Making salads easier

[justwondering72]

I'd love to eat more salads. I find it really hard to motivate myself to make them - when it's just for me, it seems like too much trouble.... When I'm also feeding salad-hating children at lunchtime, I don't have time to make something different for me and end up eating sandwiches.

I want to do it from scratch - we can't afford bagged salads / pre prepared veg. And most processed salad dressings I've tasted are yuck - bitter, sugary, gloopy.

What I need to know are the short cuts... What salad veg can be prepared in bulk and kept to hand to make it easier to throw something tigether? Do home-made salad dressings keep and for how long ? What super tasty-yet-easy secret ingredients make a salad special and satisfying?

All tips welcome and have a good summer!

I just had a greek salad for lunch. Chopped tomatoes, feta, cucumber, red onion and olives into a lidded bowl. Drizzle olive oil and vinegar. Give it a shake. Took me a couple of minutes to chop everything up this morning whilst DC eating breakfast. Tastes better if left to sit for a while anyway.

I'd recommend putting a couple of bigger salads together one evening and then you could have a mix of different salads easily each day.

This is another easy and interesting one (not by itself but with other stuff):
Sweetcorn

I prepare all the veg and fruit in the house as soon as its bought, otherwise I feel like I'm always washing a chopping. Lettuce keeps well (I like romaine personally), cucumber and pepper sticks, add in some cherry tomatoes, nuts and seeds/premade croutons or something, cooked chicken, (I also cook some chicken and boil some eggs as soon as I get them home, and keep them in the fridge), maybe add some jarred stuff eg beetroots, olives, sundried tomatoes.

Actually just about to go and make a salad now! :)

Preparing the food like that also makes it so much easier to reach for healthy options when you want a snack, I find!

If you wash and chop lettuce yourself it keeps quite well in a ziplock bag in the fridge with a piece of kitchen roll in it. I tend to use a mix of little gem and something stronger tasting like spinach or rocket. (Closing the bad of spinach/rocket with a clip also helps keep it fresh)

I always make my own dressing in a screw top jar - again keeps well in the fridge. Dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar - stir together then add olive oil and shake until emulsified. Play about with the quantities to suit yourself but I would start with 1tsp mustard and 1 tbsp balsamic.

Totally agree about processed shop bought dressings. Homemade keeps for ages in the fridge and are way superior. I make a vinegarette dressing by whisking mustard, seasoning and vinegar, then slowly pouring in a light oil such as rapeseed until emulsified. I also like an Asian style dressing with equal parts of rice wine vinegar, light soy sauce, sugar and toasted sesame oil. I keep mine in these type bottles for easy squirtability!

I bought a book earlier this year called Salad Love by David Bez and that has really transformed my salads - he also has a blog so maybe have a look at that?

Thanks all - my fridge has been reorganised and I've already eaten more salad in the last few days than I had in a month previously! It's so easy when everything is pre- washed, chopped etc. Lots of inspiration on this thread;-)

Yay I'm glad! :) need to take my own advice more often will definitely be trying some of these dressings too.