My Daily Chicken Salad

I have had many people ask me “What you do put in your salad that you eat everyday for lunch?” If you look at my meal plans for the week, I do eat a salad for lunch almost every day.

I do this because it’s easy and quick. I am lucky enough to work in a place that has a freezer and a microwave for me to be able to make this process even simpler, but if you’re not, you can always bring cooked chicken and eat it cold instead!

I can hear most of you thinking “uuugghhh… how boring! I could not eat a salad everyday!”

But really, eating a salad everyday is the most diverse thing you can do! I put different things on my salad every week. This is a great way to get a diversity of nutrients and to keep your mouth smiling!

What I do to make sure I stick to this, and don’t spend money eating out, is prepare a “Salad Kit” every Sunday night that I bring to work and keep in the fridge throughout the week. This usually takes me 15-20 minutes, and saves me over $ 3.00 a day, $ 15.00 a week, and $ 60.00 A MONTH!

Here is a break down of the cost (These are all guesses, hard to estimate EXACT cost):

	Total Cost	How many Servings?	Cost Per Service
Actual Salad (Organic lettuce from COSCTO):	$3.99	10	$0.40
Frozen Chicken (All natural from Trader Joes	$4.99	10	$0.50
Vegetable Toppings (carrots, tomatoes, onion, cucumber, ect	$2.50	5	$0.50
Protein Topping (seeds, nuts, ect)	$3.99	20	$0.20
Dried Fruit Topping (cranberries, raisins, ect)	$4.99	20	$0.25
Homemade Salad Dressing	$1.49	15	$0.10
Total:			$1.95
Average Eating out cost			$5.00
Total Savings bringing my lunch			$3.05

Here are some examples of things that go in my Salad Kit (I usually pick 1-4 out of each category!):

Salad – I fill a freezer bag size Ziploc w/lettuce, that usually lasts me all week

Veggie Toppings: Carrots, Grape Tomatoes, Pepper, Celery, Onions, Cucumber, or green onions

Protein Toppings – Chicken, Steak, pork, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, cashews, walnuts, peanuts, black beans, chickpeas

Fruit Toppings- Dried Cranberries, Raisins, apples, mandarin oranges, mango, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries

Other Toppings – Cheese, crunched up tortilla chips, wonton strips, Coconut shreds, croutons, grilled onions, Chai Seeds, Flax seeds, popcorn

Dressing (all homemade): Honey Mustard, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Italian, Thousand Island, Lemon Poppy Seed, Creamy Avocado, Creamy Italian,

How in the world could I get bored when there are so many different combinations that I can create?

I encourage you to think about your lunches and your budget. Do you spend $5.00+ a day eating out and filling your body with garbage?

It may be time for you to consider bringing a lunch to work! Look how easy it can be, and how delicious!

I'm sharing this on Tip Day Thursdays