Salad ingredients: how to pick them at the market?
My advice is simple -- don't plan ahead.

Being fresh produce, most of us have no idea before you get to the store what the current stuff coming out of the local fields are.

This is going to affect both price (in season stuff that hasn't been shipped from the opposite hemisphere is typically cheaper, especially w/ today's fuel prices), and quality (how long it's been sitting around, maybe there's been too much rain or not enough, etc).

And, don't forget that you don't need to limit yourself to vegetables in salads -- sliced apples or pears, orange or other citrus segments, etc, are great additions, particularly as we get into the fall and the spring &amp; summer vegetables aren't locally available.

If it's the middle of winter and nothing's fresh, consider jarred marinated vegetables like olives, sun dried tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, etc.