My number one secret for eating dessert without dieting is eating a large salad in a jar every day for lunch.
Here’s why I, a reformed salad-hater, now love salad:
1. Limitless variations of dressing and add-ons.
2. Gives wiggle room for small indulgences the rest of the day.
3. Adds fiber and bulk to your diet.
4. Fills you up with few calories.
5. Gives lots of chewing satisfaction.
6. Easy lifestyle change to implement and adopt forever. This is not a diet!!!!
Does it sound like a lot of work to prepare a salad everyday? Especially on a busy workday morning? Hang on!
I have devised a way to make salad for 7-9 days — at one time. My method takes less than 30 minutes (with a little bit of practice). It will stay crisp and fresh for more than a week.
Consider these benefits of storing salad in a jar.
1. No brown edges on the lettuce and no wilted leaves.
2. No getting out the salad spinner every day to make a salad.
3. On the run? Grab a jar and take it with you. Eat right out of the jar if necessary although I prefer a bowl or plate.
4. Save money–especially when you buy the lettuce in bulk from Sam’s or Costco. No more wasting money on prepackaged salads that often aren’t fresh the day you bring them home.
5. Glass jars are washable. Not only are you helping the environment, you are saving money.
My secret?? A vacuum pack machine with a wide-mouth jar attachment. I have a FoodSaver brand but I’m sure other brands would also work if they have the right attachment.
This will not work with the plastic bags and the vacuum. The lettuce would be completely squashed and bruised.
Assemble equipment.
* lettuce
* sharp knife (My favorite is a Wusthoff Santoku knife)
* chopping board
* salad spinner
* very large mixing bowl
* clean quart -size Mason glass jars with lids
* vacuum pack machine
My favorite lettuce is Romaine –usually hearts of Romaine. Wash it well but leave intact.
Cut longways through the entire head at least 4-5 times.
Now slice crosswise about 3/4 to 1 inch apart according to your preference.
Fill salad spinner and spin dry.
Dump into a very large bowl. Fill jars. I pack them as tight as possible.
Seal jars using your vacuum machine. Screw on rings as insurance to keep lid sealed. Refrigerate up to 1 week or even longer if your lettuce was very fresh.
When ready to eat, pop the lid and empty into a bowl or on a plate. Add salad dressing, veggies/fruit/nuts and Fiber One (instead of croutons). Enjoy chewing.
Note: I’ve had several questions regarding the necessity of a vacuum-pack machine. The secret to the success of salad in a jar is lack of oxygen. You must vacuum pack to remove the oxygen. See this post for pictorial comparison of various methods of lettuce storage.
I like my salad in small pieces so I chop the lettuce with a knife. Without the vacuum-pack, the cut edges of the lettuce would be brown in a day or two or less. If you leave the lettuce whole, unchopped and untorn, it will last longer even without the vacuum pack. Wash, dry and store in zippered plastic bags with a paper or cloth towel to absorb the moisture. Of course, you can cut the lettuce when you are ready to eat but I like to have everything ready to go so I have NO EXCUSES for not eating a lettuce salad.
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I love your website! Your sister, Kay, and I have been friends for a long time and have been out West with her and Elliott many times. She told me about your website. I love to cook and try new recipes. We eat lots of salads and I am going to try your salad in a jar method.
Hi Jean,
Welcome. Glad you stopped by. Hope you are enjoying the salads. Have you seen the new house yet?
Great idea! I tend to like my salads about 50% romaine, 40% other chopped vegetables and 10% combined other (fruit, cheese, nuts, salad dressing, avacado, etc.)
Had you tried a test of how long these last without the vacuum seal? I think the lettuce by itself might hold up for a few days. I’ll have to check it out. Love the fact that it is in re-usable glass! Thanks for the idea.
I haven’t officially tried it without a seal. However, I’ve had jars lose their seal and they go bad in a day or two. When oxygen hits all those cut edges, the lettuce turns brown and limp in a hurry–just like the bags of prepared lettuce at the grocery store. Vacuum packing is the secret.
I’ve learned to always screw the collar on the jar to prevent losing the seal.
why just lettuce? i would like to add tomatoes and cucumber to REALLY save time. have you tried this yet? is there a reason that it only works with lettuce?
I stick to lettuce because 1) different foods have different lifespans under vacuum–can depend on their freshness too. I want my lettuce to last at least 8-9 days and not sure other things can go that long. 2) I’m not really big on raw vegetables other than tomatoes (which I don’t refrigerate) and carrots. I LOVE veggies–but prefer them at least slightly cooked. But it might work great for you. Let me know…
Wow. Lovely photos. Great tips…and another lover of Romaine lettuce. Yippe
I LOVE this! I think I may need to borrow the idea.
Adding you to my blogroll, recipes look divine as well.
What a great and creative way to do lettuce. I have looked at vacuum pack machines but was never sure what I thought of them. I love this idea. I have been working to loose those extra baby pounds and this looks like an excellent way to stay motivated. Thanks for sharing your ideas! My husband is from Indiana. We don’t live there, but I notice I admire the ladies I have met from IN. They are practical and capable. Good problem solvers and lots of fun too. I found your site when I read 9-11 comments on PW’s web site. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROMAINE!
Sherry
Fiber One instead of croutons — great idea! I like those crunchy chow mein noodles in my salad, so I’d imagine it would taste pretty much the same. Great site, and I love the photos!
