When Spinach Goes Bad ...

Sigh. I'm so sad. I buy these big bags of baby spinach knowing that if I'm eating right, it will be gone in just a few days (with help from hubby that is!) But even when I'm using it up by incorporating the spinach into smoothies, salads, wraps, and soups, sometimes it still starts to take a turn for the worse long before it should.

That frustrates me. I hate to throw good food away, but I don't want to eat anything that's starting to deteriorate either!

I have to admit I haven't been the greatest about washing my bagged spinach mostly because I don't want to get it wet and speed up the decay process. But sometimes the spinach inside the bag seems moist while still at the grocery store (maybe from being in the cooler and then exposed to warmer air? I'm not sure why.) I try to pick the "driest" looking spinach but there isn't always a choice. And buying it from the loose bulk isn't really an option since they have sprayers that come on every few minutes to keep it fresh (looking anyway.)

After having just thrown out half a bag of slimy looking spinach I decided I needed to rethink this. I'm wondering if I should use that super-duper-salad-spinner that I just bought for my spinach. I'm wondering if there is a way to wash and then dry it in the spinner and then keep the moisture away when I go to store it in the fridge.

Would I be better to try to freeze some of my fresh spinach (does that even work?) Is there something I could add to my storage container that will absorb the moisture (I'm thinking about how I add a slice of bread to my brown sugar to keep it from turning hard.)

This is my latest project -- to figure out how to keep my spinach fresh as long as possible! I will be reporting back!