Salad Light 1-cal-per-spray salad dressing review

Since signing up to a local veg box scheme a couple of weeks ago, we've been receiving quite a lot of salad ingredients here at The Madhouse - lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes. The kids have always said they don't like salad and the grown-ups weren't far behind to be honest ! It's something I'd eat but not really enjoy, and only then if it was smothered in tasty dressing because otherwise, a leaf of limp lettuce has no flavour whatsoever. The problem is, what starts off as a low calorie, healthy meal can quickly become the total opposite depending on your choice of dressing.

Well, the first change that has been made at The Madhouse is our choice of salad. A fresh lettuce just plucked out of the ground has so much more crunch and taste than a bag of shop-bought, pre-washed and chopped salad that's been hanging about in the fridge for a week. But it does still need a bit of oomph.

I was really excited when the lovely people at Fry Light, the one-cal cooking spray (which I have never tried but which sounds a fabulous way of cutting the calories and the fat content in your food) sent me some of their Salad Light salad dressings to try.

We received two flavours - Caesar and Balsamic Vinegar - both of which come in a 1-calorie-per-spray bottle. I put them both on the table when we next had salad and the kids loved squirting their own dressing all over their salad. I love the fact that it's totally mess-free, even if the bottle gets knocked over (rest assured, we always test our products thoroughly here at The Madhouse, even if half of the time it's not done on purpose !).

We weren't overly keen on the balsamic vinegar one, but that's because it's a flavour we're not used to, so I'll continue experimenting with it. The Caesar dressing got a unanimous thumbs up though and even Juliette, who is the only one to still say she doesn't like salad, will eat a few leaves if she can play at spraying the Salad Light on !

In an effort to cut the calories wherever possible, I like my salad with just a small amount of dressing so the spray format is brilliant for me. At just 1 calorie per spray, you can easily spray ten or fifteen squirts of dressing on your plate if you like and still have a low calorie meal. Madhouse Daddy Mike, who prefers thicker (and higher calorie !) sauces like mayonnaise and salad cream, preferred to screw the nozzle off and pour it on to his salad as you would with a normal bottle of salad dressing. He loves the intense flavour this gives but, obviously, you'll get more calories than if you delicately spray it on to your salad !

Even without the innovative spray bottle and the easy way of keeping track of calories, I'd continue to buy the Caesar Salad Light for the lovely flavour. We'll definitely be buying this all through the summer to liven up our lettuce.

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £1.99 for 250ml

for more information : http://www.frylight.co.uk/saladlight.html

Other reviews you may be interested in :

 Heinz Salad Cream with Cucumber and Dill

Healthy Salad Recipes

Heinz Salad Cream Lemon and Black Pepper

Green Giant Hearts of Palm review