My family is leaving for vacation and I’m staring at my foodsaver and the 5 heads of Romaine lettuce I have waiting to be preserved.
However, when I use my salad spinner, it never dries the lettuce completely. Do you seal with the residue moisture or do you have a secret of how to get your lettuce bone dry? I have placed in an unbleached pillowcase and ran it through the spin cycle in my washing machine and it works very well but I’d like to make sure the lettuce isn’t stripped of it’s moisture. Any advice would be great as we’re leaving tomorrow. 
I wonder if you rinsed the lettice in a little lemon (or vinegar) water, maybe they would last longer (if you don’t have a vacuum packer).
vicsailgarden, I’m not sure about the lemon or vinegar. But I’m skeptical. Oxygen is the culprit. That’s why the vacuum pack lettuce stays fresh so long. No oxygen inside that jar. If you eat a lot of salad or would like to, it’s worth the money.
Love this salad in a jar idea. I have begun to keep berries in a jar and they keep much longer. I don’t even vacuum pack.
Sarah
I got a foodsaver for an early birthday present. I’m waiting for the wide mouth attachment to come from Amazon. Do you have any other good advice for ways to use the foodsaver? I’m planning on getting some lettuce to try soon.
Gina,
You can put just about ANYTHING in the mason jars with vacuum sealing. It will never take the place of canning, so stuff that has to be refrigerated still needs to go in the fridge.
-When you open a canister of coffee, transfer 2/3 of the can into mason jars and seal. It really keeps the flavor much better that way.
-Seal cottage cheese, or cubed/shredded cheese
-You can freeze in mason jars as long as they are the sloped size jars. As tempting as it may be, don’t pop ‘em straight from freezer into microwave. With the sloped jars, you can rinse the sides of the jars to loosen the contents and they will slide out easily. Soup works great like this.
-You can seal ANYTHING you’d normally keep on the shelf: popcorn, pancake mix (I buy the big 5lb bags of krusteez mix), brown sugar, rice, tea bags, oatmeal, just about anything you can think of. It keeps the staples bug free, moisture-free, and fresher longer
-use small jars for long term spice storage
-The wide mouth jars are also good for marinating meat (foodsaver sells a device for this but it is pricey) that is either cubed or in smaller sizes. Marinating goes much faster because the vacuuming pulls the liquid into the pores of the meat, I think
-You can toss fresh veggies in jars and keep them in the fridge (I like celery sticks, carrots sticks, cucumber wedges)
-The sky is the limit.
Note: you can re-use the lids indefinitely as long as you don’t bend them (which can happen when you pry them off). For things that I use often (like tea bags) I use the pin-hole trick. You can find it online in a bunch of places, but in a nutshell: you poke a small hole in the top of the lid, and then put a piece of electrical tape over it. Seal like normal, but then when you want to access your contents, you can pull up on the tape and it releases the seal and the lid can be pulled off easily. Simply put the tape back on and seal back again. I wouldn’t recommend this for anything you keep long-term, but for often-accessed items it works like a charm.
Sorry this went long!
As a personal chef, I have been leaving salads in gallon ziploc bags for my clients for years. I leave a fresh paper towel or two crunched up and they stay well for a week or longer. They are always amazed!
I have thought and thought about buying a FoodSaver. It’s just my husband and I and he travels a lot – sometimes last minute. Balancing grocery shopping is tough. I can’t stand to have food go to waste – I might finally have to get one of these.
Everyone has their own kitchen tricks – I love learning about all of them.
Are the seals for the canning jars re-usable?
Michelle, Yes, they are—over and over and over unless you accidentally bend them.
I love this idea.
We have had a Foodsaver machine in the family but it was generally only used around this time of year to package & freeze venison that the menfolk got during the deer hunting season here in Wisconsin.
Thanks again.
Love the lettuce in a jar idea! I recently used my foodsaver to preserve chocolate in various forms (chips, candy bars, powder, etc. and also a variety of seeds,nuts, snack mixes and dried fruits–I love knowing I have all those things that don’t need refrigeration in my pantry (for a pantry, it’s huge- roughly 5×15′!) We also pressure can beans and meats and I want to can some breads and cakes and butter, too. I think I’ll try using the foodsaver to seal some cereals and baking ingredients, too. It’s great that jars can be opened, partially used and resealed several times. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve been researching this topic for a while and I’d like to offer a suggestion for those cramped for funds. I don’t have a vacuum sealer yet, but the information for a Pump N Seal has me leaning in that direction. Pump n Seal goes for about $32.00, and it is capable of 25+ inches of mercury. I think it’s a mediocre choice for bags (from what I’ve read) but probably a good choice for those who use jars.
I used quart mason jars a while back for salads with lots of other veggies included. I don’t have a vacuum sealer (yet), and I did experience some browning as you suggested, but only after about 4 days. It seems logical that the vac pack idea could concievably double that time in a good cold fridge, and I was excited to see this page. I was about ready to pull the trigger on a pump n seal before reading this, but I’m gonna order it for sure now. I want to try both the little valve thingys and the FoodSaver Lid Sealers, as I can see uses for both methods. Thanks for posting this and all the pictures!
Stan
Does the vaccum seal attachment fit over the jar lids? On their website it says that the attachment replaces the lids.
With the FoodSaver jar sealing attachment, you only need the Ball jar lid. You do not need to use the band (and shouldn’t while vacuuming). The vacuum inside the jar holds the lid down securely.