pinned it. did it. {with meg}
liz lamoreux
Meg is sharing another Pinned it. Did it. adventure today. I've seen these "salad in a jar" pins and always wondered, "Does it really work?" Her answer might just get me to try it.
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Occasionally while I’m browsing on Pinterest, I come across something and think, “why didn’t I think of that?” This is one of those very things: Salad in a jar. I really like to eat salad. I like to get creative with the ingredients and I am adventurous in experimenting with my own dressings and combinations. But sometimes I struggle to use up the salad vegetables before they go bad. This is a great solution to that problem and makes eating a salad for lunch (or dinner) even easier than eating fast food.
A friend of mine posted in a group I’m in about doing this method for preparing salads. She noted that they lasted and stayed fresh for the entire work week. And I knew it was something worth trying in our house. I bought a 9 pack of Mason Jars for around $10. I purchased wide-mouth jars so they would be easy to fill and wash. I bought jars that are a pint and a half in size.
Last week we made caesar salads. The order in which you fill the jars does matter. The idea is to start with the dressing on the bottom so that it doesn’t make the rest of the contents soggy. So we layered caesar dressing, grilled chicken, parmesan cheese, and romaine lettuce. By the end of the week the lettuce was still crispy with no signs of wilting or rusting. I don’t like to leave chicken in the fridge longer than 5 days so we were sure to eat all 9 salads (between my husband and myself) by the end of the week.
What I love about this is that with about 20 minutes of prep work, we had lunches prepped for both of us for the whole week. It was so great to pull a jar from the fridge, give it a good shake, and enjoy it. And I did the math and each caesar salad worked out to be $1.72 each. Today I am prepping another batch of salads for our week: BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad, yum!
I’ve created a board for salad inspiration and ideas. Here are a few we’re excited to try next:
If you would like to join me in pinning to this salad board, leave us your Pinterest user name in the comments section below and I will gladly invite you to pin to this board with me. Or share the link or recipe for your favorite salad for us all to try.
Meg Brothers is an artist, photographer, mama, and dreamer. She loves cooking, tattoos, and sporadic dance parties in the kitchen. She prefers dark chocolate, black coffee, and flip flops when weather permits. She is a lover of Pinterest and truly believes in integrating ideas and inspiration - big or small - into normal life. Meg lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband, Dustin and son, Julian. Meg writes about photography, family, and creative inspiration at megbrothers.com. Find her on Pinterest here and on Twitter here.
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Note from Liz: Over here in my corner, I'm trying to "use Pinterest for good." I really see it as a community of people trying to see the beauty and possibility in their lives. I'm adding a few new features here on my blog inspired by or directly about Pinterest as a way to invite others to look for this beauty within a social media community. Connect with me on Pinterest here. Read other "Pinned it. Did it." columns here.