Lettuce outer leaves: discard or keep?

Prices are high everywhere.
Rice is missing from the shelves, and vegetables aren't getting any cheaper even when they're in season.
I miss the days when you could buy vegetables for 77 yen.
I can no longer afford to say I'll only buy things when they're at their lowest price.

Anyway.
Spring has arrived, and it's the season for spring cabbage and lettuce.
Price aside, I really feel like it's the season when I see piles of lettuce without cellophane wrap at the store.
So, about that unpackaged lettuce.

What do you all do when you buy it?

At supermarkets, there's usually a large plastic bin that looks like a trash can in the produce section.
While watching people choose their lettuce, almost everyone peels off a few outer leaves and throws them into that bin.

Why?

I asked that like a certain character, but I'm genuinely curious.
If you peel off three or four outer leaves, doesn't the lettuce get small?
Doesn't the edible portion decrease?
Even though it's expensive.

I'm worried about pesticides.
It's dirty with soil.
It looks tough and unappetizing.
I don't feel like I can eat it.

Those are the only reasons I can think of, but what do you think?

I live near a lettuce-producing region, so I often see the fields where they are grown.
Of course, I also see the fields after harvest.

For lettuce and cabbage, the truly outer leaves from when they are growing in the field are left behind (discarded) in the field.
They peel off the outside and harvest the clean, tightly wrapped head inside.

As for pesticides, Japan's standards for spraying and residue are quite strict. Therefore, I don't think there's any need to worry, and I buy what's displayed at the supermarket as is.

I once put the peeled-off outer leaves in my basket, but the cashier threw them away, which made me sad.
I couldn't bring myself to say, "Hey, wait a minute."

Lettuce outer leaves.
They might look tough and have a slightly greener, grassier smell than the inside, but they can be eaten deliciously.

In my case, I usually peel them off when I get home, wash them thoroughly, and if there are about two leaves, I slice them thinly and use them as an ingredient for miso soup.
If you simmer them with thinly sliced fried tofu and dashi, turn off the heat when they become tender, and add the miso, the crunchy texture is delicious.

If there are three or four leaves, the outer leaves are quite large, so I use them for stir-fries.
The easiest is a stir-fry with eggs.
Using your preferred oil—whether salad oil, sesame oil, or rice oil—stir-fry the roughly chopped lettuce and add salt and pepper. You could even season it with chicken bouillon powder or oyster sauce.
Finish by pouring in beaten eggs, cook them to your liking, and it's done.
You can add bacon, or it's also delicious flavored with garlic.
I often make this for breakfast.

Also, something I had recently that was delicious was thick fried tofu with a lettuce starchy sauce.
Stir-fry bite-sized pieces of lettuce in sesame oil, add water, and once it boils, season with chicken stock. Finish by thickening with a potato starch slurry.
Pour that over thick fried tofu that has been toasted or pan-fried, and your side dish is complete.
Drizzling a little sesame oil on top at the end gives it a wonderful aroma.

You get one extra side dish using the lettuce outer leaves.

By the way, I cut cabbage outer leaves into squares and freeze them.
Once I have a certain amount, I put them in okonomiyaki.
The downside is that since the cabbage is frozen, the okonomiyaki batter (moisture) freezes while you're mixing it.
It's a bit icy, but you can recover once you cook it.

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