One of my favorite things to do is streamline something that isn’t efficient into a smoothly functioning way of life. I made a choice a few months ago, after being inspired by Rachael Ray, to lose a pound a week just by dropping 500 calories from my daily diet. I’m telling you, it worked! I’ve lost 12 pounds since June. Okay, I started exercising, too, but I have definitely noticed a difference in the way I think about food. All I have to do is get to 500. What’s that, two less cookies?
One of the changes I made over the summer was to eat a salad every day for lunch. Although it is not difficult to make a salad every day, it is time consuming – especially on homeschool days! Then I saw this idea on Pinterest:
I like to eat baby spinach, which goes bad very quickly! Now, I just fill enough jars for about a week, seal them, and presto! lunch is ready. It also keeps cut lettuce (cut with a metal knife) from turning brown on the edges. Seriously. I read more details on Salad-in-a-Jar on their website, which is a great source. I did note that the spinach started to look a little bad if it’s kept for more than a week or a week and a half. Also, cucumbers don’t work so well in the jar. However, carrots, cranberries, etc. work great.
I didn’t have a vacuum sealer, but I decided to take the plunge and get one. It was expensive for my budget, about $70. I read a lot of reviews, and people said it saved them money over time since they didn’t waste food. I’m not sure what I think about that yet. We’ll see. I got my Foodsaver from Amazon. This is what it looks like:
The attachment you use to seal the jar was about $7 at Walmart. This is what it looks like:
It takes literally about 6 seconds to pop the sealing attachment on the jar lid and press “seal”. I love it and have now starting using the food sealer for other things I want to freeze, like cookies! 
So THAT’s how you did it! 500 calories – what a great idea!!
. You look fabulous! The Salad sealer is a great idea, too, and what a time saver!
Have a great week, Ginny. I thank God for you!
Denise
Thanks, Denise!
That is a awesome idea thank you for sharing
You’re welcome! Thanks for stopping by.
You can also just put salad in the jars without sealing them. The salad will last a few days (probably not a week!). We don’t have a food sealer (though I have thought about it) and hadn’t implemented this idea until I saw another blogger that just put the salad in the jars. We buy a 2 lb bag of pre-shredded romaine lettuce and sometimes it browns very quickly. My husband takes a salad every day for lunch and I eat it quite a bit too. This saves us so much money and frustration!!