Greens are brilliant. for many reasons. Firstly they're versatile. You can eat them both raw or cooked, and they match up with a multitude of different dishes. They’re also immensely good for you, reasonably cheap and where I live at least, you can buy some sort of fresh greenery that's locally grown, all year round.

 

They might seem like fussy vegetables to prepare, especially if you’re picking off leaves and finely chopping. But that’s not how I use them. Instead I take a much more relaxed and cavalier approach, using them in big handfuls and very roughly chopping. Using them in large handfuls also solves the problem of food waste. 

And by greens I'm not just limiting myself to spinach. I regularly buy different kinds of greenery, together with fresh herbs and use these in place of "spinach" in my cooking. They may change the flavour slightly, but this is rarely a problem. In fact, sometimes a mealbenefits from being spiced up with some rocket and watercress, or being matched with the slightly bitter beetroot greens.

The greens I use regularly include spinach, silverbeet (or chard), rocket, radish tops, beetroot greens, amaranth, watercress, fresh herbs, the tough outer leaves of a head of lettuce, kale, Asian greens, mizuna and many more. However, what you buy will depend on the number of people in your house and what you can find in your local area. Experiment with a few different greens and see which ones you like.