lunch!

Today is my first day of eating a bit healthier so I spent some time today doing a little prep work. My biggest downfall when it comes to eating right seems to be lunch. And by “lunch,” I actually mean that wonderful window of time between about 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. when I seem to graze constantly.
My 5-year-old and I usually have lunch together, and we’re both pretty bad when it comes to eating a real meal. Nothing sounds good. It’s too much trouble to make anything. So, we go from crackers to popcorn to apples with peanut butter. I usually end up making her a sandwich or something kid friendly, but I don’t bother to make anything for myself. Finally, I’m so hungry that I resort to what comes easy — cookies, candy or something else full of sugar! Or even worse than that, she asks me in her sweet little voice, “Mama, can we go to Chick Fil-A?” and at that point, I’m not just hungry, I’m hANGRY so I instantly agree.
I had seen this idea many times on the Internet to make salads for an entire week in mason jars. It always looked like a great idea, but I don’t normally have all of the ingredients in my fridge at one time that I would need to make a variety of salads. Today, I just decided to make it happen. We went to Costco and stocked up on all of the necessary supplies to make some yummy salads for the coming week.
I realize there are much, much, much healthier ways of making salads than the ingredients I chose. But you have to remember that when I say I’m eating “a bit healthier,” my standard is a Snickers bar, a huge bowl of popcorn, some chocolate cake or on a really bad day, a Big Mac!

I started out with these ingredients:
chicken strips
turkey
hard boiled egg
cheese
black beans
garbanzo beans
corn
avocado (tossed in lemon juice so it won’t turn brown)
apple (also tossed in lemon juice)
red pepper
dried cranberries
almonds
and lettuce
Then, I just filled my mason jars with various combinations.

I read lots of Pinterest posts that said as long as you put the dressing on the bottom and the lettuce at the top, your salad should stay fresh for about a week or more in the fridge. I made seven salads so I could use up most of my ingredients, and I have to say that I can hardly wait to eat lunch tomorrow!
Has anyone ever tried this? What other ideas do you have to eat a healthy lunch? I would love to hear!