"Massive salad"

I just popped back to see why this thread is always at the top of my active list and am amazed by the turn it’s taken. Am happy to be amongst so many others who are massively invested in having massive salads.

Annoyingly, I can’t sleep tonight. I’m not hungry and I don’t have the ingredients but by golly I’m now craving a massive midnight salad.

What I love about this thread is it's turned into a salad inspiration thread.
I love salads and am pleased that there's other mumsnetters who enjoy a good plateful of salad and not a mumsnet massive salad that's actually 3 lettuce leaves and half a chicken breast.

Enjoyed this thread when I read it the other day.

It inspired me to make a massive salad tonight.

A massive salad is what goes with the massive kebab

I had salad for lunch.

Dinner plate of Mixed leaves, handful of cherry tomatoes, green olives, grated carrot, red onion, cucumber, cottage cheese and two hard boiled eggs.

Not a big salad fan but a "massive" salad implies it would be a full meal rather than just a side dish. So it would need potatoes (pasta if that's your thing), a couple of types of meat (chicken and bacon maybe), lots of cheese, croutons or salad grit, sauce and so on. Plus some actual salad bits like lettuce and carrots. Probably with bread rolls and butter.

I would say if it's not big enough to soak up a bottle of wine then it's not a "massive" salad.

Mmmmmmm still warm ingredients!!

My massive salad:

• 500g+ of new potatoes (still warm)
• 250g+ of cherry tomatoes
• 500g+ of green beans (still warm)
• 500g fried halloumi
• a good glug of olive oil
• a smaller glug of red wine vinegar
• 50g capers
• 200g olives
• 2 red chillis
• masses of fresh dill and mint

Serves 3-4 people.

It's my favourite salad. As my brother says: "of course it is, thunder, it's basically cheese n veg, innit?"

Today I had thinly shredded iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, spring onion, radishes, sweetcorn, cheese, ham and Caesar dressing.

Today’s lunch

Here's a proposed approximate mathematical definition!

Massive salad (single serving) = over 300 cubic inches (over 5300 cubic cm), weighing over 500g, and containing more than 15 different (tasty) ingredients.

This was based on the following facts:

"Massive" depends on how many people the salad is for. So, a salad might not be so large one shared out between a large party. So, I presume that we could address it as a single salad for one person for just one meal.

Also, going by what many people written, it also means "with a diverse range of many ingredients".

Subsequently, I would combine these learned facts to say, a
"Massive salad" (per person per meal) would contain in excess of 15 ingredients and weigh in excess of 500g. However, with heavier ingredients (as in potato salad or coleslaw), this might not seem so large, so I would also include a volume factor, such as filling a round bowl that is 1 foot (30cm) wide and 3inches (7.5cm) deep.
This equates roughly to over 300 cubic inches (over 5300 cubic cm), weighing over 500g, and containing more than 15 different ingredients - per single serving.

Different foods have different amounts of water content (e.g. boiled potato versus baked potato), so the weight does not necessarily reflect the energy input (Calories or Joules).

If you wonder where I got 500g from, I based it on 2kg over 4 meals per day. But every person is different. Lettuce can take up a lot of volume without weighing much, so mixing lots of extra ingredients together helps make a salad more nutritious, tasty and heavier.

Here is a dietary quote (from www.quora.com/Approximately-how-many-grams-is-one-meal?share=1):

"An adult needs roughly 2 kg (2000 kcal, 8400 kJ) of food and water per day. Eyeballing this handy Dutch government chart that breaks down to:

25% * 2 kg = 500 grams of fruit/vegetable. (fast carb energy moderated by soluble fiber)
25% * 2 kg = 500 grams of cereal/bread/potato. (insoluble fiber bulk)
20% * 2 kg = 400 grams of dairy/meat. (protein energy for repair)

20% 2 kg = 400 ml of water. (hydration)

10% 2 kg = 200 grams of oil/fat. (slow carb energy and lubrication)*"

So if the "Massive salad" is over 500g and contains these proportions of fibre, protein, water, fat, carbohydrates, etc. then it should meet the average person's bodily needs. But bear in mind that a professional athlete would have different needs to a bus driver. So take it all with a pich of salt!

love bowl salad .....rocket,leaves,spinach,potato salad grated cheese ,onion, pepper,cous cous ,tomatoes, plenty of mayo

@forfucksakenett

Me too!

Salad can mean so many things. To me it's classic salad vegetables like carrot pepper Cucumber tomato sat on a bed of lettuce and a bit of coleslaw or potato salad on the side.
But my OH is from Eastern Europe, when he makes salad it's a huge dish of ingredients all mixed together with lashings of mayo & sour cream. It usually has a carb base (potato, rice, pasta) some protein (eggs, meat, fish, cheese) and then some fruit or veggies (Cucumber, tomato, apples, peas, pickles...)
We regularly make a huge bowl of it for bbqs, we tend to do potatoes, eggs, apples pickles and peas
We used to add some chopped ham too but since my daughter went veggie we dropped the ham and use more eggs instead. It doesn't sound great but it's actually delicious.

[quote Lookingoutside]@cakewench

I’m with you on the dressing. I always have full fat Caesar or blue cheese. I find my salads come out at around 600 calories, there’s room for cheese, avocado and dressing because there’s no bread and not much, if any meat.[/quote]
Oh yes! Cardini’s Caesar is a treat (if not making my own, which I can and do when I have the time, but for a bottle one it’s lovely)

This is facist becoming my favourite thread. Pictures now and everything! 😃😃😃😃

Lettuce
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Spring onion
Shredded carrots
Celery
Beetroot
Pickles (onions & gherkins)
Boiled Eggs
Coleslaw
Potato salad
Tuna/ham or chicken
Salad cream

Lettuce
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Spring onion
Shredded carrots
Celery
Beetroot
Pickles (onions & gherkins)
Boiled Eggs
Coleslaw
Potato salad
Tuna/ham or chicken
Salad cream

We had a fab salad tonight - spinach, chorizo, red pepper, butter beans, and goats cheese. Pudding afterwards though.

I’m enjoying the jumbo red spring onions they have in the shops just now. Yimmity yum

Lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, spring onions, beetroot, hard boiled egg, coleslaw, cottage cheese, new potatoes and either cooked chicken, tuna, salmon fillet or smoked salmon and prawns and sometimes tinned green beans

Dinner tonight.

Spicy Cajun beef salad

My normal salad: rocket, sundried tomato , 100g fetta, half avocado and fits in a cereal bowl.
My DH massive salad: all the above plus lettuce, sweetcorn, nuts, pasta or rice, eggs , a tin of tuna (around 2 or 3 times my salad in volume)