Salad anyone?

pm2326

Hello

Like a lot of people on here, I normally take my lunch to work everyday. It's normally sandwiches or wraps with fruit.

I want to take salads but when I see everyone getting their little Tupperware tubs out of the fridge and it's the same, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and egg combo I find it totally uninspiring and unappetising.

I went online last night and found a recipe for lemon chickpea and tuna salad which sounds yum, and most importantly, it's made out of store cupboard ingredients. No flashy things to buy that cost the earth and will only be used once!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with boring salads, and let's face it, in this weather we're going to be eating them a lot, so can we share our favourite go to salad ingredients/recipes?

jackieblack

I love the idea of salad, but cannot stand the taste of lettuce, cucumber or (uncooked) tomatoes
To me, it's just a plateful of bitter tasting nothingness, I'd rather be hungry and go without than eat salad veg

elona

When dds were taking lunch to work and wanted to eat healthy I used to stir fry (low cal spray) veg like mushrooms, peppers, onions, courgettes, tomato (anything I had) and add to a little cooked pasta or noodles or tiny new potatoes - mix it together with a little low fat mayo or dressing and put in small lunch boxes.

I don't like lettuce tomato and cucumber either unless i have it on a bread bun with a home made low fat burger or a home made sweet potato and pepper burger.

Fluff15

I hate lettuce - a bag of spinach from Sainsburys for £1 lasts me the whole week for my salads, and is better nutritionally for you.

Other things I have in my salads are: quinoa, chickpeas, pomegranate, cherry toms, peppers, spring onion, red onion, mango, beetroot, olives, avocado, edamame beans, sugar snaps, carrot, green beans, avocado chicken, turkey, prawns, cheese, egg, salmon. Combine flavours as you like.

pm2326

Thanks for the ideas guys.

I don't mind a 'traditional' salad but it's not something I would want to take to work and I prefer rocket or mixed leaf rather than green lettuce varieties. I grow my own in 2 tubs in garden.

So I've adapted the recipe I saw last night and I've made a salad using chickpeas, tuna, thinly chopped spring onions & diced radish. I have some chipotle mayo I made up last week so I've mixed in 2 tbsp. It's now in fridge developing the flavour ready for lunch :T

pm2326

pm2326 wrote: »

So I've adapted the recipe I saw last night and I've made a salad using chickpeas, tuna, thinly chopped spring onions & diced radish. I have some chipotle mayo I made up last week so I've mixed in 2 tbsp. It's now in fridge developing the flavour ready for lunch :T

Bad etiquette to quote oneself but.....lunch was lovely :T

SailorSam

I do lots of rice salad. I boil the rice of a morning and get peas; corn, and mixed peppers out of the freezer, chop an onion and leave it in vinegar, so later in the day it's already to be mixed up. Last night when i was making dressing i realized the jar of mint in the fridge was empty so that went on the Tesco list but i've been out in the garden and i've got buckets of mint.

Mr_Singleton

Had a Greek Salad for lunch and it was EPIC!

Romaine ripped up, roughly chopped bite sized pieces of vine tomatos, cucumber, a bit of feta, quality olive oil, a touch of quality balsamic vinegar and Maldon sea salt with 2 slices of quality sourdough bread to mop up the juices..... as I said EPIC!!

The key to anything you put in your mouth is quality! NONE of the above ingredients came from a supermarket yet I suspect were cheaper than if they had have been.

aklmatthews

bag of mixed leaves with some feta cheese bit of red onion and a few olives make a dressing with lemon juice olive oil. homemade potato salad cannot stand the bought stuff but homemade is lovely. boiled rice with a few cooked mixed veg finely chopped onion a few sultanas. pasta with tomato sauce any meat or veg you have and a few fresh herbs.

System

Fluff15 wrote: »

I hate lettuce - a bag of spinach from Sainsburys for £1 lasts me the whole week for my salads, and is better nutritionally for you.

I much prefer spinach to lettuce in a salad.

krlyr

jackieblack wrote: »

I love the idea of salad, but cannot stand the taste of lettuce, cucumber or (uncooked) tomatoes
To me, it's just a plateful of bitter tasting nothingness, I'd rather be hungry and go without than eat salad veg

I'm not that fussed about a plain salad, but with a bit of marinated meat, yum! Even if it's just half a cube of diced chicken in each mouthful, it improves the taste a lot IMO. If you're not a meat eater, you could try something else for flavour - tofu chunks, cheese, etc. And you're not just limited to uncooked tomatoes - I omit them myself as I'm not a fan, but often I'll roast OH's tomatoes for a change in his salads.

Dressing makes a difference too, finding one you like will add a lot of flavour to a salad. There's more than just mayo or your bog standard salad cream - from creamy stuff to oil or vinegarette dressings.