Salads in Jars

Yumminess before the jars.

A couple of years ago, I made my first set of salads in glass jars for lunches; they were convenient and delicious, but I fell into my old habits and reverted back to leftovers and soups. This past week, our CSA box contained a bag of spinach and another bag of salad greens and carrots and celery and radishes and broccoli and I thought -- hey! I should really get back to those salads.

By the way, making salads in mason jars for weekly lunches is so much faster than making a pot of soup. Duh, right?

The brilliant news is that jar salads stay fresh for a solid 5-7 days. I'll post a picture of Friday's salad later this week just to confirm.




What are the rules?

• Put the dressing at the bottom. I used 2 Tablespoons, which was plenty for me.
• Then, put something that can serve as a barrier between the lettuce and dressing. Obviously, this layer is going to get the most exposure to the dressing, so choose a more sturdy vegetable. I used carrots, celery, radishes, and broccoli for this week's salad. Use whatever you have. 
• Next, add a grain or noodles, if you'd like. I used a quinoa this week.
• If you're up to it, a protein such as cheese or hard-boiled egg goes next.
• Finally, the greens themselves.

How do you eat it?

• I take a bowl to dump mine into, but you could also try your luck just diving right into the glass jar.



Just dump it right in!

I use Myfitnesspal.com to track my calories and nutrition information, and I got an immediate green (which is good!) on the fiber section. The other side benefit of making salads in jars is for the sheer aesthetic pleasure of it! They are beautiful.