Make ahead lunch salads

I don’t know about you, but every now and then I see these pictures on my Facebook feeds of these jars filled to the brim with pretty layers of salad. It made me think about how easy it is to make a bunch of salad ahead of time,  and then be ready at a second’s notice to grab a healthy lunch and go right out the door. So this week's video is inspired by those Facebook posts!

Two tricks:

1)   Do NOT for the love of anything you care for use a quart-sized jar. You would be eating salad for the rest of your life, just out of that one jar. You have to cram in the ingredients so they stay put, and you’d be surprised at just how much salad you can stuff into a pint jar, let alone one twice as large.

2)   Dressing first. Leafy greens last. This can’t be emphasized enough, especially when you go to eat your lunch on Friday. Wilted greens that have sat in dressing for a week? YUCK.

Ingredients:

• Whatever you have in your fridge. Really. I go for some combo of colorful, textured, veggies, protein, and then leafy greens. Maybe cheese? Nuts? Dressing is required, but this can be (also) whatever you have in your fridge. Make your own!

Technique:

• Get 5 containers. These can be pint jars (wide mouth is easiest!), or leftover ice cream jars. Or plastic containers. Those rectangular pyrex containers do NOT work very well. You’re looking for a container (5) that has more vertical volume than horizontal.
• Put 2 TBS (maybe a smidge more, if you need to – but try it with less!) in the bottom of each container.
• Add layers of ingredients, leaving the lettuce/leafy green for LAST. I try to put the stuff that works well marinated in the bottom – tofu or jicama or cucumber and then layer from there.
• Last stuff as much lettuce as you can cram in there (I push it in with both hands and then quickly cap it, like trying to close an over-stuffed suitcase)
• Fridge it.
• Grab and go! I love pouring my salad onto a plate – it looks so cool and the lettuce is on the bottom and the dressing on top . . . mmm.
• Crunchy, beautiful, healthy, delicious . . . GO FOR IT!

Healthy lunch that saves you money, looks gorgeous, and makes you feel accomplished? Badass. Be a badass. It's the small things!