jar salad caution

So I found a great pin on Pinterest a few weeks ago: Jar Salad. Jar Salad! How has this never been invented before?! Am I right??? The idea is so simple and looked like it would really ease the stress of work week lunches so I jumped on board. I made four jar salads on Monday evening for the week. Typically I do not re-use recipes. I make things one time and then move on to others. Of course there will always be the defaults: spaghetti, burrito bowl, roasted vegetables, but most of my recipes are one hit wonders and never appear on stage again. And not because I don't enjoy cooking them or because they are just too big of a pain, but mostly because I just don't want to do it again. The jar salads, however, would be different. I decided that this was a genius way to pack lunch for the week once and then not have to think about it. I got all my ingredients together, made quinoa (I know, impressive) and the whole process took less than 30 minutes. I was so pleased. And my jars were so pretty! LOOK!

So I went on my merry way to work on Tuesday and loved lunch. It was so easy and cute and fun. And it tasted great! The dressing goes in the very bottom (point being it doesn't touch the lettuce until you are ready to eat it) so it didn't get wilty or anything. Gold Star for this recipe :) And clearly, I enjoyed it...

But then the week happened and it was a busy week for all of us. I brought the salad on Wednesday and Thursday and even Friday. Yay me! Gold Star for Katie :) On Friday, however, the salad looked... well... different. And I was concerned so decided that I just couldn't eat the salad again. I'm sure it would have been fine and I'm sure this is not because of my extreme concern with food going bad or my despise of leftovers, but something was happening to the onions throughout the week as they sat in the dressing and it was not pretty. The beautiful salads I had made had turned questionable at best and I just couldn't.
So I threw it away :( I think maybe the oil in the fridge was a problem too... The only word I can think to use is that it was congealing... (ew. insert medical mask emoticon here).

I still think you should try this method. Maybe without dressing in it? Or maybe only making 2-3 jars at a time. Don't go nuts like I did... Use Caution- with food prep, it'll be one of your best allies...