HELP - MASON JAR LUNCHES?

dtopo

I love this idea of prepping 5 days worth of salads and just grabbing before lunch and just adding dressing at work! But one question?!

Could I just use some tuperware that I already have instead of buying mason jars? Is there any benefit to mason jars except they look nicer?

dacspace

Check out this website for some good info on them...
http://www.organizeyourselfskinny.com/2014/03/17/the-ultimate-mason-jar-salad-tutorial-and-recipe-round-up/

Here's her response to your question...
Why do you use mason jars and not plastic containers?

I have used both plastic and glass jars to store salads in and I prefer mason jars for a few different reasons. First, in my experience, I feel the mason jar keep my salad fresh for much longer. I have eaten a mason jar salad 7 days after making it and it was just as fresh as the first day. Can’t say the same for plastic containers. You get a better seal with a mason jar than with a plastic container so that helps to keep food fresh longer.

Also, the whole appeal (at least to me) behind mason jar salads is that you can store the salad dressing in the same container. Therefore you don’t have to worry about remembering to bring dressing with you. Or bringing dressing to work only to have other people use it and when you need it the dressing is gone. Just sayin…if you work in an office you know that happens. Now bringing salad dressing with you might not be an issue for some of you but for me it was. I cannot tell you the number of times I would bring a salad with me and forget the salad dressing. Mason jars are the perfect shape that let you put the salad dressing on the bottom and layer the rest of the ingredients on top so you never have to worry about forgetting dressing. I was never able to successfully do this with plastic containers.

Good luck!

skinnyD2308

I use plastic containers but I only prep 3 days in advance. I don't put the dressing in until the day that I eat it, I usually add it in the morning before I leave for work, place it to the side or just on top without tossing it, then toss (shake) it before I eat.

One way to make sure your salad stays crisp, if to make sure that your vegetables are clean and dry, so they stay crisp. I also put a little square of paper towel on the top to aborb moisture from the veggies (I remove this before I add the dressing the day I'm going to eat it. This works pretty well for me, I just never wanted to go out and buy mason jars when I have so much tupperware.

pander101

I believe that mason jars provide a better seal than the tupperware, which makes since as many people use them for long term storage. But I think you may get close to the same effect if you put plastic warp over the top then the lid on the tupperware.

dtopo

So I am thinking:
lettuce, tomato, onion, corn, cucumber, sunflower seeds), peppers then dressing.

Maybe add some canned chicken or pasta occasionally.

What else would be good in there?