Once I consider my life-changing moments, it’s a brief checklist. The possibility to maneuver overseas for the primary time as an elementary college pupil. Holding my new child twins as a first-time mom. And discovering mason jar salads. It’s possible you’ll chortle (or roll your eyes in case you stay with a young person as I do), however mason jar salads actually remodeled my consuming habits.
By prepping per week’s value of salads at one time, I’m extra more likely to seize a salad for lunch or dinner as a substitute of a high-sodium, saturated fat-filled, usually unhealthy frozen meal. And in case you haven’t heard, people living past 100 in “Blue Zones” world wide are selecting a Mediterranean eating regimen of greens, fruits, lean protein, and wholesome fat, not frozen burritos, frozen pizzas, and modern-day TV dinners.
What Is A Mason Jar Salad?
Mason jar salads layer elements right into a wide-mouth glass jar in a particular order, guaranteeing that all the elements will keep contemporary for as much as 5 days. And whereas anybody might spoon potato salad right into a mason jar and keep it at its peak for per week, mason jar salads preserve romaine lettuce, contemporary spinach leaves, child kale, and different leafy greens crisp.
Professional Tip: These 32-ounce, wide-mouth mason jars work finest for mason jar salads.
How Do You Make And Retailer The Good Mason Jar Salad?
Hate getting out a pile of fruits, veggies, and leafy greens each time you need to make a salad? (I do.) That’s why mason jar salads have been so life-changing for me! You solely have to clean, slice, shred, and chop elements as soon as to arrange per week’s value of wholesome meals!
Though I share a few of my favourite mason jar salad recipes under, you possibly can simply convert any salad recipe right into a mason jar salad by filling the mason jar in a chosen order.
Begin by pouring your required dressing on the backside of a big wide-mouth mason jar. Then add the hearty elements, like proteins and crunchy greens, adopted by any eggs or cheese. Subsequent come extra delicate elements like tomatoes, peas, fruit, and berries. Then fill the remainder of the jar with greens. (I shoot for at the very least 40 to 50 % greens in my mason jar salads.) Tightly safe the lid and retailer the salad jars in a fridge or cooler the place they’ll keep contemporary for as much as per week!
When you ought to all the time dry leafy greens as a lot as potential when making a salad, it’s particularly vital to take action when assembling the right mason jar salad. Along with including the greens as the ultimate layer within the mason jar, eradicating any lingering water will assist preserve the lettuce crisp.
Professional Tip: What in case you (or somebody you’re keen on) isn’t into lettuce or different leafy greens? You may nonetheless make the most of handy mason jars — with a substitution. A protein-packed, high-fiber various to lettuce is quinoa. Every of these four salads focuses on it (as a substitute of greens) as the first ingredient.
Different Suggestions for Making Mason Jar Salads
Listed here are a number of different suggestions that may enable you to grasp mason jar salads very quickly:
- Whereas it’s simple to see the advantage of spinning lettuce simply as soon as for per week’s value of salads, save much more time through the use of pre-washed bagged lettuce, spinach, spring combine, or different greens.
- For those who’re changing a daily salad recipe right into a mason jar salad, don’t fret the order an excessive amount of. Simply don’t put something that may get soggy, mushy, or slimy on high of the dressing (like croutons and nuts) and make sure you add the leafy greens as the ultimate layer.
- Mason jar salads are an effective way to breathe new life into leftovers. Have some additional rotisserie hen, shredded pork, taco meat, salmon, black beans, or chickpeas? Use these elements to your protein layer!
- Brief lower the creation of your protein layer by tossing a chunk of fish, flippantly seasoned hen breast, or frozen breaded hen patty into the oven or stress cooker when you wash and lower the opposite elements. Or velocity issues up much more by buying a rotisserie hen or defrosting pre-cooked hen strips to cube or shred. Canned tuna and hen are fast choices for meat lovers, and a can of rinsed black, cannellini, or garbanzo beans will do the trick for vegetarians and vegans.
How Do You Eat A Mason Jar Salad?
When it’s time for lunch or dinner, merely give the mason jar just a few good shakes and invert the elements onto a plate or into a big bowl. The greens will probably be on the backside, adopted by your entire favourite mix-ins, and the dressing tops all of it off. And, whether or not you choose romaine lettuce, spinach leaves, kale, or another choice, the salad greens will keep crisp and contemporary for as much as 5 days (supplied you add them to the mason jar final)!
