Summer salads on a grocery budget in Australia

Summer shifts cooking toward salads — which can be cheap or expensive

As the weather warms through October and November, salads move from occasional side to regular main. The cost of a salad varies enormously depending on what goes into it. A carefully constructed salad with in-season produce, a cheap protein and a homemade dressing costs very little per serve. A salad built around pre-washed baby spinach, premium cheeses, seeds and bottled dressing can cost as much as a hot meal.

Building value into a summer salad

Use a grain or legume as the base. Rice, pearl barley, quinoa, couscous, canned chickpeas or canned lentils are filling, cheap and make a salad more substantial. They also keep well in the fridge for next-day lunches without wilting the way lettuce does.

Choose in-season vegetables. October and November bring tomatoes, capsicum, cucumber, zucchini and corn into peak quality and lower prices. These are more flavourful and cheaper per kilogram than out-of-season equivalents. See our summer produce guide for what is currently worth buying.

Use a simple homemade dressing. Olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice, mustard and salt is all you need. A homemade dressing costs a fraction of a bottled equivalent and avoids the added sugar and stabilisers in many commercial dressings.

Choose affordable proteins. Tinned tuna, tinned salmon, boiled eggs, leftover roast chicken, canned chickpeas or crumbled feta are all cheaper per serve than sliced deli meat or premium proteins. Leftover protein from a previous dinner is effectively free.

Where salad costs climb quickly

Pre-washed salad leaves in bags. Convenient but expensive per 100 g and high-waste — the bottom of the bag often goes slimy before it is used. Buying a whole lettuce costs less and lasts longer if you wash and store correctly. Our fresh produce guide covers loose vs pre-packed.

Seeds and nuts as toppings. A scattering of pepitas or pine nuts adds texture but significant cost per serve if bought in small packets. Buying a larger bag and storing it is cheaper per use — or simply skipping them in favour of a crouton or a handful of crackers.

Premium cheeses. Feta, haloumi, and specialty cheeses can be expensive per 100 g. Feta in the 200 g block form is cheaper per 100 g than individual portions. A small amount goes a long way in a salad.

Salads that keep for next-day lunches

Grain-based salads hold up far better than leaf-based ones as leftovers. A large bowl of pearl barley, roasted vegetables and chickpeas dressed with olive oil and lemon will keep in the fridge for three days. Making extra at dinner for the next day's lunch is one of the most effective weekday cost reductions available.

Avoid dressing leaf salads if you intend to keep them — dress at serving time only.

Comparing salad ingredient prices

For stable packaged ingredients — canned legumes, olive oil, feta blocks, grains — run a search on TrolleyChecker before a larger grocery shop to check which chain has better prices this week.