Salad isn't a chore because of the lettuce. It's a chore because of that silly moment of getting out the oil, the vinegar, the salt, pouring by eye and ending up with something bland. It's thirty seconds, but they're the thirty seconds that push you towards having something else for dinner.
The solution fits in a small glass jar: olive oil, vinegar, a teaspoon of mustard and salt. Lid on, shake, and into the fridge door. It lasts for days, and the mustard keeps it from separating so quickly.
Did you know? A study at Iowa State University measured what the body absorbed from the same salad depending on the dressing: with fat, far more carotenoids were taken up — the pigments in tomato, carrot or leafy greens — than with a fat-free dressing. That drizzle of oil isn't a small sin: it's part of the dish.
From then on, salad stops being a project. Open, pour, done. And with the friction gone, vegetables go from "I should" to "I fancy it", which is exactly the change we're after.
Start today: fill a small jar with dressing and keep it in the fridge. The next salad makes itself.