As I said in the Snack Edition, the majority of my duties on batch cooking day include vegetable prep. Chopping and preparing vegetables takes time, and some days that can be a barrier to eating as well as we could.

For lunch, I pre-make salads. Lately I’ve been enjoying lettuce, apples, avocado, shredded carrot, and 2-4 ounces of chicken.

I cut everything up and layer it in a mason jars. I use a canning funnel to help, since stuffing vegetables into jars can be a little messy. I add a handful of lettuce to start, then add a quarter of an apple, a handful of shredded carrot, a couple more handfuls of lettuce, and top it with some grilled chicken (or another meat) and a quarter of an avocado. I make four to six salads at a time and keep them in the fridge. They keep incredibly well. It makes eating a healthy lunch really simple. Each day, I all I have to do is dump the contents of the jar into my Tupperware salad bowl.

Note: The shredded carrots are the leftover bits from the carrot sticks I cut for snacks.

Another note: If you don’t have these lids for your Mason jars, invest!

I precut other vegetables that we want to eat that week for snacks or sides with dinner and put them in containers or bags in the fridge so they’re ready to go. Our favorites include broccoli, beets, cauliflower, and sweet potatoes.

We grill chicken breasts on the George Forman. Just a chicken breast, some garlic salt, maybe a little pepper—easy peasy. I slice the chicken breasts to use in my salads. I generally grill a couple of extra breasts because they heat up well in the microwave and are an easy dinner if I get home late from climbing or if I’m particularly hungry after work.

Other fun things I add to my salads are tomatoes, shredded cheese, radishes, spinach, kale, pears, blueberries, and the occasional citrus chunks. Whatever fruits and vegetables you love in a dinner salad will work for your make-ahead Mason jar lunch salad. Have fun with it, try new things, and give yourself a pat on the back for making better choices.

The little bit of lunch prep has made making good decisions so much easier. This winter: Batch Cooking: Soup for Lunch Edition!