Healthy Meals: How to Make Ready-to-Go Salad Bags

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As my husband and I were looking for quick and easy healthy meals, I stumbled upon one of my greatest kitchen tips yet.  Today’s healthy meal teaches us how to make Ready-to-Go Salad Bags.  These portable salads are made to eliminate dirty dishes, save time, keep you healthy and losing weight!
For me, making salads every time I want to eat one can be a deterring factor, since it takes a lot of prep time to prepare the salad.  First you have to get out all the veggies, wash them, cut each of them up, then combine the ingredients and add dressing.  In the process you also dirty a cutting board and knife every time you make a salad.

In true 4 Hour Work Week style, I batch as many tasks as possible in my life.  Yes, this applies to cooking as well.  Our handy Ready-to-Go Salad Bags are made all at once in large quantity, which allows you to use as many ingredients as you want and have healthy salads all week, while only having to spend time to make the salads and dirty the dishes once!
My husband takes the portable salads with him to work and doesn’t even use a bowl; instead, he pours his dressing directly into the bag, zips it closed, shakes it well, and gets flavored salad while not having to use as much salad dressing.  He also eats the salad right out of the bag so he can close it up whenever he’s full and go back to it as a snack later in the day.
I love the bag option because it saves space in the refrigerator.  We pack all the salad bags into the crisper drawers (pictured at left) and they are ready to grab and go for a healthy meal!

How to Make Ready-to-Go Salad Bags

You’ll Need:

• Ziploc bags ( I use quart size bags, which turns out to be 2 bowls of salad)
• Cutting board
• Sharp knife
• Salad veggies of choice and toppings (I used tomatoes, lettuce, purple cabbage, spinach, cucumber, white mushrooms, shredded cheddar cheese and sprouts)

1.  Prep all your foods first by washing each one thoroughly, then cutting up into bite-size pieces.  For lettuce and other greens, tear pieces by hand instead of cutting (to avoid brown edges).

2.  Lay all of your foods out on a long counter or table top so that you have your salad assembly line ready to go.  Remember, we’re going for quantity in this production!
For greens, I prefer to use bagged salads since they are already washed ahead of time.  This saves me the time of washing and spinning all the greens before tearing into pieces.  This method can be especially handy for spinach, which frequently is very gritty unless washed very well.

4.  Take a bag and start at the end of the counter that has your greens.  Put greens into the bag first, then move down the line filling it with veggies.  End with toppings (not dressing), then squeeze any extra air out.  Zip and put into the refrigerator.
What a great finished product!