Salad-in-a-Box!
This concept has been a great time-saver for my family and me! It's basically a "restaurant" salad bar in a box! With the use of a "salad box" one never has to eat the same exact salad night after night! We simply withdraw the "salad box" and lettuce container from the fridge and load the dinner plate with our individual choices! Hallelujah!
Salad Box Instructions:
1st: Measure the shelf width and depth of your refrigerator cavity. The shelf height can be adjusted.
2nd: Purchase a clear plastic storage box and lid that would fit within the cavity dimensions. Storage boxes can be found in the plastic or storage departments of any store like Walmart, K-Mart, or Target.
--I bought mine at the local K-Mart for only $6.00; it's dimensions are
22" wide X 6 1/2" high X 15 1/2" deep.
3rd: Use smaller tupper-ware like or non-plastic food storage containers, if possible (**made preferably of glass, porcelain, ceramic or stainless steel) for individual items to place within the large salad box (you probably already have some in your cabinets)!
-Fill the smaller containers with items like diced tomatoes, onions; chopped cucumbers, zucchini, red cabbage; seedless grapes, grated carrots or sweet potatoes, etc.
-Include olives, salsa, raw seeds & nuts, organic raisins, sprouts; grated veggie, rice or nut cheeses; mushrooms, etc. -Also remember canned legumes like kidney, garbanzo and pinto beans that are rinsed well or your own stove-top/pressure cooked legumes.
You're limited only by your imagination!!! In some cases you can even double-stack items in the salad box for more variety!
I replenish our salad box twice weekly (i.e. Saturdays and Wednesdays); however, it depends on your family size. On occasion add a specialty salad or a cooked entreé. Couscous, whole-grained pasta or brown rice topped with salad box items and a healthy dressing is delicious and filling!
Get your family's input; be creative and have fun with it! Draft age appropriate family members who can safely handle a knife to help prep foods, too!
Note: You can leave the individual lids off (with exception of prepped onions) since you'll use the large storage box lid to keep items fresh!
4th: Remember to fill an additional large lidded bowl with just chopped lettuce leaves(i.e. chopped Romaine, kale, watercress, leafy greens (i.e. collards, mustards,spinach, red or butter lettuce, napa cabbage, etc.) for the base of your salad.
For your children/grand-children you can do this for healthy snacks on a smaller scale: celery and carrot sticks with nut butters; sliced veggies with home-made hummus are a delicious after school snack!
*If you're artistic you can label and decorate your salad box with colorful permanent markers!!!
**Small non-plastic containers (glass) are a better food storage solution for very acidic, liquidy-foods like diced tomatoes. The more they touch plastic, the more opportunities to be interactive and pick up plastic molecules which can cause unhealthy side-effects in the human body!
Questions?: Call 540.636.6238; Mon.-Fri., 10 am-5 pm.
