Salads are great aren’t’ they? Healthy, delicious, simple, easy to make, and when you eat them, you feel like you should give yourself a pat on the back for chowing down the protein and raw veggie mix.
Salads make an excellent lunch option that can help you stay full all day, but when you’re on the go, if they aren’t stored properly, packed salads can quickly turn soggy and unappealing. That’s why today I’m sharing a guide on how to keep a packed salad fresh, crisp, and delicious until lunch time.
How To Pack Salad For Lunch
If you want to pack a salad for lunch that won’t be sad and soggy, here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Choose the right containers
Maintaining a crisp salad for lunch requires choosing the right containers to store it in. Tossing the wet (or crunchy) ingredients in all together with the protein and veggies won’t cut it. So whether you go glass, stainless steel, or plastic, look for containers that have separate compartments (or get smaller containers) that are leak resistant so you can properly store your ingredients.
Step 2: Separate your salad greens and toppings
Next, you’ll want to move forward with separating your ingredients. The salad dressing and crunchy toppings will need their own separate containers so be sure to separate your salad greens and toppings. If you have smaller containers, put your toppings in those and reserve the larger containers for the core of your salad.
Step 3: Cool grains before packing
Depending on what type of salad you pack, you may need to cool down your hot ingredients like the protein or grains before packing. This will ensure your salad greens won’t get wilted and remain crisp and fresh.
Step 4: Layer your ingredients
Keeping your salad fresh mostly comes down to how it’s being layered. If you have a great container to keep everything separate, you won’t have to worry about this part so much; but if you don’t have a container with separate compartments, you can opt to put the salad dressing in the container first (on the bottom), then layer your heartier vegetables like onions and broccoli, then your leafy greens and anything crunchy on top.
Best Lunch Containers for Salad
Adding the best meal prep containers to your stock can help you keep your packed salad fresh, crunchy, and ready to eat.
If you’re on the hunt for the perfect containers you can use, here are some of the top contenders.
Bentgo All-in-One Salad Container
If you’re looking for the best of the best, then this Bentgo all-in-one salad container is hard to beat. The compartments are perfect for meal prepping salads the night before, keeping toppings separate, and not having to worry about anything getting soggy. The bottom is sturdy and large enough to fill with more than just salad if you’d like. Plus, this one easily fits into a lunch bag and is easy to clean and overall a great value for your money.
Rubbermaid Brilliance
If you need something airtight and leak-proof, this rubbermaid container is your pick! These are wonderful for salads (and other food you want to keep fresh too). They are a nice thick plastic that withstands all kinds of dropping and banging around so you can have confidence about your salad dressing and fresh greens staying separate. Also, if you’re making a bunch of packed salads in advance, these are easy to stack in the fridge.
Mason jar with a divider cup
Keep your salad fresh in a good old mason jar. And when you’re on the go, make sure you grab the Mason jar divider cup attachment perfect for holding salad dressings or other dipping sauces. These divider cups are leak resistant and made to fit on just about any 3″ Ball or Kerr Mason jar. These things are pretty durable and dishwasher safe.
Overall, keeping your salads fresh requires a little preparation and execution. With the right containers and layering technique, you can have ready to eat salad for lunch while on the go.
Like these tips, but need non refrigerated lunch ideas? We’ve got you covered with this comprehensive list of ideas you can try.
