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Throwing together a salad is easy: lettuce, cucumbers, red onions, walnuts, chicken, oil, vinegar, done.

Throwing together an interesting salad is a harder job! Especially if you eat salad day after day, the same old variations on a theme can get really old, really fast. If that’s you, check out these low-cost grocery staples that can liven your lunch back up and add a bit of interest without sending you to a dozen specialty stores or breaking the bank.

1. Cabbage

Coleslaw is technically a salad, and a great option if you’re sick to death of lettuce. But even beyond that, a handful of crunchy cabbage can really pep up a pile of greens - or substitute for them.

Nutrition

Per 1 cup of shredded cabbage (any color):

• Protein: 1 gram
• Fat: 0 grams
• Carbs: 4 grams (2 grams net)
• Fiber: 2 grams

Pair with…

• Kale, apples, almonds, and a simple oil-and-vinegar dressing
• Cranberries and pecans
• Mayonnaise for a classic coleslaw

Substitutes

Matchstick carrots have a similar snap and are lower in FODMAPs, which makes them a bit easier on the digestion.

2. Winter squash

Butternut or acorn squash adds a warm, savory-sweet note to any salad, and it’s a great counterpoint to crunchier toppings like nuts or bacon. Or branch out into new varieties like delicata, kouri, and buttercup - a salad is a nice, low-stress way to test a new squash since you can just pick it off if you hate it.

Nutrition

Per ½ cup of cubed cooked butternut squash:

• Protein: 1 gram
• Fat: 0 grams (If you roast the squash, you'll also get some fat from the oil or butter)
• Carbs: 10 grams
• Fiber: 3 grams

Pair with…

• Parsnips, baby spinach, and a mustard vinaigrette
• Greens, red onions, toasted almonds, and a sun-dried tomato dressing

Substitutes

Cooked beets (roasted or boiled - these are good hot or cold)

3. Broccoli or cauliflower (cooked or raw)

Broccoli and cauliflower add a nice heft to a big leafy salad - roast them in plenty of olive oil for a nice deep flavor and crispy exterior, steam them lightly, or leave them raw for even more crunch.

Nutrition

Per ½ cup of broccoli or cauliflower (they’re so similar that the nutrition info is essentially the same):

• Protein: 1 gram
• Fat: 0 grams
• Carbs: 3 grams
• Fiber: 1 gram

Pair with…

• Gingered beef, mixed greens, and a tasty vinaigrette
• Bacon, oranges, and red onions
• Mayonnaise, hard-boiled eggs, and bacon

Substitutes

Roasted Brussels sprouts or artichoke hearts would both add a similar weightiness and taste pretty good with the same types of dressing.

4. Marinated or pickled vegetables

The tangy sourness of a good pickle goes very well with a big pile of veg, and there’s a whole lot more out there than just dill cucumbers! You can also get a pretty intense flavor just by marinating vegetables before you add them to a salad. One easy first step towards marinated toppings is to grab or make some sumac onions - these are the pink-purple onions that you can get at Middle Eastern restaurants. On the pickle front, kimchi is a great addition to any Asian-inspired salad, and giardiniera works well in a hearty winter mix.

Nutrition

(Will depend on specifically what vegetables you pick, but most have almost no protein, very little fat, and maybe a couple grams of carbs with some fiber - unless there’s sugar in the pickle)

Pair with…

• Try dill pickles with hamburger, mixed greens, tomato, and onion.
• Try giardiniera with kale, Italian sausage, and red peppers.
• Try pickled or marinated beets with spinach, walnuts, and red onions.

Substitutes

There aren't really any substitutes for the flavor of pickled things, but you could try seaweed if you want a strong-flavored topping with a bit more wetness to it - just get one of those little containers of seaweed at the grocery store and divide it up among several salads as a topping rather than eating it all by itself as a side. (Or scarf it down immediately because that stuff is delicious).

