After having an organ transplant, your immune system is compromised due to the anti-rejection drugs you have to take for the rest of your life. Without these drugs, your body would reject its new organs. Any "little" virus, infection, or bacteria could make you very sick or even cause death.
Food safety is huge for transplant patients. It is recommended that you thoroughly wash fresh fruits and vegetables before cooking or consuming them. Although some lettuces and salad mixes come "pre-washed" in bags, it is recommended that you still wash these products before eating.
Jens hates wet lettuce. I'm not great at starting the salad early enough to be able to dry it in time. Plus, I always hated using so many paper towels to dry the lettuce. Once we moved to Pittsburgh for the transplant, I decided I wanted to get more serious about food safety while we were waiting for "the call." We decided to purchase a salad spinner, as this would encourage us to take the extra step to wash the pre-bagged lettuce.
We LOVE our salad spinner! I do most of the cooking, but Jens wants to be able to help out. Using this device is super easy, and it's actually kind of fun!
We usually give each bunch of lettuce 3 spins, emptying out the plastic bowl in between spins. I have found this to be most effective in giving us the driest lettuce in the shortest amount of time!
We bought ours on Amazon.com, but you can find these at places like Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Target, and department stores.
http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Green-Salad-Spinner/dp/B001QTVT4A/ref=zg_tr_289801_7
It says that you can wash it in the dishwasher, but since our top rack is usually full, I can quickly hand wash it and leave it to dry. FYI- the top/spinner part usually takes a little longer to dry. After a few hours, just rotate it's position while it's air drying to release the trapped water.
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