Salad dressing seems so basic that it’s easy to overlook in a grocery budget. That is, until you see they cost anywhere from $3-15 at the store. These days dressings come wrapped in high-end labels with fancy jars and tantalizing flavors like Spring Onion with Miso and Sea Salt so, well, it’s easier than ever to get sucked in.
As an experiment, I want you to go to the refrigerator and open the door and count how many unused, expired salad dressings you own. The average American has three dressings past their prime. Additionally, unused refrigerated condiments account for an annual grocery budget waste of $377 dollars per household. That’s a scandalous amount of waste in STOCKEDLAND*.
So, yes, this will be the first in a series of a much needed condiment examination posts. If you don’t use it on a regular basis, I’m going to ask you to lose it…or make your own. Condiments often contain very cheap ingredients but cost so much because they take up a lot of shelf space in a grocery store—a cost that is then passed on to you.
Here are five tips that will help you make a great dressing:
Use a neutral oil that doesn’t have a strong aftertaste.
Add an acid like vinegar or citrus.
Add a finishing salt like Maldon.
Play with sweeteners to balance out acid—I like jam and honey.
Only make 1/2 inch of dressing per person so you can avoid waste.
*Not an actual place.
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Burnt Tomato & Chive Dressing
Feeds: 2 people
Prep: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
4T. EVOO
3 burnt tomato slices, crumbled (I slow roast sad winter tomatoes in the oven)
4 chives, chopped
Juice of 2/2 a lemon
1t. honey (if not runny them microwave for :30 seconds)
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Directions:
Add all ingredients to jar and shake and serve immediately.
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And finally, here’s a 1985 cartoon PSA from ABC reminding us to be conservative with our salad dressing. Louis the Lifeguard, hah, so classic…imagine this being considered a vital public service announcement today.