Whilst I focus on school lunchboxes, I also believe it is equally important that us adults eat a proper lunch too. But do you know studies indicate 66% of Australian workers say they don’t eat a healthy lunch and on average they spend $15.27 on their office lunch per day. So with school holidays starting here in Australia, I thought I would turn my attention to helping you pack yourself a filling and nutritious office lunch that you can prepare ahead.
This Prepare Ahead Office Lunch of Chicken and Rice Salad allows you to prepare the salad in advance on a weekend so it’s ready for you during the week. The idea is to make the salad in a jar or a bowl, pop it in your fridge then just pluck it from the fridge in the morning before you head to work. Pop it in a bag, then on arrival to work, pop it in the work fridge. When it’s lunchtime, take your salad from the fridge and tip the salad out of the jar or or eat it from the bowl. Too easy really! And you will save you a fortune too.
Oh and another bonus, you could even make this salad for your dinner too.
Dressing
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tblspns lemon juice
- 2 tspns rice wine vinegar
- 1 tblspn rice malt syrup (I use Pure Harvest brand)
- 3 tblspns tamari
- 1 small garlic clove grated (I use a zester)
- 1/2 tspn fresh ginger grated (use zester)
- a dash of sesame oil
- pepper to season
Dressing Method
- Put all ingredients in a screw top jar and shake until well mixed. Have a taste of the dressing and see if it has the desired taste. It’s designed to be an asian flavour but if you want it a bit sweeter, add some extra rice malt syrup. If you want it a bit more bitey, add some more rice wine vinegar.
This dressing makes enough for 2 salads.
Salad Ingredients
- 1 cup cabbage (I used green but you could do red or a mix)
- 1 carrot – cut in rings, then halved
- 1 red capsicum diced
- 1/2 cup coriander
- 1/2 cup natural cashews (you roast them if you prefer)
- 1 cup cooked brown rice (mix half brown half white if you prefer white)
- 1 poached chicken breast, cut into cubes (note, you could use BBQ chicken if you wish to save time)
- 2 cups salad greens (I used baby spinach)
These ingredients will make 2 salad in a jars for this week. If you don’t want to have two of the same sort, just halve the salad ingredients and store the rest of the dressing in a screw top jar in the fridge until ready. (Dressing will last about 2 weeks in the fridge).
Salad Method
This method is to make one salad in a jar. The ingredients are layered one on top of the other to maintain freshness of the ingredients. Use the balance of the ingredients to make a second jar or bowl, following the same method.
- Pour half of salad dressing into bottom of jar or your bowl
- Place half of the cabbage in the jar or bowl – this will soak up most of the dressing and soften
- Layer half the carrots on top of the cabbage to make a new layer
- Layer half of the capsicum on top of the carrots to make another layer
- Add half of the coriander as the next layer
- Add half of the cashews for the next layer
- Then add half of the brown rice for the next layer
- Now add half of the cubed chicken breast
- Top with half of your salad greens
- Pop your lid on the jar or bowl, and place in the fridge. It’s important to keep the jar standing upright.
If layered correctly, a prepare ahead salad made on Sunday will still be fresh even on Thursday.
To eat
If you’ve made your salad in a jar, just tip it out onto a plate like we did in the picture above. Or just eat it from your bowl – I’d give it a bit of a stir around to mix it before eating.
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