Need a quick lunch idea? Mason jar salads are easy to prep to eat at home or take on the go!
I try to use Sundays as my day to set myself up for a productive and successful week ahead. For meals, I grab whatever I need from the grocery store, or set up a delivery through Shipt, and I portion out and prep as many snacks and meals as I can. This is a huge help in making healthy choices throughout the week when I am in a rush.
To prep these salads, I picked up some wide mouth mason jars. I made five salads for the week and it took less than 30 minutes.
First, I cooked up some corn and some chicken on the stove first since that would take the most time. Using a slow cooker to make shredded chicken is also a great option for this! While that was cooking, I got out the five mason jars and removed the lids and pulled out the other ingredients I would be adding to my salads.
I have seen where you can place your salad dressing in the jar first, but I just use a separate small container for this in my lunch bag or from the bottle in the refrigerator. If you wanted it all in one jar though, you would put your dressing at the bottom and then add your most dense veggies on top so that the salad stays fresh in your fridge all week. Make sure you save your salad greens for last, I use spinach but you can use arugula, romaine, etc.
My go-to mason jar salad combination with ingredients listed in the order they were added to the jar:
- Salad Dressing, if not using a separate container
- Corn
- Quinoa
- Almonds, chopped
- Chicken, cooked and cut up or shredded
- Feta Cheese Crumbles
- Spinach
There are so many options to make different salad combinations! The options are really endless. Some other ideas: steak instead of chicken, shredded cheese, black beans, sesame sticks, shredded carrots, dried cranberries, tomatoes, and more. In less than 30 minutes, I have five salads ready to grab and go for lunch during the week.
Have you tried these before? I would love to hear what you put in yours and any other great tips!
