Like gas prices after a hurricane, an E. coli crisis has caused an uproar in the world of lettuce.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the average American gains 7-10 pounds. Plus,  it can take five months to return to your normal weight. With this in mind, many try to lessen the damage by squeezing a few salads in the weeks between. This year, prepare to dig a little deeper in your wallet while saving calories. With the E coli outbreak, restaurant owners say they're seeing soaring prices for lettuce.

According to WMUR, Joe Kelly, owner of Theo's in Manchester says the price for greens have skyrocketed "I've been through a lot of these types of scares in 32 years I've been doing this business." "This is the worst one that I've seen." "Iceberg lettuce is averaging about $36 a case, which is high," he said. "It's usually around $25, and now, it's jumping to $100."

With the prices expected to stay high for a while, Kelly suggests soup. "You know how you work around it? You push more soups," he said. "You push specials with more soups on there and you try to avoid salads for a little while."

After all, it IS the holidays, and you're trying to save here and there. If you're not into salads anyway, this is a great excuse to avoid them a little longer, right?

More From 97.5 WOKQ