I’ll be honest; every time I want to eat a salad I never want to make it. Washing lettuce, chopping vegetables, making salad dressing… it’s the last thing I want to do when I’m hungry and in need of food QUICK. At the same time, I don’t like to eat a meal without having a salad before!
Anytime you are eating a meal, you want to flood your body with enzymes beforehand. What do I mean by that? Well, raw vegetables contain live enzymes that help our body metabolize food. The more enzymes in our body, the better our food will digest. Eating raw vegetables before having a meal will allow the body to process the food more efficiently. Your food can either sit in your stomach like you’re stuck in city traffic or it can be smooth sailing like you’re flying down the highway. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be flying down the highway!
With my make-ahead salad, you will be able to have salads ready made in the fridge whenever you need it. A little bit of prep on the weekend will make life much easier during the week. Here’s how you do it:
You will first need to get six wide-mouth mason jars (see photo above).
Next, you want to get all your ingredients together and prepped. Please note that this is MY recipe for a make-ahead salad, but feel free to change up the ingredients to your liking!
- 1 bag organic spring mix lettuce
- 3 organic Persian cucumbers or 1 regular cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced
- 1 organic bell pepper, chopped
- 2 cups organic shredded carrot
- ⅓ cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1 ½ cups Lauren’s Favorite Dressing
- Once your ingredients are prepped, line up the six mason jars on your counter with the lids removed.
- Add 2-3 Tablespoons of dressing to the bottom of each mason jar, being careful to not get any dressing on the sides of the jars.
- The next step is very important. The order that you add the veggies is crucial. Do the sliced cucumbers first, then the bell peppers, shredded carrot, and sunflower seeds. Make sure you divide the ingredients evenly among the six jars!
- Lastly, you want to add the lettuce. The key to this step is packing the lettuce down to fit a good amount inside the jar. One bag of lettuce will be the perfect amount for all six jars.
- Now screw the lids on and pop those babies in the fridge! You now have six salads ready to eat when you are.
- When you are ready to eat the salad, simply unscrew the lid, dump the salad upside down into a bowl and voila! The dressing will pour out and coat all the lettuce and veggies. Mix ingredients around and it’s time to eat! Easy-peasy.
It’s amazing what a little bit of prepping ahead can do to make eating during the week a tad bit easier.
Please note that you will want to eat the salads within 3-4 days. After that, the moisture inside the jar will wilt the lettuce (yuck).
Okay, time to get prepping! I hope you enjoy these make-ahead salads as much as I do!
In health and love,
