Salad in a Jar – Taste 'N' Dash
Have you heard of a salad in a jar before? It is where you layer your salad in a jar with the selected fixings of your liking. Your salad can be prepared days in advance and ready to go. Such a great way to meal plan your lunch or dinner for the week. And a healthy one at that!
Last Sunday I decided to give it a go. I ended up making three salad jars and stored them in the fridge. I had plans throughout the week but I was able to eat a salad in a jar on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Friday’s salad was just as good as Tuesday’s salad. If you pack your salad correctly you will not have any soggy items.
Here let me show you how to pack your jar. Ready??? I opted for balsamic vinaigrette, beets, white and black beans, chicken, feta cheese, almonds and leafy greens. It’s what I had on hand. The choices are endless.
You always want the dressing to be the first layer at the bottom. This is important. The dressing and any items that tend to get soggy quickly will need to be the farthest from one another.
Here I used about 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinaigrette with chopped red onions.
Heavy dense vegetables such as beets, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and cucumbers should be the second layer after the dressing. These vegetables can hold up in the dressing and not become soggy.
For my second layer beets were added which worked out great being that they sat in the dressing for most of the week.
Next layer would be grains, pasta or beans. Here I added black and white beans for my third layer.
The fourth layer should be your protein, cheese and/or nuts. In this mix I decided on chicken, feta cheese and chopped almonds.
By the fourth layer these items will not come into contact with the dressing and will hold up nicely in the jar.
And your last layer would be your leafy greens, lettuce, fruit and/or avocado. Any items that would become soggy if near the dressing. I chose a mixed bag of greens from Trader Joe’s.
Screw your top on and place in the fridge.
The amount of each item is really up to you. I just kind of eyeballed it and knew that I wanted an even amount of all ingredients with the exception of the cheese and almonds. For the two, I added about a tablespoon of each.
When you’re ready to eat your salad in a jar, shake and pour into a bowl. You can eat from the jar but I like to have my salad spread out.
Dig in!
Enjoy!