What is a Vejibag and why does it sound like the kind of item that comes free with purchase when you buy a Ronco Showtime Rotisserie Oven? The Vejibag (pronounced “veggie bag”) is the best piece of cotton cloth I have ever spent money on, even better than all my Everlane purchases combined. The Vejibag is (obviously) a bag for veggies, and it’s the only reason I have ever finished an entire bunch of cilantro before it turned to mulch. Vejibag founder Sally Erickson (“a real salad freak”) invented it because she couldn’t stand how produce turned to slime in plastic; she discovered that vegetables don’t rot in damp cloth. While plastic traps moisture, cotton lets it evaporate, giving the vegetables room to “breathe.”
And it’s true: Carrots retain their crunch. Swiss chard doesn’t lose its luster. Scallions don’t turn to goo. It’s a miracle. To use my Vejibag, I wet the cloth, squeeze out some excess water, throw the vegetables in, and then store the whole sack in the crisper drawer. I’ve made spinach last a week compared to three or four days. I’ve had leeks for two weeks versus one. The era of 48-hour basil is over! Purchase a Vejibag, and never frantically Google whether it’s safe to eat suspiciously flexible carrots again. On average, I’ve found the Vejibag doubles the lifespan of even the most delicate greens, and kale? My friends, I’ve revived it in a quick ice-water bath and turned it into a faux Sweetgreen Caesar salad after a staggering 16 days. (I like this method, plus tomatoes and avocado.)
I now own three Vejibags — a “long” Vejibag for broccoli and kale, a “standard” for herbs, and an “extra-large” for salad (you can get all three in a variety pack, too). I live alone and can’t consume a full bunch of kale in under a week, no matter how many sad desk lunches I eat, but Vejibags now mean less food waste, less hideous slime, and more vitamin A, probably. Real salad freaks like Sally and me couldn’t ask for much more.
Writer Sadie Stein tipped us off to the genius of this perforated fruit bowl: “It’s particularly terrific for storing ripe stone fruits and tomatoes: The circulating air underneath somehow keeps them from rotting as immediately, extending their lives. In the fridge, I often use these to hold eggs or citrus, and I’m convinced that the ventilation is deeply wholesome for the contents.”
For small spaces, there’s no reason not to get a collapsible salad spinner, as recommended by writer David Schwartz: “It does all the same things as my ordinary salad spinner — storing mushrooms and $300-a-pound butter lettuce — but it can also be easily flattened and tucked away. Compressed, it’s roughly the size of two Frisbees, fitting seamlessly into the closet next to my travel steamer and writing lap-desk.”
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