The main pros to the mason jar salad are twofold: first, you can make all your lunches for the whole work week in one sitting (like on a Sunday), and your worries of what to eat everyday for lunch are already solved.
I know this is a giant thing for me. I hate making my own lunches and I never know what to make, so I buy a lot of soups or make big batches of tuna salad and then eat that same thing for several days in a row.
Second, since this isn’t called “cheeseburger in a jar, ” it’s also a way to encourage you to eat better and make good lunch decisions.
Of course, you can make a salad that’s 99% percent cheese and ranch dressing and that one spinach leaf on top isn’t going to help much, so make sure to pick a well-balanced salad that’s still going to do you a lot of good.
All that said, you can see why the concept is so appealing to a person that’s lazy-yet-health-conscious like I am. I thought I would find 5 different recipes that I really liked and would be excited to eat everyday, and I think I did a pretty good job.
Oh, and I also wanted salads that were filling. There’s nothing worse than finishing your salad at 12:55 and feeling hungry again by 1:15, so I made sure that all the salads had either a meat or grain protein added to fill me up longer.
Of course, if you do a mostly vegetarian diet like I do, you can always add more beans or grains in place of a meat option. To get a “making salad in a jar 101” lesson, this is a great post to start with.
Some people suggest that you should keep more perishable items (like meat, cheese, soft vegetables (like avocado) and fruit) out of the jar and add them to the top that day instead, but I also saw that a lot of people said they didn’t have a problem when they put them in at the beginning of the week.
Coating the soft fruits and veggies in a little lemon or lime juice first and packing the jar as tightly as you can helps them keep fresh all five days. Now that you’ve got the basics under your belt, here are the five salads that I liked the most!
I am a big fan of Mexican food, and we make a lot of tacos and burrito bowl type dishes at our house. I can already tell this black bean and corn salad will be a pretty popular one for us, and I think next time I’ll even add some rice or quinoa to the top to make it extra filling, yum!
I love the mix of the mango, black beans, avocado, and quinoa in this salad. It’s nice to have a bit of sweet in a savory salad and the mango gives it a bit of a tropical feel.
I did run across a few salads like this one where they suggest making only three days’ worth because of the shelf life of certain ingredients (so you would have to make that one twice that week), but hey, making lunch twice is still better than five times if you ask me!
In the summer, I can’t get enough of making Caprese salads with the tomatoes and basil we grow on the back porch. Add a little fresh basil into this tomato and mozzarella salad and you’ll feel like it’s summer again!
The only problem with this quinoa and sweet potato salad is that I can’t eat all the roasted sweet potato before I put it into the jars (so good)! I also appreciate that this salad has a lot of filling ingredients that will help keep you full long after lunch is over.
Olives are one of my favorite foods on the planet (I’m the only person I know who stands by the olive tray all night at a party), so adding Kalamata olives to this greek chicken salad makes me a very happy girl.
A little salty feta cheese goes a long way on this salad and the baby cucumbers add a delightful crunch to the dish.
Don’t they look so delicious! At lunchtime, just pour the salad into a bowl and give it a stir with your fork—easy! I would definitely recommend making one salad to try before you make a whole week’s worth of that variety.
I had a giant taste fail with one of the first salads I tried, and I was really glad I didn’t already have a week’s worth of them in the fridge. I’m going to challenge myself to do a month straight of salad in a jar options during the work week and see how I feel and what tweaks I’d like to add to these recipes.
Do you think you’ll give the salad in a jar idea a try? Or, if you’ve already tried it, do you have any tips or favorite recipes that you love? xo. Laura
C
Why hadn’t I ever thought of this before? LOVE this idea! So easy! And it makes transporting lunches so simple, too. Thank you for your ingenuity!
Circus & Bloom
See above…. shake and put in a bowl. 🙂
Are you supposed to eat straight from the jar or to put the jar’s contents on a separate plate? This is so new to me!
This is genius! I’m definately going to try it!
You just mix all the ingredients into a bigger bowl!
This is so genius! I’m definately going to try it!
awesome idea! I love salads and I do try to eat healthy but it’s hard to get it prepared before work. so I think I will be trying this for a week and see how it goes. love mason jars and always looking for new ways to use them! thanks for this awesome idea. xx. gigi. www.gigikkitchen.com
they look pretty cool, and do I wonder if they go soggy after a few hours?
Salads in jars aren’t passé, that’s cookie mix in jars … Hehe! Great selection of recipes, feeling inspired!
Thanks for sharing Love these ideas:)
This really is a genius idea! I know what I’m going to be doing sunday night!!
www.peonyandpeach.blogspot.com
Real eye candy…these salads look so good
For the people who are confused about how to eat these, or don’t want to dirty both a jar and a bowl- I bet you could just make these in a normal well sealing storage container instead. The idea that the jar seals tighter and keeps the salad more fresh isn’t necessarily true. They do seal tight when you use them for actual water bath canning, but you aren’t canning the salad just screwing the top on. From what I’ve seen the jar is more for the cuteness and trendiness of the mason jar craze. That said, the actual salad combinations here look so delicious. Jar or no jar, I’ll certainly be trying some! Thank you!
yum! cool idea!
xx nikki
www.dream-in-neon.com
I´ve seen salads in jars, like you´ve said 😉 nothing new, but never the less I love the idea and you just reminded me that I really should try making a salad in jar!
Thanks for the reminder and the inspiration, oh and all the different recipes 🙂 they all look sooooo amazing and delicious
YOU GUYS – Yes. Genius and now I am craving a frehs salad.
www.dancingthroughsunday.com.au
Love these ideas! Check out the Cuppow by Bnto…it is a dressing cup that fits wide mouth mason jars. It’s also great if you want cut up veggies and hummus or celery with peanut butter!
What an awesome idea! Suddenly I’m craving a salad… 🙂
Amanda xxx
Hey Laura! Just wondering what size jars you used. Thanks for the salad links!!!
Ah I gotta try this idea! I wanted to back in ‘March 2014’, but completely forgot about the idea until now. Thanks for the reminder 🙂