Quick and Easy Mason Jar Salads

None of us have enough hours in the day, so anything we can do to save time is worth it. Aside from having a weekly menu plan, I also try to do some food prep on Sunday for the week. One really fun on-the-go lunch is mason jar salads. The whole concept is super simple and so easy.

Step 1: fill your mason jar with goodness

Step 2: take to work

Step 3: dump in a bowl and enjoy

Mason jars are super popular and you can find 8.2 million crafty things to do with them on Pinterest. However, their original purpose was to store food and they are a perfect salad holder. You can fill the jars and they will last up to 5 days in a fridge, so you could make a work week’s worth of lunches in one sitting.

When is comes time to enjoy the salad, I prefer to dump it out into a bowl or plate. I have heard of some people just shaking it and eating it out of the jar, but I fill mine so full the shake and eat method does not work.

The way in which you load your mason jar is essential to the success and longevity of the salad.

Here is the formula for a tasty, fresh and not soggy mason jar salad!

Bottom Layer – dressing

2nd Layer – hearty veggies (carrots, celery, cucumbers, peppers, corn)

3rd Layer – soft veggies (tomatoes, mushrooms, squash)

4th Layer – protein (chicken, beef, ham, turkey, egg, beans, tofu)

5th Layer – dairy (shredded cheese, grated cheese)

6th Layer – greens (kale, spinach, lettuce, arugula, romain)

By putting the dressing on the bottom and following the layers listed above it will keep your greens fresh and dry.

For these mason jar salads I used Victoria’s Garden Grown dressings. This is a new to me brand that I had the pleasure to try. Victoria’s Garden Grown dressings are chock full of veggies, vitamins and they are low in calories. And to top it off the dressings are Gluten Free, organic, vegan, and non-GMO. There are 6 flavors to choose from. You can use them in salads, marinates, soups, appetizers and even drinks! Check out all the great recipes on their site.

When you read the story about how Victoria’s Garden Grown was created it just makes you smile. Victoria, like most of us, struggled to eat healthy and eat veggies without covering them in some sort of sauce. This lead her to create these tasty and healthy dressing that you can use in so many recipes. So now you can use these dressings on your salad, soups, etc and know you are putting good ingredients into your body.