I don’t know if it’s just me but August has felt really long. In some ways that’s good, we’ve enjoyed some good weather (we’ve also endured some heatwaves) but also plenty of daylight, sunshine, and generally good vibes to offset the never-ending stream of bad news in the country and the world.

My challenge this month was to try and eat a salad every day for lunch, 30 Days of Salads, if you will. I knew it wasn’t going to be completely practical and there was bound to be the odd day off, but in the end I only missed three salads. None of them were due to hangovers, which I give myself a pat on the back for. Instead, it was two separate days out which weren’t feasible for salads, and then one day at work where I hadn’t the energy to get prepared in time.

Being prepared was the key. I can’t say I ended up being as experimental with salads as I was expecting, but I did fall into a good routine of the base stuff (lettuce, cucumber, tomato, beetroot, sweetcorn, that kind of thing) alongside a more substantial element each day that differed depending on what I’d done to prepare. Some days it was boiled eggs, sometimes ham, one day I made some chicken with fajita seasoning that was delicious. I also rediscovered thousand island dressing which completely changed salads for me, and I even discovered making potato salad at home. Amazing.

It wasn’t the revolutionary month I thought it might be but what it did achieve was making me realise a salad is easy. Previously it’s felt like a huge undertaking and would put me off even trying, but honestly, just throw a few ingredients together, dash over a drop of dressing, and you’ve got a delicious plate in front of you. I loved it and so even though it was technically only 27 Days of Salad, I still call it a massive success.