21 hacks for making a better salad so you can skip long lines

21 hacks for making a better salad so you can skip long lines21 hacks for making a better salad so you can skip long linesIts been a tough spring for salad eaters. First, there was the great E.Coli romaine lettuce scare of April and then Just Salad announced it would no longer chop its salads anymora. Thats right. Now you have to do your own masticating like its the 1700s.Dont you have enough stress in your life? But these trendy salad places arent going anywhere as long as lunchtime exists. mora and more salad chains are popping up on every block - Sweetgreen, the uber-popular and somewhat trendy salad eatery opened 20 new locations in 2017 - and they often have lines out the door which means your lunch break is shortened. And now, you have to factor in extra chewing timeBut you need that delicious salad to get through workdays day. However, what if you could make your own salad that was just as good as any store-bought one and would make you the envy of all your coworkers?It take s a little extra prep but financially it is the better move. Plus they literally put all the recipes for these salads on the internet. And you will have such a sense of self-satisfaction when you take out your homemade salad that the gloating rights alone will fill you up.1. Use a glass mason jarPlastic bowls are so 2014. Now it is all about the mason jar. You will not only be healthy, but also make everyone in your office think you have an Etsy shop.2. Pick a salad themeDont just make a regular salad and call it a salad. Pick a theme and include ingredients accordingly. Harvest, Summer Time Fun or Chipotle Cowboy are some good ones.3. Keep the dressing separateUnless you really like a soggy salad, keep your dressing in a separate container or bring a bottle to work and keep it in the office fridge. Just be sure to label it.4. Make your own dressingOr go one step above and make your own salad dressing. There are literally thousands of recipes everywhere so just pick one.5. Marinate chickpeasWho are you? Martha Stewart? But chickpeas are delicious and healthy.6. Freeze and reheat grainsMake some rice or quinoa, freeze it, bring it work in a plastic bag and then reheat and add to your salad. Note to self Just Salad is a huge fan of wheat berries.7. Add cooked vegetablesOh now you are really cooking. Add some cooked vegetables like roasted broccoli, steamed winter squash, and roasted tomatoes for that extra ounce of jutzpah.8. Use a salad spinnerWash your salad and then make it magically dry and fresh with a salad spinner.Throw a paper towel in there for extra measure.9. Massage your kaleIf you want to make a kale salad (and there is a good chance of this as eating kale appears to be a law in some states) then try this little hack of massaging the leaves before you eat them as kale can be a little tough to chew.10. Prep your veggies ahead of timeThe key to a great salad is fresh vegetables. Now you dont have an open salad bar like Sweet Greens and Just Salad but the Sunday before work, buy some really vegetables, cut them up and pack them in containers and then put them on your salad before you go to work.11. Cut all your ingredients to the saatkorn sizeIf you want every bite to have all the flavors evenly dispersed then be sure to cut all your veggies and proteins into the same size. You dont want different-sized ingredients in your salad. Youre not an animal.12. Cheese pleaseWhy are all those fancy salads so good? They key is cheese. Aged and brined cheeses like parmesan, pecorino, and feta make salads so much better.13.Get a glass bowlBring in your own glass bowl and people will swear Kate Middleton is dining in their own office.14. Add a proteinGive that salad some real fuel with chicken, steak or even tofu.15. Mix in fresh herbsIts all about the flavors.16. Add some fatYou know why Just Salad and Chopped make such good salads? Because they have some fat on them (but the good kind of fat.) Consider addingavocado, toasted nuts, bacon, sm oked salmon, or again cheese.Thirty-five percent of Just Salad customers, who create their own salads, add avocado as a preferred order topping.17. Add crunchy accessoriesFancy salads are also good because a lot of them basically have chips and bread sprinkled on them. Addcroutons, tortilla chips, crunchy onions, pita chips, or crispy wonton noodles.18. Chop itNow you can do what a salad chain cant Using a cutting board, dump out all your ingredients and if you want to get really fancy grab a mezzaluna (curved knife) but a chefs knife also works. Arrange the greens in rectangle and then have at it Everytime you get to the end of the rectangle turn it 90 degrees and chop more until you are satisfied with the size.19. Use different textures in your saladOne ofChef Michael Stebner of Sweetgreens five rules for making a great salad is incorporating different textures into it. He suggestsraw cabbage, celery root, or grains.20. But dont add too many ingredientsYou want a balanced medley o f ingredients, not everything you found in your fridge drawer.Adding more ingredients doesnt improve the flavor, and too many can make it muddy and confusing, Stebner said in an interview with The Washington Post.21. Add a side of breadThis kind of defeats the point of a salad but most of these places do offer bread.