Highway Tripping With Mason Jar Salads
My household loves trying out the native meals scene after we journey. In actual fact, we spend as a lot time researching the place we’re going to eat as what we’re going to do within the cities we go to! However we additionally attempt to eat at the very least one meal a day with meals we’ve packed from residence or bought at a neighborhood grocery retailer, often breakfast or lunch. Not solely does that assist us stretch our journey funds, nevertheless it additionally permits us to make wholesome decisions in a rustic the place restaurant portion sizes are constantly super-sized.
A choice of mason jar salads suits properly in our giant cooler together with wholesome breakfast and snack choices like boiled eggs, yogurt, cheese sticks, and contemporary fruit. It’s simple to clean out the empty mason jars every evening, and, to save lots of house as we proceed our adventures, we frequently refill them with extra wholesome snacks we purchase alongside the best way.
My Favourite Mason Jar Salads for Highway Journeys
Mason Jar Taco Salad
Whoever invented the taco salad is a genius! Like all mason jar salads, it’s simple for every member of the family to customise a mason jar taco salad. Browning one pound of floor beef gives protein for 2 to 4 mason jar taco salads. My meat lover enjoys sometimes substituting canned chunk hen or a shredded hen breast to make her taco meat, and I often open a can of black beans for mine. And every of us can customise the remainder of the mason jar meal to our coronary heart’s content material.
Burrito Bowl In A Mason Jar
Starting with a tasty chipotle cream sauce, I really like layering the elements of this easy burrito bowl recipe into mason jars utilizing the helpful dandy graphic above in order that I’ve per week of grab-and-go choices obtainable.
Mason Jar Greek Salad
The identical mix-and-match flexibility is on the market with this mason jar Greek salad. It’s simple for us to customise proteins like slices of packaged gyro meat, hen breast, and chickpeas earlier than layering in our desired mixture of tomatoes, cucumber chunks, slices of pink onion, and crumbled feta cheese.
Mason Jar Cobb Salad
With a creamy blue cheese dressing base, crunchy greens, and loads of deli meats, boiled egg, and bacon bits, a classic cobb salad is a really filling meal packed right into a mason jar.
Strawberry Spinach Mason Jar Salad
Nothing indicators that summer time (and summer time street journeys) are on the best way like seasonal strawberries and garden-fresh spinach. That’s why this strawberry spinach salad is one other favourite. Begin by pouring the poppyseed French dressing right into a mason jar, then layer the crumbled goat cheese, pecan items, quartered strawberries, and spinach.
Professional Tip: Make this salad sooner through the use of pre-packaged candy and spicy pecans (I really like those at Dealer Joe’s) and ready poppyseed dressing.
Rainbow Salad In A Mason Jar
You’re certain to get a rainbow filled with contemporary veggies making this salad in a mason jar. Begin with the dressing of your selection after which layer in orange carrots, pink tomatoes, inexperienced cucumbers, and different veggies earlier than topping the jar with spring combine lettuce.
Mason Jar Chef Salad
Together with simply suiting every diner’s style, a mason jar chef salad helps you clear out the fridge as you prep to your street journey. Obtained just a few leftover slices of turkey, half of a hen breast, or some shredded pork? These are excellent proteins for a mason jar chef salad.
Have a child that hates tomatoes or a hubby who can’t get sufficient olives? Put out a choice of veggies, cheeses, fruits, and different salad elements and let every individual construct their salad as desired. Keep in mind, the primary rule of success is layering the elements within the order talked about above, ending with the lettuce on high.
Grilled Vegetable Mason Jar Salad
Because the climate turns colder and veggies equivalent to cauliflower, candy potatoes, and pumpkins are in season, this grilled vegetable salad hits the spot. Roast or grill the veggies, then layer them between balsamic dressing on the underside and child spinach or one other leafy inexperienced on the highest.
Mason jar salads are a quick and simple method to make per week’s value of salads at a time and pack your road-trip meals with leafy greens, veggies, and fruits.
Listed here are another concepts to make your street journey extra nice:
