Mixed Salads

There was no such thing as mixed salads back when I was a youngster, that would be back in the 60s and 70s, when a salad usually consisted of a pile of lettuce, a tomato and some slices of cucumber with either cheese, boiled egg or cold meat.  sometimes a spring onion was plonked on the plate too The only accompaniment was salad cream, or if you were feeling posh you would have mayonnaise.  Maybe that was just my family, but I don't think so because generally if you went out for a meal, that is exactly what a side salad would consist of.

The more adventurous would add what were considered more unusual ingredients such as raw onion raw mushroom and sweet peppers.

Now we have mixed salads and a multitude of possible ingredients and I suppose in a way they have become a designer thing, and all to the good because salads are healthy ...... aren't they?

However

Mixed salads in bags.  Are they a blessing or a curse?

A bagged salad looks like a healthy option.  They are convenient and mean less food waste. 

Instead of buying a whole iceberg lettuce, a cos lettuce, a bunch of watercress and a pack of sweet peppers, using a small portion of each and then leaving the rest to rot in the fridge, you can buy it ready mixed in a more useful quantity and therefore it is all more likely to be eaten.

This can however mean more plastic packaging going into our land fill, but then again, most of the fruit and veg that we buy now has some sort of plastic wrapped around it.

Most of us, including myself find them a boon, especially now that our household has shrunk.

Even as I am typing this (in the year 2015),  there are a few scary facts coming to light, which in some ways maybe we would rather carry on ignorant of, but hey-ho, really we do need to know what food producers are feeding us so we can vote with our feet and with our own vegetable gardens. This article written in 2013 is also an interesting read on the subject.

So our bagged salads may contain more than we bargained for even if they are washed, and in some cases especially if they are washed.

The question on my mind is: what about organic produce, is organic salad bagged in the same way?  I know that some state that they are washed in spring water.  Something to look into a bit more I think and any comments welcome below.

Dressings

Something else to beware of - the mixed salad that comes with a dressing.  Try eating it without if it comes in a separate sachet or only use a little.  These dressings can add hundreds of calories plus fat sugar and salt which although your body needs to some degree, it probably doesn't need any as extra.

Recipe Ideas

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Please remember that the author of this website is not a professional.  All statements are opinions and not to be taken as advice.