The morning rush. We all know it. The experiences of tooth brushing, hair brushing, breakfast, backpacks, diaper bags, feedings, and loading up the family vehicle all make us cringe inside. I’m lucky if I get a few bites of a leftover egg or a spilled Cheerio and some cold coffee for breakfast.

But lunch, ahh blissful lunch, that’s another story! It’s Mama time! I’ve gotten kids off to school, I’ve done my cleaning, been to the gym and now it’s almost naptime… It’s healthy eating time at its finest time! You may be thinking, “Does she have a lunch fairy?” “Does she eat out every day?” The answer is no. But, I do plan ahead! Lunch jar salads are prepped and ready to go at a moment’s notice, whenever the chance for some peace and quiet (does that ever happen) appear! Here’s how I am my own lunch fairy:

Each week I try to make a few jar salads so that my lunchtime meal is always a successful one. Just because I make one every week does not mean they will all be different and new because I have favorites (that I would eat every day) and there are not a ton of options like there are for regular meals!  If you stuff these full they are a big meal and will keep in the fridge for over a week. If you can keep them around for that long… mine are always eaten up before that but I know they CAN last a week. Maybe I should find a blog about self-control! To eat them I just dump mine into a big bowl so that I can easily coat everything in the wonderful dressing

My salad for this week is a WONDERFUL slightly spicy (but not too spicy because I don’t really like spicy…do I sound like your kids) buffalo chicken salad. I made it simply by layering these ingredients in this exact order into a quart size mason jar. I also use plastic lids that I bought on Amazon but these are not necessary, the metal ones work fine too.

Buffalo Chicken Jar Salad

1/4 cup ranch or blue cheese dressing

1/4 cup blue cheese

1 cup corn

2 stalks celery chopped

1/4-1/2 cup shredded chicken (I made mine in my crockpot and coated it with buffalo sauce and Greek yogurt)

lettuce (stuff full!)

This salad is a new one for me… I’m not a spicy lover but the Greek yogurt toned it down and it had a fabulous flavor.  My kids even enjoyed it…I mean enjoyed it…like… they didn’t say “oh mom it’s so spicy” or “why is there corn in this”. They just gobbled it up and a couple of them even asked for more!  I should mention that sometimes when I need a quick side at dinner I will also dump one of these in a bowl and mix it up.  My family of 8 can each have a little portion and one jar is enough!   I think if I made it again I would try a different dressing because I don’t love blue cheese or ranch dressing but I still enjoyed it.  Do yourself a favor and find a great jar salad recipe you love and spend 30 minutes prepping it for the week so that you can be successful and have healthy lunch ready at the exact moment that you have two seconds to sit down and enjoy it!