If salads are your jam, you recognize a high quality salad can price you twice as a lot as a burger. Yikes! Not solely does that value take a success to your pockets, however it additionally takes a success to your motivation to eat the salad as a substitute of the burger.

If you’re on the hunt for handy meals… that’s wholesome… saves you cash… AND tastes nice… it’s possible you’ll surprise when you’re asking an excessive amount of. However with meal prep, you possibly can test all of those containers!

It’s straightforward to make more healthy consuming selections and lower your expenses if you meal prep for the week.

However are you able to actually have that excellent lunchtime salad able to seize n’ go from the fridge? Sure!

If you wish to preserve your salads recent and crisp for days at a time, listed below are some ideas for the greatest method to meal prep salads. 

HOW TO MEAL PREP SALADS FOR THE WEEK

It’s true, a typical salad that hangs out within the fridge for days tends to get soggy and gross. 

However now we have a couple of salad meal prep methods and ideas that may preserve your salads recent. 

Right here’s your straightforward step-by-step information for salad prepping.

1. Begin with Salad Greens

Not all greens are created equally in the case of meal prep. For those who want your salad to final a number of days, select stronger greens on your base salad so that you don’t find yourself with soggy salads. You’ll want to make use of greens like kale, romaine lettuce, cabbage, or swiss chard. If you wish to embody softer greens like spinach, wait and add these tender leaves nearer to the time you’re consuming the salad. 

1. Add Agency Greens

To provide your salad nice taste and diet, add quite a lot of veggies. The most effective greens for prepped salads are agency and maintain up effectively after they’re washed and minimize. Embody veggies like bell pepper, broccoli, onion, snow peas, celery, carrots, cauliflower, and corn. Ensure you use a paper towel to pat dry the veggies after washing. Any added moisture will result in a mushy salad.

1. Add Proteins

Be certain your salad is a whole meal by including some protein. Together with quinoa, lentils, black beans, chickpeas, or hen is a good way to make your salad extra filling. Totally prepare dinner and funky your proteins earlier than including them to the salad.

1. Prep Salad Toppings and Salad Dressing

The most important tip for maintaining your salad prep recent for per week is to retailer your toppings and dressing individually out of your salad. Salads that keep recent all week use separate containers for toppings and dressing to maintain crunchy meals crunchy. Prep the toppings and dressing so the complete salad will likely be able to seize when wanted – simply combine the containers collectively earlier than consuming. 

Meal prep salad is rather a lot like constructing a salad you’d eat straight away. The most important distinction if you need salads that may final per week is ensuring you select the suitable components and handle moisture ranges to offer your salad an extended shelf life. 

HOW DO YOU KEEP SALADS FRESH FOR THE WEEK?

Listed here are our hacks to maintain salad recent all week:

• Select agency salad greens. You’ll have to move on the child spinach and use stronger leaves like romaine lettuce or cabbage.
• Maintain the dressing. Including the salad dressing simply earlier than consuming is one of the simplest ways to maintain your salad recent and crisp.
• Construct it the wrong way up. If you would like the dressing in the identical container, add the dressing to the underside of the container earlier than including the opposite components. Subsequent add the protein, fruits, and veggies, after which add the greens. If you’re able to eat, give your container a shake or use a fork to toss all of it collectively. 
• Flat containers are higher than tall containers. The mason jar salad makes a fairly image on Pinterest, however salads in-built mason jars can squish the greens and make a soggier salad. Utilizing a bigger, flat storage container will assist unfold out the veggies and the load. For those who do go for the mason jar, construct your salad the wrong way up.

• Hold it dry. You’ll wash a lot of the objects in your salad earlier than constructing the salad. This added liquid, in addition to any liquid naturally within the meals, can depart your lettuce swimming in a yucky mess by the tip of the week. Ensure you pat dry any washed objects or use a salad spinner. And keep away from reducing juicy additions like cherry tomatoes, grapes, or berries. Select veggies which can be naturally drier like carrots and broccoli.
• Keep away from the warmth. Chances are you’ll get pleasure from a quinoa salad or a steak salad, however don’t add these components whereas sizzling until you desire a wilted salad. Settle down all cooked components earlier than including them to your greens.

With these easy methods, you possibly can meal prep salads and preserve them recent.

