Conor Pope selects some salads...

Marks & Spencer Gourmet Greek Salad
€5.20 for 315 grams, €16.50 per kg

Highs: This is almost worth buying for the lemon, parsley and mint dressing alone, which is wonderfully tangy and complements the robust-tasting feta and olives extremely well. This salad hasn't been bulked up with excessive and entirely unnecessary greenery, although what is there is remarkably crunchy and fresh tasting, a fact which might be explained by the fact that this is the only salad to come vacuum packed.

Lows: While the dressing tastes pretty good, it would probably taste better - and more authentic - if the sunflower oil was substituted with olive oil. And it is impossible to work out what makes this a "gourmet salad" while all the others are mere salads. Its high price, perhaps?

Verdict: Tastes great when all dressed up.

Star rating:****

Nature's Best Mediterranean Style Salad
€4.29 for 350 grams, €12.25 per kg

Highs: This looks to be the most wholesome salad on offer with a pleasing array of leaves. The humble lettuce is supported by healthy spinach and all manner of fancy cousins such as radicchio and lolla rosa which add colour to the mix. It's the only salad that could realistically feed two even mildly hungry people and is the cheapest brand tried. It's also the only one that comes with croutons.

Lows: In truth, the croutons are a little tasteless. While Nature's Best are to be complimented for the variety of leaves on offer, there are too many of the damned things, and it's hard to find the olives, tomatoes and not-very-Mediterranean sweetcorn and carrot. The absence of a dressing was something of a surprise.

Verdict: Good sized, good value.

Star rating:***

Nude Mediterranean Salad
€4.45 for 275 grams, €16.18 per kg

Highs: This salad has a lot going on, with the runner beans, chick peas, olives and feta cheese all competing with the lettuce for your attention. The feta is nice and creamy and the chick peas add an even more wholesome dimension. The vinaigrette is fine - if a little too subtle - and because it comes in a little lidded cup, it's easy to open without spraying it all over your shirt.

Lows: It's neither cheap nor amply proportioned, and unless you have a very small appetite you'll probably need to complement it with something else to keep those post-lunchtime hunger pangs at bay. It is not the most flavour-filled salad you'll ever have, with the olives in particular being rather bland.

Verdict: Quite hearty for a salad.

Star rating: ****

Dunnes Stores Mediterranean Salad Bowl
€2.69 for 215 grams, €12.51 per kg

Highs: This is fairly cheap and it would certainly satisfy one, not particularly hungry, person for a short time. The red and yellow peppers are nice and crunchy and the olives and tomatoes taste pretty good and are plentiful. It also comes with substantially more (French) dressing than any of its rivals.

Lows: The downside of Dunnes' generosity with the very gloopy, salad-creamy dressing is that it runs the risk of overpowering the other flavours. This might be described as the Ryanair of salad bowls - very cheap but it doesn't take you as close to the promised destination as you thought.

Verdict: Might leave you hungry.

Star rating:***