Salad in a Jar

I learned very quickly after going gluten-free that my fickle, spontaneous eating habits weren't going to work. When I wasn't planning my meals, I was going hungry some nights or eating (gluten free) foods that were not very good for me and not cheap either. That's when I started meal planning. I've only got myself and my fiancé, so we stretch our dinners for multiple days as leftovers. But with no solid breakfast or lunch plans, I was still eating junk too much. Around this time my mom mentioned something she saw online: vacuum sealing salad in jars. She just liked the idea of extending the lifespan of lettuce, but I saw it as a new healthy habit that would help stretch my budget.
We got the idea from an awesome website called http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/ . She has a special section on her blog for jarring salad that covers a lot more than I will in this post. All I do is simple jarring of romaine hearts and, recently, cut onion (by itself in a separate jar). We only buy, cut and jar enough lettuce to last a week, but it absolutely lasts those 7 days without browning or wilting. We do this every week after our weekly grocery trip.

To do this you'll need: 

• lettuce (we use romaine hearts)
• some mason jars
• a vacuum sealer (and any necessary attachments depending on your jars)
• cutting board and knife
• salad spinner
• a large bowl
• paper towels
• and for the jars we use (empty Classico pasta sauce jars) you'll need a thumb tack, scissors, and electrical tape.

You start by washing your lettuce and removing the excess water. Then cut the lettuce length-wise several times, rotating the lettuce as you go, like so about 1-2 inches from the base.

Then make cross-wise cuts starting at the leafy side up towards the base. The length between cuts is to your preference. Make sure not to cut too close to the base, where the lettuce becomes white, as it is too bitter.

Next, move the lettuce to your salad spinner and spin well. It will spin water off of the lettuce. After, remove from the spinner and pat with paper towels. Transfer to a large bowel. When I first decided to do this, I wondered if I could skip the salad spinner because I'm cheap like that. I'll show you why you can't. 

Gross, right? All that water will contribute to your salad going bad prematurely. Anyway, next you transfer the lettuce to jars. We use 4 full size Classico jars for 3 romaine hearts. (FYI all Classico red and white sauces are gluten free) Don't stuff the jars too full, give the lettuce a little room to breathe. Then put the lid on the jar, making sure nothing is in the way to break the seal. Poke a hole in the top of the lid with a thumbtack and cover gently with a small piece of electrical tape. 

Next, press the vacuum sealer firmly on top of the taped hole and start vacuum sealing (mine is hand operated, some are electric). You can tell if it works because the pop-up safety tab will depress again. (See below left is depressed right is not.)

Different styles of jars have different attachments for sealing. Lid and collar style jars have regular and wide mouth attachments. With this particular sealer you put the attachment over the jar and the sealer directly on top of the attachment, no tubing necessary.

Also with lid and collar style jars, you don't attach the collar until after the seal is achieved. (Shown below) You can tell if the jar is sealed because the lid will be securely held to the jar and will take excessive force to remove. 

As I mentioned, this lettuce will last for at least 7 days and depends on moisture, how fresh your lettuce was, temperature stored at, etc. I was never a salad person before, and neither was my fiancé, but I've noticed that when you just start eating better, you will start to enjoy it. We both look forward to our daily salad and feel better about our eating habits. And it has actually helped our grocery bill too! We aren't eating as much packaged gluten free food which we all know is absurdly expensive.

I hope this was a helpful tip and welcome to the vacuum sealing world. Once you start, you'll want to seal everything.. Have fun! ;)