Salads get a bad rap, but the truth is, we’re not always nailing the fundamentals of great salad-making. Here, dietitian Susie Burrell shares the six biggest salad mistakes we’re all making.
The change of season means longer days, warmer temperatures and a return to salads. Whether you are swapping your lunchtime soup for a fresh salad, ditching the dinner steamed veggies for a mix of raw salad vegetables, or enjoying lighter meal salads, there are many options when it comes to ordering or building your favourite salad mix.
Gone are the days of salads consisting solely of crunchy Iceberg lettuce, a few tomatoes and sliced radishes. Now there’s a growing range of food mixes sold as salads, which means some options are much better nutritionally than others.
So what actually makes a good salad? Here are five ways we’re getting salads wrong – and what to do instead.
#1. Not enough of it
The key to salad success is to make them taste good. Then, naturally, you’ll eat a lot more of them. This can be as simple as adding a portion-controlled serve of your favourite dressing; adding something crunchy like a few corn chips or roasted legumes or croutons; or some of your favourite cheese. When you look forward to the tastes and flavours of your salad, it is easier to eat a whole lot more of it.
#6. Staying away from pre-made
There is a growing range of premade salad mixes that come with a serve of dressing, and while these options may appear processed and nutritionally inferior to making your own salad from scratch, the truth is that they are a great option. Not only do pre-made salad mixes mean that you can get a wider variety of salad ingredients for a fraction of the cost, the addition of a small amount of dressing adds much flavour for relatively few calories. This means that there is nothing to feel guilty about if you find it easier to buy your salads pre-made.
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