Rainbow Salad Jars – a simple, creative & healthy summer option.

As the summer weather brings us outside, we have plenty of chances to barbecue, go on picnics and enjoy fun days out.

This often means pre-prepared foods, meat and bread which sometimes can be a little light on fresh vegetables.

So, enter the Rainbow Salad Jar – a simple, creative and wonderfully healthy option that little people and big people will love. It’s quick, fun to make and extremely portable with no mess.

Rainbow vegetables provide an abundance of vitamins & minerals. Each colour represents a different nutrient so the more colours you eat, the more health benefits you are getting. They can tempt the most reluctant vegetable eater, due to their fun, colourful and creative look.

What you need for Rainbow Salad Jars:

Glass jars with screw-tight lids (these can be recycled jam jars or similar). Glass is a much healthier food storage option than plastic which can potentially leach chemicals into your food.

How to assemble: Start from the bottom of the jar

Dressing – make up a batch then put approximately ½ cm deep in the bottom of each jar or to your taste
2 parts extra virgin olive oil
1 part balsamic vinegar
½ part mustard
Twist or two of freshly ground black pepper
Twist or two of Himalayan crystal salt or sea salt

Salad ingredients – start layering grated or finely chopped vegetables to make colourful stripes,
choose from:
Celery (good at the base)
Peppers (good at the base)
Grated carrot
Grated beetroot
Sweetcorn
Green beans
Broad beans
Tomato
Cucumber (watery middle bit best removed)
Avocado (add a squeeze of lemon before adding to the jar)

Courgette
Radishes
Red onion
Spring onion
Asparagus
Black olives
Lettuce (top layer)
Spinach (top layer)
Rocket (top layer)
Fresh herbs (top layer)
Make up the jars, screw the lids on tight, refrigerate or put into a cool box.

When your barbeque or picnic is ready, shake up the jar to distribute the dressing, then eat straight from the jar or tip onto a plate.

These Rainbow Jars can score a whopping 10 varieties in one easy hit! If you are struggling with creating variety in your diet, then the variety counter is free to download, and I promise this will help you get out of the rut of always eating the same foods.

Jane Barrett is a registered nutritionist and expert in digestive health helping women & children with digestive issues take control of their health through food. She offers support through meal plans, online courses & personalised 1:1 programmes on Zoom.