containers is no surprise, as there is obviously a huge market to hit. But does it work? The Produce Saver comes in three different sizes (473mL, 1.2L, and 3.3L) and consists of the clear container, and a green tray and lid. The lid and tray have the new Easy-Find Lids technology that allows them to snap to the bottom of the container so you don’t lose them.

Does anyone else find it strange that no matter what you do, a lid will always go missing? It’s like socks in the dryer. No one is immune to this fate. Somewhere in there there’s a conspiracy, I just have to find it.

But I digress. The containers will run you from $3.79 to $8.99 depending on the size.

I bought a bag of Fresh Express salad from the grocery store on April 26th, with a best before date of May 3rd. I placed the salad in three different receptacles:

1. The Rubbermaid Produce Saver with its vented lid to allow oxygen flow and its tray to lift the produce up out of the moisture

2. A regular old Ziploc food container that I had at home

3. The bag the salad came in with its “Freshness Seal” (i.e. a big piece of tape)

One week later, on May 3rd, I opened all three to check the results.

The anticipation was killing me! On looking at the containers from the outside, all seemed equal. Upon opening them, all seemed equal. So, allow me to put something into context here. I have never, ever, ever, bought one of those bag salads and actually had it last to the best before date. So for it to have survived in all three storage mediums was a complete and total shock.

Upon looking, all three were the same.

Upon feeling, the salad still in the bag was probably a little softer and had a few soggier bits.

Upon eating (that’s right, I ate it, what?), all were equal again.

I picked the bag of Fresh Express salad because it’s the one piece of produce that I really have trouble with spoilage when I buy it. Somehow this one time, I bought the best freaking bag of Fresh Express salad ever. I guarantee that if I buy a bag this week it will last about an hour before it starts to go wilty and brown. I guess that’s the way the lettuce spoils though, so my review must follow accordingly.

So, the verdict is in. While I am entirely skeptical of the super human bag of salad purchased, the Produce Saver didn’t make much of a difference. Its vented lid and moisture protection tray seem like they should do the trick, but the results were the same with the old Ziploc container I had lying around my kitchen. On the whole, I’d rather buy whatever’s on sale.

For this salad lover who wasted her one perfect bag of salad on an experiment, I say pass me some dressing! I just got home from the grocery store and don’t have much time.