Get Your House Salad (Bar) on!
Are the days of pre-covid salad bars behind us? People are now wary of hitting up salad bars like Sweetgreen, Chopt and Tender Greens, and especially the self-serve ones in Whole Foods and other gourmet supermarkets. There is simply nothing less appetizing than eating food that’s been laying out in the open all day, exposed to all the possible (viral) germs. While the ease and convenience of these vegetable havens remarkably increased the number of people turning to much healthier fast food options, corona fears are surpassing those of longer term health consequences caused by poor fast food choices..
But suppose you can have a customized salad bar that’s personally tailored with all your favorite organic fresh foods, prepared to your exact preference, with even more ease and convenience? Here’s an easy how-to guide to creating your very own home salad bar that’ll keep your waistlines summer slim, and most importantly your nutrient uptake high. It takes only once to organize the process and get your weekly meal prep habitualized so that a daily salad will take you no more than 5 minutes to make! That’s actually LESS TIME than travelling to a salad bar, waiting in line, ordering your food, and checking out. Not to mention, your savings costs.
Here’s how to do it:
Reorganize your fridge to dedicate your largest, most accessible refrigerator shelf to be used solely for your salad bar.
Make a list of all your favorite Salad items as if you were ordering at a salad bar.
#EattheRainbow hasn’t gone viral without merit - the more colorful and diverse the spectrum of greens, veggies and foods you add in, the more variety of different vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytonutrients you will intake. Your body, energy levels, and health will repay you in dividends. Here are some great options:
Leafy Greens: Spinach, Kale, Romaine Lettuce, Spring Mix, Radicchio, etc.
Raw Veggies: carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, etc.
Cooked Veggies: mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, peas, corn, etc.
Grain: quinoa, lentils, buckwheat, rice, etc.
Onions (red, white, scallion), garlic, etc.
nuts & seeds: sunflower, pumpkin or hemp seeds, sliced almonds
Other add ins: sprouts, dry roasted edamame or chickpeas, snap peas
Protein: beans, tofu, chicken, fish, tuna, etc.
Choose your options for the week and make your grocery list.
If you are low on time, simply buy as much as you can that is pre-washed/pre-chopped. These are items all supermarkets sell:
bags of leafy greens
boxes of pre-chopped onions
pre-chopped raw veggies like bell peppers
small cherry tomatoes or petit baby carrots that can just be thrown into the salad without chopping.
3. Pick a convenient day of the week to meal prep and “Batch Cook” the rest-you will need about 1.5-2 hours. Sunday evenings are typically the best choice for most. Prepare to cook 5-6 days worth (assuming you will skip 1 or 2 days for weekend outings or a work lunch), which is about the right amount of time most of these foods will stay fresh.
Grains: I put ½ cup of buckwheat or quinoa in each salad. That means i’ll cook 3 cups of grains and then separate them into 6 individual ½ cup glass containers so that my daily portion is ready to go when making my salad.
Mushrooms: I batch cook pre chopped organic white mushrooms and store in a large glass container (I use a couple of TBS in each salad).
Protein: I prepare 1 or 2 protein options on Sunday evenings such as crispy tofu or tempeh slices, baked falafels or black beans and store in a glass container right on my salad shelf. If you typically get grilled chicken, prepare it how you like it and it should stay fresh in the fridge for about 3 days. If you’re into tuna, try a low-sodium tuna light (I recommend: wild planet) and simply leave the can on your salad shelf. Another good tip is to make extra protein at dinner and use the leftover for your salad to save time mid week from having to make an extra batch.
Cooked vegetables: On Sunday evenings I prepare my cooked veggies, such as steamed green beans or baked spaghetti squash, and then separate them into 6, 1 cup glass containers so my portions are ready to go (just like the grains). They stay fresh and last the full 6 days. You can pre-roast or steam other veggies like carrots, zucchini, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower or broccoli. Similarly to the protein, you can also make a bit extra during dinner time to use the leftovers the next day in your salad.
Onions: either purchase a box of pre chopped onions and garlic, or chop it yourself for the week.
Other veggies: wash you cherry tomatoes and baby carrots and put them into individual glass containers ready for use. Other veggies like bell peppers can be pre chopped Sunday evening and stored. I even make one massive pre chopped container of cucumbers and tomatoes so I can scoop out a few tablespoons into my mixed salad. Bags of frozen organic corn or peas take 5 mins to prepare and can be easily stored.
Everything else: all nuts, seeds, broccoli sprouts, dry roasted edamame and chickpeas can simply be placed on your salad shelf in the original packaging.
Avocado: this is the single only ingredient that can be pre chopped so you’ll have to take the extra 30 seconds to scoop some fresh avocado in.
Spices and Dressings: Like your fridge, this will have to be organized ONCE and finally, the perfect excuse for a pantry cleanout! Throw away your expired dressings or any of the ones that contain way too many calories, sodium or fat in the labels. Keep the minimal-ingredient, less processed ones like vinaigrettes, mustards, apple cider vinegar, 100% lemon or lime juice. Organize them in 1 accessible place on your fridge (I use the door shelf for my dressings). Keep a few your favorite spices readily accessible on the counter top as well. My salad go-tos are always cayenne pepper, paprika, turmeric, black pepper, sea salt, garlic powder and crushed red pepper. I’ll be posting a healthy salad dressing list for you to refer to in my RECIPES SECTION shortly so keep an eye out!
The bulk of your time takes place ONCE to:
Organize and rearrange of your refrigerator (including salad dressing/ spice cabinets) to make room for your new salad bar.
Getting all the required kitchen equipment: particularly enough single serve size glass Tupperware. You probably already have most of the stuff like salad bowls, tongs, etc lying around anyway! I recommend getting plastic reusable bowls with lids, in case you need to bring your salad to go.
Creating your initial master grocery list.
Food shopping: Unless I’m using a supermarket visit as an activity with my kids (one of the best way to teach them about healthy foods) or a family outing to the farmer’s market, I only use Prime Now or Instacart. I have access to whole foods, amazon prime, amazon fresh, and all my local supermarkets. I place my order from the comfort of my own bed before I go to sleep, and use the few hours I would have been shopping and traveling to and from the supermarket for meal prep instead.
Now that you have automated everything, your batch cooking will take place once/week for 2 hours and your healthy, nutrient rich delicious lunch will take you exactly 5 minutes to prepare every day! #EattheRainbow
