Living Without Dressing: My Salad Life

I have never been able to finish a bottle of dressing before its expiration date!

That might be a slight exaggeration, but I feel like I've ended up using most of the dressings I've bought past their expiration date. (At my own risk. I pride myself on having a strong stomach.)

Since I sometimes end up throwing them away despite having bought them, I decided about three years ago to stop buying them altogether. Since then, I've managed to get by just fine living without dressing.

Isn't it impossible to finish a bottle of dressing all by yourself?

In our house, I am the only one who really eats salads. My husband likes vegetables too, but he almost never eats raw vegetables for the breakfast or lunch he prepares for himself.

I periodically get these cravings where I think, 'I want to eat raw vegetables!' (?), so I keep making salads for myself. That means I have to consume the dressing all by myself, which is extremely difficult.

Even when I bought the smallest sizes, I often couldn't finish them.

Our salad routine

To begin with, our routine at home is to make a big salad two or three times a week.

The contents usually consist of about three of the following, depending on which vegetables were cheap at the time.

• Mixed greens

• Cucumber (a must, as I love it)

• Mizuna

• Celery

• Salad spinach

• Kale

• Lettuce

• Carrot

I drain the water thoroughly with a salad spinner, put it in a container, cover it with a damp paper towel, and put the lid on.

If you drain it well, it will last for about 2.5 days. Three days is pushing it, so making it 2-3 times a week is just right.

I wonder if there's any nutrition left in a salad two days after making it, but I just want to eat raw vegetables. My mentality is that it's better than nothing.

I usually eat a huge amount for lunch and dinner, so even eating alone, I can surprisingly finish it all.

I don't even make my own dressing.

It's been about three years since I graduated from store-bought dressing. For the past two years, I haven't even made my own.

The main reason I stopped using dressing is fat management.

I wrote about the amount of fat I was consuming when I was strictly limiting it in this article ↓

However, when I actually tried it, I felt like the post-meal mouth fatigue caused by excessive salt intake decreased.

What other foods don't have seasoning? White rice or salad...? That's about it, right? I've never measured my salt intake properly, so I don't know, but since we eat a lot of Japanese food at home, we're probably consuming too much.

Looking back at my meals, they are all seasoned dishes.

• Corn rice (seasoned)

• Salt-grilled mackerel (seasoned)

• Lightly pickled turnips (seasoned)

• Salad & cherry tomatoes

• Protein bowl (seasoned)

• Wonton soup (seasoned)

• Sweet and spicy simmered eggplant (seasoned)

• Salad & Cherry Tomatoes

Having a dish without seasoning allows me to balance it out with richer side dishes.

I eat salad with salted mackerel or sweet and spicy simmered eggplant. I realized that if I eat it with seasoned side dishes, I don't need dressing.

Salad situations when there are no side dishes

However, I don't always have side dishes that go well with salad...

In those cases, I eat it with low-fat seasoned ingredients.

When eating salad on its own...

• Prosciutto

• Cottage cheese with freshly ground black pepper

• Chicken tenderloin with Crazy Salt

• Oil-free tuna mixed with wasabi soy sauce

• Kimchi (I rarely do this since it's just vegetables with vegetables)

• On days without any toppings, I add ponzu or Horinishi seasoning.

Something like that. It surprisingly works out.

Sometimes, as a treat, I make a power salad.

Let's make sure to get enough carbohydrates with sweet potatoes. Or potatoes.

You can actually get by without dressing, surprisingly.

So far, I've introduced my dressing-free life, which may or may not be helpful to you.

I'm currently continuing it without any stress, but I would like to know about delicious dressings. After all, it would be cool if I could make delicious dressing myself, right?

If you have any recommended recipes, please let me know.

Well, it's already Friday, the halfway point of June. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Related Articles

Dressing actually has quite a lot of salt, doesn't it?

I really do love having bread for lunch on salad days.

If you top it with something flavorful like roast beef, you don't need dressing at all.