HOW TO BATCH PREP VS INGREDIENT PREP FOR SALADS

You’ll be able to select from two major strategies of meal prepping salads. Each prevent money and time and provide you with fast entry to a wholesome meal. 

One technique finishes with the salads in individually portioned containers and the opposite technique leaves the ultimate meeting till later within the week. 

Listed here are the small print for each strategies so you possibly can select which works greatest for you. 

Methodology 1: Batch Prep Salads

You’re most likely extra aware of batch prepping than you understand. For those who’ve eaten leftovers, that’s batch prepping! 

Batch prepping is if you make an additional massive batch of meals and eat it for a number of meals. For salads, this could be like making a jumbo caesar salad to eat as a aspect dish with all of your dinners all through the week. Or like making a big batch of couscous and beans salad and having grab-and-go lunches for an complete week.

The advantage of batch prepping is having your dish utterly able to eat. Whether or not you portion out the dish into particular person containers or retailer it in a single massive container to serve later, you’ve blended all components collectively and it’s able to go. Simply add toppings and dressing. 

Methodology 2: Ingredient Prep Salads

Ingredient prep is one other type of meal prepping. This technique consists of washing, reducing, and cooking the components in your dish. However as a substitute of assembling the meal, you place every ingredient in its personal storage container and assemble the dish later within the week. 

The advantages of ingredient prep embody flexibility in your menu and elevated freshness. Your menu is versatile as a result of with a handful of prepped components you can also make many various meals. You’re not dedicated to consuming a single meal a number of occasions all through the week. You probably have veggies, black beans, hen, and quinoa within the fridge, you possibly can toss these along with totally different dressings and toppings to make something from a salad to a TexMex bowl. Conserving your components separate in meal prep containers can even assist your recent components last more. 

Selecting a Methodology

Each strategies are nice methods to meal prep. Choosing a technique comes all the way down to your private desire. As with all facets of meal prep, do what works for you! 

For those who’re a meal prep newbie, we’d counsel you begin with batch prepping. This technique is easy and reduces midweek steps. When you’ve mastered making a couple of recipes forward of time with batch prepping, experiment with ingredient prep. Then the selection is yours from there!

BEST VEGGIES TO USE FOR MEAL PREPPING SALADS

Not all veggies keep recent for per week in your fridge after you’ve washed and minimize them. Take into consideration avocados – you wouldn’t wish to eat a brown avocado that you simply minimize per week earlier. 

So to keep away from brown avocados and slimy cucumbers, give these veggies a strive for meal prepping salads:

• Beets
• Cherry tomatoes (don’t minimize)
• Grated carrots
• Bell peppers
• Grated brussels sprouts
• Pink onion
• Inexperienced onions
• Roasted candy potato
• Snap peas
• Celery
• Radishes

If you wish to embody different veggies or toppings to your salad that don’t keep recent as lengthy, plan on including them to your salad on the day you eat. You’ll nonetheless save a lot of time having your salad able to go. With solely a minute or two of prep so as to add your remaining components, you’ll be able to eat.

SALAD DRESSINGS PERFECT FOR MEAL PREP

Convey your bowl of leafy-green goodness to life with a flavorful dressing! 

For those who haven’t made your individual dressings earlier than, you’re lacking out. The salad dressings from the grocery retailer are sometimes filled with unhealthy fat. If you make your dressing at dwelling, you recognize precisely what you’re getting in each chunk. 

Give do-it-yourself salad dressings a strive. You’ll be shocked at how simply they arrive along with components you most likely have already got available. 

Making a pleasant French dressing with olive oil means you possibly can keep away from a dressing filled with ldl cholesterol, sodium, sugar, or carbohydrates.

Get began with these recipes:

Combine and match your dressings and toppings to create a brand new taste on daily basis. The identical greens and veggies don’t ever get boring if you costume your salad up with these popping flavors!

SALAD RECIPES TO GET YOU STARTED WITH MEAL PREP

Salads are enjoyable, flavorful, and filling when finished proper! Don’t accept a plain pile of lettuce with solely a grated carrot on high – that’s not going to encourage you to eat your veggies on daily basis. 

For those who want some salad inspiration, check out one among these mouth-watering recipes that may have you ever excited for mealtime. 

For extra salad and meal prep inspo, test us out on Youtube.