School Lunch Idea!

I love to eat salads for lunch.  The school salads at my school are decent but, there is only lettuce, an occasional tomato, and on a good day some type of soggy croutons...all placed in a small styrofoam cup with a lid.  In addition, I love Thousand Island salad dressing and the few packets that the cafeteria supplies disappear very quickly. 

 I teach fourth grade and the upper grades in my elementary school are the last to eat.  So, never will I blame the sweet, wonderful cafeteria ladies at my school for a soggy salad with a dressing I would not choose for myself.  I blame the system. :)  Not really.  It's just a fact of life.

When I eat a salad, my personal preference is a salad with no white stalky part in it, lots of cheese, and nuts, such as cashews, sunflower seeds, almond slices.  Oh, but I'm not finished yet.  No salad is complete for me without chow mein noodles, an overload of croutons, and a heaping helping of Thousand Island salad dressing.  In other words, if there is not a crunch in every bite, it's not my type of salad. :)

I have tried to take my own salads to take to school for lunch over the years.  I have gone through several types of containers trying to find a container that makes it easy to take a salad while keeping my many favorite salad items fresh and crunchy.  There is nothing appetizing about eating a salad with your favorite items if the chow mein noodles are soggy, and the salad dressing has been absorbed by the lettuce.

This past summer while I was hanging out in Wal-mart way more than I'd like to have been, trying to prepare my 3 college-aged students with supplies and necessities of life, I made yet another grand find!  I found, at least for me, the perfect salad container.  It is called a Cool Gear item and is found in the same isle that you will find Rubbermaid food containers.  It is reasonably priced and is just a really neat container.

The Cool Gear comes in a sturdy, easy to handle bundle.  There are 3 parts, including the lid, and a small salad dressing bottle.

Once the lid is removed the first part of the container is a place to put all the toppings that you will add to your salad when you are ready to eat.  There is also a small bottle for the salad dressing of your choice. 

 Okay...that bottle could be 3 times larger and I still wouldn't have enough room for the amount of salad dressing I use on my salads.  However, I use way too much dressing.  I am going to be positive and convince myself I am practicing portion control. :)

The top part of the salad container is easily removed to display the bottom part. 

 The bottom section is where the salad is actually stored.  It pops out several times to reveal a decent size salad bowl.

Since all salad items are stored separately, there is never a need to eat a soggy, limp salad again!  Simple pour the items from the top section into the salad, squeeze out the dressing and you are ready to eat!