Prep Your Lunches For The Week With Layered Mason Jars

Has meal prep ever been more popular? Hundreds of videos get posted daily of creators prepping their lunches for the week, prepping mountains of protein and veggies and assembling perfectly curated meals in their special compartmentalized storage containers. I don't know about you, but I get automatically turned off when I see that I need to buy specific food containers just to have a convenient meal during the week. I thought I was meal-prepping to save money, not to buy a specialty product for the occasion.

However, there is a smart hack that can help anyone prep tasty lunches for the week without having to run out to the Container Store. In fact, you probably already have the perfect storage container stocked up in your cabinets. All you need to make the perfect grab-and-go meal is a mason jar, but the secret is in how you construct your meals. A mason jar lunch is all about how you layer your food in order to help it keep fresh all week.

There's no limit to the meals you can prep and store in a mason jar. From salads to fresh ramen noodle bowls (or jars, rather) and dozens of options in between. Instead of a boring old sandwich, mason jar lunches give you worlds of new possibilities to explore so you can make a weekly lunch you'll actually look forward to.

The only thing to keep in mind when prepping a mason jar lunch is how you construct your meal. Think about it: If you were to make a salad to eat throughout the week, it'd be easy for your greens to go soggy while sitting in the dressing. Though you could feasibly pack the dressing in a separate container, I'd hate to get to work and realize I left such an integral part of my salad at home.

When prepping your mason jar meals, it's important to think about the integrity of your ingredients. Start with your dressing at the bottom of the jar to keep the rest of the ingredients fresh and dry. Instead of going in with the delicate lettuce next which is sure to get soggy, you can go in with your protein like chopped-up chicken or tofu, something that would benefit from some time marinating in the dressing. You can then go in with your hearty vegetables like shredded carrots or shredded cabbage before layering in your mix-ins like cheese or roasted nuts. After that, your lettuce can top it all off to ensure the texture stays fresh and crisp all week long.

Using a mason jar for your weekly lunch prep gives you an entire meal in a convenient and easily portable package. Simply throw it in your bag on your way out the door. Then, when you sit down to eat, simply dump all the contents of the jar into a bowl, mix, and enjoy.

But don't stop yourself at salads. Mason jar meals are endlessly customizable. Fresh ramen noodle bowls can be a fun toss-up from the typical salad. Put some bullion powder in the bottom of the jar and use the same principle of hearty ingredients first. In this case, dried noodles can be the base before layering on fresh veggies and protein. Then you can pour some boiling water on top to let the noodles cook, mix, and eat. You'll never reach for that old Styrofoam cup of noodles ever again. You don't have to be limit yourself to lunch, either. Things like overnight oats, yogurt, or chia seed parfaits can shake up your breakfast meal prep too.