A satisfying, make ahead-able lunch salad
A meal prep-able #notsaddesklunch to rival Sweetgreen 🥗
As promised, today we kick off Meal Prep Month on TNB! All September long, I’ll be sharing new, not-sad, meal prep-friendly recipes to ease us back into regular programming after summer.
For the first installment, I’ve got a hearty lunch salad that can be made entirely in advance, travels well, and is easy to eat at your desk if needed. Here’s the backstory:
When people embark on the journey to eat healthier, they inevitably lean toward eating more salads. One common complaint I hear from home cooks, though, is that salads from fancy salad places (like Sweetgreen or Chop’t) always seem to taste better than those made at home.
While this isn’t entirely accurate, there is some truth to it: these places certainly do put a lot of thought into their offerings to justify the $18 price tag for a meal that’s mostly raw vegetables.
Here’s why their salads are usually more satisfying. They have: a contrast of raw and cooked ingredients, delicious add-ins beyond vegetables, homemade sauces that marry everything together, and fun toppings that add crunch and umami.
So my message to you is this: with a little advance planning and prep, you can make salads that are just as good (if not more so!) as Sweetgreen’s, and at a fraction of the cost. Case in point: this arugula number with roasted sweet potatoes, seared tofu, and creamy balsamic dressing…
P.S. Wanna bookmark this recipe for later? Save it on Pinterest.