Salad Spinner, I Wish I Had You in My Life Years Ago!

I’ve always seen salad spinners in stores and thought: Really? Do you really need to spin your salad before eating it? Isn’t just a wash and quick dry with a clean towel sufficient?
And then I became obsessed with Big-Ass Salads. And going to the farmers’ market and stocking up on greens of all kinds. And making big pots of swiss chard and collard greens. And veggie noodles! And, well, man, then I began to GET it. A salad spinner is kind of like a fit foodie’s healthy eating secret weapon!

A salad spinner easily gets the dirt and grit out of your greens after you soak them, while also removing excess water. Because “I love watery greens,” said no one ever. Plus, and I’ll be honest, this is a serious reason why I love my salad spinner: It’s fun to spin! I wouldn’t consider it an actual arm workout or anything, but you can seriously pump your heart rate up a bit while spinning it, and it’s fun to see how much water actually comes out of your greens. Not to mention that the spinning stopper button kind of blows my mind with how well it actually works. Hey, it’s the little things in life.
I’ve also heard from about a million (or 10) people that when they make their zucchini noodles (zoodles!), they’re too watery. I’ve found the salad spinner to totally help with that! Simply cook your noodles (I zap them in the microwave), drain off the excess water and give them an ol’ spin-a-roo. Take them out, season with olive oil, salt and pepper, and there you have them: zoodles that aren’t watery! While this method may not get them quite as dry as say wrapping them in cheesecloth for hours, it’s fast and gets dinner on the table sooner. Which always wins in my hungry house.
Ryan got me my salad spinner for my birthday this year, and according to Amazon, it was just about $30. A small price to pay for salad perfection!
Do you have a salad spinner? How do you use it? —Jenn