They’re here to stay but, if anything, quality and general interest seem to be lacking, and possibly even deteriorating. I guess it boils down to how they’re going to be used. Are they the complete deal, ready to tip into the salad bowl, add dressing and Bob’s your uncle? Or are they there to be added to? I’m very much in the latter camp and, for me, there’s no place for lettuce, particularly floppy lettuce, in a salad pack. Riverford’s used to be a mix of peppery seasonal leaves but now, even they, have succumbed to the prevailing trend. At the other end of the salad spectrum, there’s also no place for tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados and spring onions – those early additions that can go in first and soak up some of the flavours from the dressing. So I’m struggling to see the point – other than to add to the 25% of purchased groceries that go to waste. Most salad packs, whether organic or from the supermarket, need washing (for different reasons), so there goes the convenience. I remember, back in the very early days, when local Sky Sprouts started selling small packs of peppery mizuna and rocket. They were perfect for adding to a bit of lettuce and whatever other usual suspects you might have lying around, but now you have to buy them in industrial quantities. So, rather than a ‘whole salad’ bag of mixed leaves, I’d like to see smaller bags of peppery leaves or, better still, leaves for building a better salad, with less packaging and less waste.