easy greek salad $1.26 ea.
Today's post isn't so much a recipe as it is me proving a point... to myself. Eating delicious salads every day doesn't have to mean breaking the bank.
I often shy away from buying lots of salad stuff because if I buy all of the really delicious ingredients, the cost can pile up. And by "good ingredients" I mean things like nuts, fancy cheeses, dried fruit... you know, the GOOD stuff. But then I remembered Budget Bytes Principle #2: adding a just little bit of really flavorful ingredients makes a huge flavor impact without hugely impacting the wallet.
So, instead of making a huge greek salad with tons of vegetables, feta, fancy olives, sun dried tomatoes, pickled peppers and all the rest, I scaled it back a bit. I was still able to accomplish the pungent greek flavor without going crazy with the ingredients and spending tons of money.
I used simple vegetables (romaine lettuce, cucumber and tomato) and added a little feta cheese (portion control is key) and some plain jane green (manzanilla) olives. Yeah, I would have loved Kalamata but the green olives were super inexpensive and still gave me that briny, salty, olive flavor that I was craving. The Kalamatas can wait for a special occasion!
Cost for salad dressing varies considerably... for a 1/4 cup of store-bought I estimate about $0.25. Yes, I KNOW, I should be making my own... I will soon, promise.
Total Recipe cost: $1.21 ea.
Prep ahead time: 10 min. Assembly time: 5 min.
| INGREDIENTS | COST | |
| 1/4 head | romaine lettuce | $0.40 |
| 1 medium | roma tomato | $0.19 |
| 1/4 medium | cucumber | $0.17 |
| 2 Tbsp | feta cheese | $0.21 |
| approx. 10 | green olives | $0.24 |
| TOTAL | $1.21 | |
STEP 1: Wash and slice the whole cucumber. Keep the cucumber refrigerated in a re-sealable container in the refrigerator up to 5 days. If you wish to prep the lettuce ahead of time you can wash, drain well then chop the lettuce. Keep the lettuce in a re-sealable bag or container with a paper towel to absorb excess moisture. Drain the lettuce as much as possible prior to refrigeration. I just washed and chopped my lettuce daily, it only took 5 minutes.
STEP 2: When you're ready to prep the salad, slice the tomato and roughly chop the olives. Layer the lettuce, cucumber, tomato, olives and feta in a bowl. Top with your desired dressing and dig in!
NOTE: Prepping salad ingredients ahead of time is really quick and they will they stay good in the refrigerator for 4 or 5 days. This means you can have fresh, quick salads almost all week. I prefer to chop soft or wet vegetables (like tomatoes) just prior to building the salad.
Making a series of homemade salad dressing is on my "to do" list for the blog. So, please, no lectures about my store bought balsamic vinaigrette in the photos! hahahhah.
8 comments:
mm greek salad is the best. i love it even more with diced up chicken sauteed with some garlic :)
I love this salad and I always add some of my canned beets. so good with the feta cheese.
We make this salad almost nightly, sans green olives, and I love it. For dressing, I sprinkle dried basil and oregano, and then pour a little oil and vinegar in, toss it and it's good to go. So easy and so refreshing!
Greek sal -- one of my faves! Instead of dressing I often just squeeze some lemon on top and maybe sprinkle salt/pepp/oregano -- cheap, quick, easy and fresh!
Another great and delicious post!
looks great, a good authentic greek salad is not complete though with out green pepper, a yellow onion, and of course olive oil. toss it all, - the lettuce and olives and thats about as authentic as you can get. oh and scratch the balsamic ;)
This salad is so delicious, but how did you find such inexpensive tomatoes? In VA, each tomato costs an arm and a leg, no kidding.
This is my go to salad. I add a can of chickpeas too for some extra protein
Common greek salad dressing is simply pout over a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle some oregano. delicious. or olive oil and lemon juice for lettuce. amazing
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