Healthy Meals in Jars

Looking for healthy, convenient, quick meals? This article may be a game changer for you. All it will take is some glass jars. You may have seen some pretty posts online of salads piled up in jars like layers of lasagna. This is a new approach to meal prep that is proving very convenient. What is even better is how easy it is to do and can be done with just about any kind of meal. 

Lets start in the obvious place, breakfast. Lets use oatmeal as a base, place a base layer of 2 cups of  dry rolled oats on the bottom of the jar, cover in plant based milk of choice, add a layer of blended bananas, or apple sauce or non-dairy yogurt then fill the rest of the jar to the top with fruit toppings, nuts, preserves or granola. If you prefer something other than oatmeal try cooked amaranth, or millet in place of the oatmeal. Seal on the lid and place in the fridge, wasn't that easy. It is best to prepare this the night before and in the morning it is ready all it may need is a stir. Eat it cold or warm it up, the mason jar can be heated after all.

In the mood for something more hearty? Try a loaded salad in a jar. There are so many options to choose from but in this instance let's stay simple and follow the principle wet on the bottom dry on top. Start with a layer of preferred salad dressing at the bottom, then pile on layers of olives, corn, tomatoes, cucumber, carrot and pack the rest of the jar with chopped lettuce. Again seal on the lid and place in the fridge, eat whenever ready. Try doing this with bow-tie or corkscrew pasta, or even kidney of chick peas.

This is great for people who are new to being vegan. By using this method we can see all of our meals and we can plan everything out deciding exactly what to eat each day of the week. This is even better for people who are trying to lose weight helping control meal size and frequency. Plan this out a week ahead of time and fill the fridge up with colorful jars. Eat straight out of the jar or pour into a bowl or plate to spread it out. What makes this even better, this can be totally portable, try taking it to work or on a trip.

Hopefully this tool will make maintaining vegan plant based nutrition easier and more accessible.

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