Sick of soggy salads and always pushed for time when prepping meals? Well here is a solution to both. Mason Jar Salads are easy, simple and delicious. You can prep up to 4 days ahead when you know the formula.

The how to:

1. Find a wide mouthed glass jar with a lid. Easy to stack and pour.
2. Prep a range of salad ingredients, protein of choice and dressing.
3. Layer one, the liquid zone, 1-4 Tablespoon salad dressing.
4. Layer two, hard non-absorbent vegetable zone, like baby tomatoes, carrot, green beans.
5. Layer three, protein zone, chicken, quinoa, fish, chickpea, bean mix, ensure they are cool to avoid cooking other ingredients.
6. Layer four, absorbent vegetable zone, mushroom, broccoli, beets, cucumber, sprouts, zucchini. Can also add seeds, nuts and cheese here.
7. Layer five, leafy green zone, spinach, rocket, baby kale, spinach, mixed lettuce.
8. Store in fridge.
9. Pour into a bowl to serve or eat it from the jar.

I love to have a variety of ingredients to shake it up a little and create a few variations for the week. Here is just one of them. Have fun, get creative, make it your own.

Mason Jar Chicken Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

Ingredients:

Honey Mustard Dressing

• ½ cup Dijon mustard
• ¼ cup honey
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salad

• 8 free range chicken tenderloins
• ½ tsp salt (Himalayan, Celtic or Sea)
• ¼ tsp ground pepper
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 1 Tbsp rice bran oil
• 500g baby or grape tomatoes, whole
• 4 Lebanese cucumbers, diced
• 1/3 cup pinenuts
• 1 beetroot, grated
• 4 handfuls sprouts (mung bean or radish)
• 1 cup crumbled goats cheese
• 400g mixed baby greens

Method:

1. Heat rice bran oil in frypan. Season chicken on both sides with salt, pepper.
2.  Add garlic to frypan with chicken and finally drizzle over lemon juice. Cook and brown on both sides.
3. Remove from heat, cool and dice chicken.
4. To make dressing: Combine all ingredients and whisk well.
5. Assemble mason jars as directed above.
6. You have 4-5 ready made meals perfect for grab to go lunches or dinners for the week.
7. Shake contents into a bowl to eat. Enjoy!

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