A super-easy homemade pasta salad recipe

Most of us like a pasta salad. But you don’t have to limit yourself to those boring pots of tomato and pasta in supermarkets (most also contain cheese which many people don’t want). Make your own – cheaper and tastier and healthier, with no plastic pots!

For people who don’t really like salad, a quick and easy pasta salad (The Simple Veganista) is usually a good starting point. At least the watery tomato sauce is replaced by fresh tomatoes, red onion, bell peppers and olives.

This recipe adds in some drained canned chickpeas for extra protein, or use any beans you have left in the cupboard. Once opened, transfer the rest to a covered container in the fridge, and use within a day. 

This recipe includes a simple homemade vinaigrette. A good homemade salad dressing recipe is to whisk together 3 tablespoons of oil with 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar. Add 1 teaspoon each of Dijon mustard and maple syrup, season with salt and pepper.

Look in stores for plastic-free pasta brands that use British wheat like The Yorkshire Pasta Co or Northern Pasta.

Keep unsafe ingredients like onions away from pets.

For tinned ingredients – before recycling cans, rinse then pop ring-pulls back over holes. Then step on upper cans to pinch rims together (this stops wildlife getting accidentally trapped).

Unless you have food waste bins, just bin pepper and allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallot, chives) and citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps. To avoid acids harming compost creatures.