Salad in a Jar!! Eating healthy on the go!

DesignDiva84
DesignDiva84 Posts: 7
in Food and Nutrition
So I am obsessed with Pinterest (I wish I could upload a pic its so cute) and stumbled across this great idea for meal planning with salad in a jar! So heres an excerpt of an article I found on it:

The basic idea when packing salads in jars is to start with the heaviest and most non-absorbent ingredients with the dressing on the bottom of the jar and work your way up through the lighter ingredients until you end up with the salad greens themselves. As long as your jar doesn't accidentally tip over you in your bag, the delicate greens will be well-protected from the dressing until you're ready to eat.

How does everything get mixed together?
When you're ready to eat your salad, just unscrew the cap and shake it into a bowl. Everything gets pretty compacted in the jar, so some vigorous shaking may be needed! This shaking also helps to toss the salad ingredients with the dressing. Once the salad is in the bowl, you can toss it some more with your fork to make sure everything is evenly coated.

What's the best jar to use?
Any canning jar can be used, but wide-mouthed jars are the easiest for both packing the salad into the jars and shaking them out again. Pint-sized jars are great for individual side-salads of mostly greens with just a few "extra" salad toppings. Use quart-sized jars for larger lunch and dinner salads that have a lot of extra veggies and salad goodies. Two-quart jars and larger are great if you're taking the salad to a potluck or cookout.

How long will jars of salad keep in the fridge?
With the lid sealed tightly, these salads can last for several days in the fridge — up to 5 days or so. If you're making salads with soft ingredients or perishable proteins, like avocados, tomatoes, hardboiled eggs, or cooked chicken breast, wait to add those ingredients until the day that you plan to eat the salad. Also, if you have a vacuum-sealer attachment for your canning jars, vacuum-sealing the salads right after assembling them will keep your greens and veggies even crisper and fresher.

Needless to say I am so excited to try this! I purchased a dozen of mason jars from Target for $9.99 and plan to start this weekend! Have any of you heard of this?? Would you try it! Or if you do please share your experience and/or favorite recipes!

References:

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-pack-the-perfect-salad-in-a-jar-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-192174

Schaumin

Replies

  • Youretheoneformefatty100
    Youretheoneformefatty100 Posts: 38 Member
    That's a bloody good idea! Thanks :o)
  • Youretheoneformefatty100
    Youretheoneformefatty100 Posts: 38 Member
    2009 and posted only 6 times! That is also brilliant!
  • bethkeysear
    bethkeysear Posts: 28 Member
    Love this! I do something similar. I have free access to a salad bar at the school that I do observations in. However, the salad dressing is to calorie rich, fatty, and unchanging. So I pack a jar with some meat, a few extra veggies, and salad dressing which I usually lighten up with lemon juice, extra vinegar, or salsa. I make my salad from the bar and then dump my jar into it. I love using jars because they are cheap so I don't mind if I lose it and I think plastic is really bad for us.
  • 970Mikaela1
    970Mikaela1 Posts: 2,013 Member
    efe4287839cc6d9e8b1c2872ffab1107_zpscd47cfb7.jpg

    like this?
  • Cookie_4
    Cookie_4 Posts: 152 Member
    Love this idea!! Thanks for the share
  • elis_mama
    elis_mama Posts: 308 Member
    Yup! It's really the only way that I pack my salads for work anymore. So easy ans so awesome. Tons of different ways to prepare them!
  • shazbox1
    shazbox1 Posts: 175 Member
    Lol we went to a restaurant and they tried to serve taco salad like this, the waitress was smacking the jar and shaking it up and down for at least 2 minutes before it would come out. Meanwhile, the rest of us are just sitting there waiting to eat. Worst presentation ever.

    Handy for on the go though I suppose.

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