My favourite Easy Salads are packed with nutritional goodness, tasty with hot or cold food and very easy to prepare in advance. Eating your 5 a day is super easy with salads like these – even in winter.

Red Winter Salad

Mix together lambs lettuce, quartered pre-cooked baby Beetroot, quartered Radishes, toasted pumpkin seeds and pomegranate seeds. It can be eaten as it is or topped with a favourite dressing like Honey mustard or a soft cheese. It is full of vitamins and antioxidants and tastes wonderful even on its own.

Quick and easy Pepper and Sweetcorn Salad

A large jar of Roasted Red Peppers, a large tin of sweetcorn, season well with sea salt and black pepper and top with grated Parmesan cheese and Rocket and/or  Basil leaves.  A dressing of olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar just gives it an edge. If you have any left over try stirring in some cooked pasta for an instant lunch.

Winter Coleslaw

Finely slice half a white cabbage and place in a bowl with 50 ml of white wine vinegar or rice vinegar, 2 finely chopped spring onions, sea salt and black pepper. cover with a plate. Finely slice half a red cabbage and place in a bowl with some sesame seeds, lemon juice, sea salt and black pepper. Peel and grate about 4/5 large carrots and 2 dessert apples then mix with some lemon juice. Then make a dressing with a large pot of natural yogurt (sheep or Goats milk yogurt is good if you are intolerant of Cows milk), 4/5 crushed garlic cloves, zest and juice of 2 lemons, a handful of chopped Coriander (Cilantro) leaves, and stir in 3 tbsp of Tahini paste. Top with smoked Paprika and sliced or chopped Spring onions. You can drain the white cabbage of any liquid that has accumulated and then mix all the other ingredients together but if you want it to look decorative for a party you can layer the vegetables as I have done and then top with some of the dressing but serve the remainder in a separate bowl for people to add to their own taste.

Although this easy salad will take a little longer to prepare than the others it is possible to do all the prep and leave in separate bowls in a cool place and then construct it in a large bowl about 2-3 hours before use and it will not spoil due to the lemon and vinegar stopping the discolouration or oxidation. Any leftover shredded cabbage and carrot could be placed in a mason jar with sea salt and vinegar and left to ferment for a few days and this provides plenty of probiotic gut friendly bacteria to develop. Enjoy!