If there is such a thing as "trends" for lunches, then the lunch-in-a-jar is the hottest trend right. Being the food blog and cooking magazine fiend that I am, I started to see these meals in a jar pop up on several sites/articles these past couple of months, and so if you are like me, then this trend is not breaking news. However, I'm here to report that I've had and enjoyed several lunch-in-a-jar's and this trend has staying power! I'll admit, I was first lured into the idea just based on the aesthetics (the layered look in the jars is so colorful and interesting) but after a week's worth of test tests I was hooked. The big 32oz mason jars were big enough to build a delicious, layered, and filling (and super healthy!!) salads. I did one full week of basic "create your own adventure" salads and then another week of more involved "out of the box" salads from a
Clean Eating article. The blog,
Lunch Box Bunch, started it all for me has a great tutorial and good ingredient ideas for the make your own salads. And true to what the blogger attests too; I made 4 salads on a Sunday night and they stayed fresh all the way through my last one on Thursday. As the
CE salads, they were also really good, however I have a couple notes about each one and my biggest gripe with them is that they took a lot of dishes and prep to make. And
CE also advises only eating them 1 day in advance of making the salads. So, they might not be perfect for work week lunches, but they would make excellent picnic lunches or to take camping, hiking, or on a flight if you need a healthy to-go lunch option.
Here's a pic of my build-a-salads:
Notes about the CE Salads: I thought Asian Stir Fry Noodle Salad the ingredients were really tasty, but the dressing just needed a little something. I guess it depends on your taste, so if you make it just taste test it and see if you think it needs more soy sauce, maybe some ginger, siracha for spice, maple syrup or teriyaki sauce. Depends on what you gravitate more, I thought it could use more spice and soy sauce to add a little more spice and salty flavor. For the Moroccan Chicken and Carrot Salad, this was my favorite of the three CE salads that I tried, but I would caution that if you aren't a big mint or parsley fan or like your herbs to be more subtle, then I would either finely chop the mint/parsely leaves or omit them altogether. and maybe replace with mixed greens. The dressing also needs a pinch more salt, but again taste test it for yourself because you might like things less salty than I do! And for the Tri-Color Pasta Salad with Tuna, I liked this one a lot and it could really be made with chicken, tuna, tofu, tempeh, or whatever. The sun-dried tomato dressing is good with lots of balsamic vinegar flavor. I also put goat cheese on this instead of mozzarella cheese.
