For me, one of the hardest things about living in a budget is not eating out. It's not that I like eating out too much, because I really prefer eating at home. The problem is that I was never too passionate about cooking. Actually, it was more of a burden to me most of the times. During my four years in college this wasn't a problem, since I didn't have a car, so I would only get groceries twice a month. This meant lots of instant/long shelf life meals and lots of being hungry. But now that I have had a job for a bit, and I will start grad school I feel like I have to start better habits, especially if I want to stay healthy until I graduate.
So here is what has been my lifesaver salad for almost a year now. I eat this salad at least 5 days a week, and I know it sounds like too much, but it has been great for me. What I do is that every sunday I cook a LARGE amount of a nice main dish (my favorites are soups, but I also make fish, meat, chicken, all these fancy things). Usually I make enough for 2-4 meals. BUT, my trick for making it last longer is that before every meal I eat a huge bowl of this salad! Because of this, I don't need as much afterwards to fill up, and instead of eating huge portions I end up eating healthy portions of my main dish! Doing this I can make a 'Sunday Batch' last me 3-5 meals!
It also doesn't hurt that the salad is surprisingly delicious. Even my boyfriend got obsessed with it, and now he craves it sometimes! (He calls it "Your
Salad©"). Here is how I make it, and how I prepare the ingredients so that it takes me literally 2 minutes to make it in the morning:
Ingredients: - Fennel - Lettuce - Carrots
Dressing: - Lemon Juice - Salt -Olive Oil
Usually on Sundays I will chop off an iceberg lettuce head, a couple of carrots, and a couple of fennel heads. I put each one of the chopped ingredients in its own container, and store this in the fridge. For the lettuce I use this wonderful green container that manages to keep it fresh sometimes even for two weeks! For the carrots and fennel I use regular ziplock containers.
The dressing is magical. I didn't use to like salad very much, because I hate all the dressings out there (most of them have vinegar, and I HATE vinegar), but salad without dressing is too bland. So when my sister used this on a salad I was sold. It makes for the most subtle and refreshing dressing. You just have to make sure not to put too much of anything. About a tablespoon of lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of oil will be good for one bowl.
I got this lemon/lime juicer from Target, and its perfect. I will squeeze a whole lemon and store it in the fridge. Any time I make my salad I just pour a bit from it, and this way I don't even have to get my hands lemony every morning! Also, If I am feeling like it, some mornings I can make myself some lemonade in two seconds!
So in the mornings it goes like this. I wake up super late and have to rush to get out of the house. I get all three containers out, I get a handful of each thing (with clean hands of course) and throw it in a ziploc container, then I put the salt, lemon, and olive oil in it. Finally, I shake the container so that the dressing mixes up and coats all my veggies. And thats it! I bring this to work and eat it before eating anything else!
It is also pretty easy to make small changes to it. Some people don't like fennel, so they can use cucumbers, onions, or whatever they like! My boyfriend likes putting avocado and rice vinegar on his.
I just like to do it the way I showed here, especially because it takes me too much effort to brainstorm about putting other ingredients in, and this recipe is all about making something delicious without making an effort! :D
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