Salad in a jar: keeping it healthy at work
in Blogs

If you’re lucky enough to have a healthy canteen at work, then this article won’t be for you. However, there are many of us that are not that blessed with nutritious wholesome food at work, so I’m going to share a little secret with you to keep you on track. This lunch option should keep those energy levels up until home time.

Salad in a jar! Yes, it’s as simple as that and best of all, it can be made with all of last night’s left overs after dinner. If you follow my instructions carefully, it will still have the crunch as if you made it for lunch. It’s great for kids lunches too (perhaps a smaller jar will suffice), but you may need to find a padded bottle cover to prevent it from breaking, or try a BPA free plastic jar.

You’ll need a mason jar with a lid. These jars are around 900ml and come with a tight fitting screw on lid. This prevents air from coming in, possibly resulting in a soggy salad and if it falls over, it shouldn't leak.

I’ll give you a recipe to get you started, but feel free to explore and create as you wish. A good goal to aim for is the colour of the rainbow. If you can fill that jar with the brightest of colours, not only will it be packed with antioxidants and delicious-ness, but it will be so nutritious for you. It’s key to always begin with your salad dressing at the bottom of the jar. Then pack in your protein, followed by hearty veggies like carrots, cucumber, beetroots and finally the lettuce. If you would like to include nuts and seeds, keep these separate for when you are about to eat. They can be sprinkled in after you have seasoned your jar with salt and pepper.

Here we go:

Salad dressing (2-3 servings so less work to do tomorrow)

  • - 1 clove garlic
    - 1 free range egg yolk
    - 1/2 cup cold pressed olive oil/ cold pressed avocado or sunflower oil
    - 2 tablespoons freely squeezed lemon juice
    - 2 anchovy filets
    - 1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley leaves
    - 2 tablespoons mixed herbs

 

Method

  1. In a small deep bowl (or directly into a blender), add the minced garlic, egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of oil, lemon juice and anchovies. Blend with a stick blender if using the bowl. While the blender is running, pour in the balance of the oil until thickened. Finely chop the parsley, add it to the dressing and pulse briefly. Stir in the dry herbs and leave in the fridge or pour a portion (100-150ml or more if you prefer) directly into your mason jar.
  2. Add in any cooked boneless chopped chicken. This could be stir fried strips, pieces of a left over roasted chicken, sliced chicken breasts, or chicken thighs with the bones removed. Whatever chicken you have that is removed from the bone and chopped into bite size pieces, load it into your jar on top of the dressing.
  3. Hearty veggies get squeezed in next. So chop up in bite size portions whatever you have in your fridge, such as chopped carrots, grated beetroot, radish, peppers, cucumber, celery, fennel, onions, mushrooms, avo, cabbage, tomato, apple - really anything you can eat raw that is in your fridge. Push these in on top of the chicken. Then add your lettuce leaves; you need to chop them to make it easier to eat and to get more into the jar. Add some sprouts or micro greens to the jar, then seal it and leave it upright in the fridge for tomorrow.
  4. When you are ready to eat it, season with a good quality salt and pepper and sprinkle some nuts and seeds (if you like), then seal the lid again. Now comes the fun bit. Check you have closed the lid tightly and then shake the jar like you mean it. Make sure you have the dressing coated on the top leaves, then grab a fork and tuck in. Enjoy with a slice of sourdough bread smeared with a good dollop of fresh, raw farm butter. Your body with be so grateful after this meal!