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The MOO Salad Bar
This time of year a cool, crisp, fresh salad is something to look forward to. Whether you eat it for lunch or dinner, or even both, there's nothing quite like a good salad during an Australian summer.
Sadly though, getting the salad to the plate can sometimes mean it is less than appetising once finished. It's easy to think of salad as lettuce, tomato and beetroot on a plate and be done; it's tempting to think like that too.
A good salad is so much more: lettuce, cucumber slices, tiny tomato halves, diced cheese, grated carrot, pineapple rings, hard boiled eggs, capsicum slivers, sprinkles of toasted nuts or seeds, some sprouts, a tasty dressing to bring it all together.
The easy way to get a good salad onto your plate is to prep ahead of time; to keep a mini salad bar in your fridge. Sounds much harder than it is; and is so worth the few minutes it takes once a week or so to get it all together.
First off choose your salad ingredients.
I have:
Spinach leaves
Lettuce
Capsicum slices
Cheese cubes
tiny tomatoes
cucumber slices
Red onion slices
Sliced olives
Feta cheese
Coleslaw
Potato salad
Pasta salad
Hard boiled eggs
Pineapple rings
Beetroot
Once a week, usually on a Monday morning, I prep the salad bar for the week.
I wash and dry the lettuce and spinach. Then they go into Fresh'n'Crisp bags and into the crisper drawer. Now they're ready to use.
Next I do the slicing: capsicum, red onion, cabbage are all sliced - may as well do them all while the slicer is out.
Capsicum and red onion are stored in small containers with lids.
The cabbage goes into a bigger container, and grated carrot and onion are added to make the dry coleslaw. I add the dressing just before serving. This way one big batch of coleslaw keeps at least a week in the fridge.
Next the potatoes and pasta are cooked (I cheat - I put the pasta in the bottom of the pot, and the potato in the steamer on top and cook them together to save time and gas). Then I put a dozen eggs onto boil.
While the potatoes and pasta are cooking I get the veggies for those salads ready and put them into large containers (at the moment I am using Lock'n'Lock containers because my fingers struggle with other seals). Once they are cooked and drained, they are added to their container. Again, dressing is added just before serving so they don't get soggy and mushy.
When the eggs are cool they go into a container and into the fridge.
Cheese is diced and put into a container with a lid.
The olives are already sliced in the jar, so they stay as is.
Beetroot and pineapple rings are decanted into Pick-a-Delis, ready for the week.
Most of this fits onto a shelf in the fridge, ready to just grab and create a salad for a plate or even a sandwich or wrap. Easy. Quick. No waste. And no buying salads from the supermarket!
If you're thinking "that's great Cath, but I work/have a baby/don't have the time" you need to think again. If I dawdle, this takes about half an hour once a week. If I keep moving, then 20 minutes and everything is done, and the salad for the week is ready to just put on plates and eat.
Taking half an hour once a week to prep the salads ahead of time saves precious time of an evening when I'm tired, but it really does save money. Every bit of veg is used up because it's prepped, ready to eat. Nothing gets wasted, so no money going into the bin.
When it's time to get dinner ready, the salad is on the plate and the kitchen cleaned before the meat or chicken is off the barbecue!
Yes, the MOO salad bar saves you money, time and energy - a Cheapskaters dream come true!
Sadly though, getting the salad to the plate can sometimes mean it is less than appetising once finished. It's easy to think of salad as lettuce, tomato and beetroot on a plate and be done; it's tempting to think like that too.
A good salad is so much more: lettuce, cucumber slices, tiny tomato halves, diced cheese, grated carrot, pineapple rings, hard boiled eggs, capsicum slivers, sprinkles of toasted nuts or seeds, some sprouts, a tasty dressing to bring it all together.
The easy way to get a good salad onto your plate is to prep ahead of time; to keep a mini salad bar in your fridge. Sounds much harder than it is; and is so worth the few minutes it takes once a week or so to get it all together.
First off choose your salad ingredients.
I have:
Spinach leaves
Lettuce
Capsicum slices
Cheese cubes
tiny tomatoes
cucumber slices
Red onion slices
Sliced olives
Feta cheese
Coleslaw
Potato salad
Pasta salad
Hard boiled eggs
Pineapple rings
Beetroot
Once a week, usually on a Monday morning, I prep the salad bar for the week.
I wash and dry the lettuce and spinach. Then they go into Fresh'n'Crisp bags and into the crisper drawer. Now they're ready to use.
Next I do the slicing: capsicum, red onion, cabbage are all sliced - may as well do them all while the slicer is out.
Capsicum and red onion are stored in small containers with lids.
The cabbage goes into a bigger container, and grated carrot and onion are added to make the dry coleslaw. I add the dressing just before serving. This way one big batch of coleslaw keeps at least a week in the fridge.
Next the potatoes and pasta are cooked (I cheat - I put the pasta in the bottom of the pot, and the potato in the steamer on top and cook them together to save time and gas). Then I put a dozen eggs onto boil.
While the potatoes and pasta are cooking I get the veggies for those salads ready and put them into large containers (at the moment I am using Lock'n'Lock containers because my fingers struggle with other seals). Once they are cooked and drained, they are added to their container. Again, dressing is added just before serving so they don't get soggy and mushy.
When the eggs are cool they go into a container and into the fridge.
Cheese is diced and put into a container with a lid.
The olives are already sliced in the jar, so they stay as is.
Beetroot and pineapple rings are decanted into Pick-a-Delis, ready for the week.
Most of this fits onto a shelf in the fridge, ready to just grab and create a salad for a plate or even a sandwich or wrap. Easy. Quick. No waste. And no buying salads from the supermarket!
If you're thinking "that's great Cath, but I work/have a baby/don't have the time" you need to think again. If I dawdle, this takes about half an hour once a week. If I keep moving, then 20 minutes and everything is done, and the salad for the week is ready to just put on plates and eat.
Taking half an hour once a week to prep the salads ahead of time saves precious time of an evening when I'm tired, but it really does save money. Every bit of veg is used up because it's prepped, ready to eat. Nothing gets wasted, so no money going into the bin.
When it's time to get dinner ready, the salad is on the plate and the kitchen cleaned before the meat or chicken is off the barbecue!
Yes, the MOO salad bar saves you money, time and energy - a Cheapskaters dream come true!