Feb172012

Salad in a Jar

Salad in a Jar

Yes, salad in a jar.

I could eat salad for lunch and dinner every day and not get tired of it. I order it at restaurants when I’m feeling confident about the restaurant, though I’m usually disappointed with brown lettuce and tomato butts. I HATE TOMATO BUTTS.

Salad in a Jar

I have been wanting to do this for years. I first came across Paula’s blog (aptly titled Salad In A Jar) in 2009, not long after I moved my own stuff over here to Heather’s Bytes. I was instantly intrigued because if there’s one thing I love more than sweets, it’s salad.

Is that messed up? I don’t even care.

Salad in a Jar

My biggest problem with having salad at home, though, is that it goes bad so quickly. I could buy a head of lettuce or a bag of pre-chopped salad and just a few days later it’s wilted and brown. We have some with dinner for a night or two, and Mike takes some for lunch, but there’s always half a bag left over that I have to toss. (It’s not a Mary Poppins carpet bag of lettuce or anything — I buy the huge bags at Sam’s for under $2 each).

Anyway, salad in a jar just makes sense. You use a FoodSaver machine with a mason jar attachment and voila, you’ve got non-wilting salad for two weeks without having to run to the store every other day. You do it in a jar because they’re portable, and the FoodSaver bags would crush the salad. Plus, the jars are reusable and those bags are ridiculously not.

Salad in a Jar

(Of course, you still have to keep it in the fridge.)

I picked up the quart-sized, wide mouth canning jars at Walmart for $10 for a case of 12, and four bags of salad from Sam’s for under $8. I could easily get heads of lettuce and do it myself but come on. I’m apparently too lazy for that. I get iceberg lettuce because, while I know it isn’t as nutritious as Romaine, the whole family approves of it, so whatever works.

I also get the big containers of grape tomatoes at Sam’s, which don’t even last as long as the salad does, but that’s because I eat them, not because they go bad too fast. I want to experiment with them and see if they’ll last longer in a jar too, but I’m afraid of wasting them if it doesn’t work.

Topping ideas are endless. If you’re making dinner with it, I like to use leftover chicken, shredded Parmesan cheese, whatever dressing, tomatoes and baked croutons. For a light lunch you could use mushrooms, sunflower seeds and raisins (it’s not as weird as it sounds, I promise).

This is why I will never get tired of salad. Put anything you want on it.

Which I’m going to go do right now.

Salad in a Jar

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12 Responses

  1. kathy hanselFebruary 17th, 2012
  2. RebeccaFebruary 17th, 2012
  3. RebeccaFebruary 18th, 2012
  4. WendyFebruary 19th, 2012
  5. ChelseaFebruary 21st, 2012
  6. Andrea (questfordelish)February 27th, 2012

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