My kids love salads for lunch, so I’ve started making Salads in a Jar to send into school with them.
What’s a salad in a jar? Well you layer the ingredients for a salad into a canning jar in a specific order so that everything you need is in there, but nothing gets soggy and gross. As a matter of fact when you make salad in a jar correctly you can store them for about a week in the fridge. I love that because on Sunday night we can make 4-6 jars and then have 2 or 3 days worth of lunches all ready to go!
So what’s the order? Well you put dressing or very wet stuff first, then hard items that won’t get soggy from the wet (like carrots), then stuff that is sturdy but that you couldn’t put right up next to the dressing (cheese, bacon, tomatoes-stuff like that) and finally you pack in the lettuce.
The kiddos have been enjoying my basic salads, but I wanted to try something a little different–so when Walmart and Wild Oats sent me some of their products to try I decided to make a marinated salad in a jar!
I figured I could make a sort of 3 bean salad out of the Wild Oats organic corn, green beans and chick peas by marinating them in Italian Dressing (you could use store bought dressing or make your own, like my Italian Dressing/Marinade Mix)
I just mixed them all together, poured in the dressing and refrigerated overnight. The next day it was time to layer my salad.
On the bottom of the jar I place a 1/4 cup of the marinated salad. On top of that went the “hard” layer of carrots and celery. Next was some cubed cheddar cheese, and finally the last half of the jar is packed firmly with chopped lettuce.
Cap the jars with some of the Ball Wide Mouth Plastic Canning Jar Lids and pop them in the fridge. Send the salad in for lunch along with a bag of chips that can be crushed and sprinkled on top right before eating!
Here’s a “pro tip” for you–I personally hate trying to eat the salad out of the jar itself–by the time you’ve packed all that goodness in there you don’t have a lot of room to mix it up or use your fork. So I include an empty container large enough to hold the salad, along with a fork, and then the kids can just dump their salad into the empty container and eat. This also has the benefit of reversing the order of the ingredients so that the salad dressing/marinated vegetables are on top and the lettuce is on the bottom!
Have you tried making Salad in a Jar?
****This is a sponsored post****
Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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