5. Alfalfa sprouts

Sprouts add a fun fluffiness to a salad and they have a nice mild crunchy texture. Yes, alfalfa is technically a legume. But studies on sprouts indicate that they contain very little of the antinutrients that ordinarily make legumes less than great. There are biological reasons why this is the case - the antinutrients are there to protect the seed, not the whole sprout, for example - but basically they’re a non-issue unless you’re eating piles and piles of sprouts all day every day.

Nutrition

Per 1 cup of sprouts:

• Protein: 1 gram
• Fat: 0 grams
• Carbs: 1 gram
• Fiber: 1 gram

Pair with…

• Shaved carrots, green onions, and an almond-butter dressing
• Carrots, broccoli, snap peas, and chicken with Chinese dressing

Substitutes

Kelp noodles (exactly what it says on the tin: noodles made from kelp) for a pile of fluffy stuff with a slightly different flavor.

6. Water chestnuts

Water chestnuts are available in the Asian food aisle, usually in a can. They have a very mild and pleasant taste, but the real appeal is in the crunch - they’re just so nicely snappy and crisp between the teeth.

Nutrition

Per ½ cup of chestnuts:

• Protein: 1 gram
• Fat: 0 gram
• Carbs: 15 grams - these do have a few more carbs than many other vegetables, so low-carbers might want to pick another crunch.
• Fiber: 2 grams

Pair with…

Water chestnuts go really well with just about anything Asian-inspired. If you have any leftover black pepper chicken or sweet garlic chicken, try throwing it on top of some greens with water chestnuts and broccoli raab.

Substitutes

Apples or pears might substitute some of the juicy crunch texture, but admittedly with a much sweeter flavor profile.

7. Tahini

Tahini is a paste made of sesame seeds, and it’s delicious in salad dressing. Mix up equal parts of tahini and olive oil, then add lemon juice to taste and water to make it thinner if you like. Pour over your vegetables of choice and enjoy! It’s a little bit earthy but also very bright, and delicious with all kinds of salads.

Nutrition

Per 2 tbsp.

• Protein: 5 grams
• Fat: 16 grams
• Carbs: 6 grams
• Fiber: 3 grams

For the Omega-6 and PUFA-watchers, the fat breakdown per 2 tbsp. is:

• 2 grams saturated
• 6 grams monounsaturated
• 7 grams polyunsaturated

Pair with…

Leftover lemon and thyme chicken, pomegranate salmon, or zaatar grilled chicken - on a bed of spinach with some cucumbers and sumac onions.

Substitutes

Nut butter-based dressings can offer a similar texture; check out cashew butter or almond butter for potential alternatives.

What’s in your favorite salad? What’s your secret ingredient to make it delicious? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!

Portable salads are an easy go-to lunch option, and you can even pack them a few days in advance in the fridge if you know how to make it work. But it’s not quite as simple as just throwing everything into the jar and tossing it in the fridge – that way lies slimy spinach and soggy chicken breast. Here are 10 tips for making portable salads that you’ll actually want to eat, plus some delicious recipes for salads to try in a jar, a Tupperware, or any other container you can grab and go.

1. Layers will get you everywhere.

Nobody likes soggy, wilted, slimy lettuce. The key to avoiding this is layers – start with the dressing at the very bottom, then move on up to the hardier vegetables that can stand up to sitting in the dressing for a while, then more fragile toppings like avocado, and use relatively dry protein components to separate the wet stuff from the fragile greens on top.

For example, you could put the dressing at the bottom, then layer in cucumbers and tomatoes, chicken breast, and lettuce or spinach at the top. Gravity will keep the heavy wet stuff at the bottom, and the drier chicken breast helps protect the lettuce. Then just shake it up and pour it into a bowl when it’s time to eat.

Try making layers with…

• Italian Chopped Salad (Against All Grain): dressing, artichoke hearts and beets, green olives, chicken and salami, lettuce.
• Thai Chopped Chicken Salad (Lexi’s Clean Kitchen): layering instructions in the recipe.

2. If you have a bumpy ride, keep the dressing separate.

Most portable salad recipes advise putting the dressing in the bottom of the jar. That’s fine if you’ll always be able to keep the salad upright, but it’s not great for bike commuters, students who tend to throw their backpacks around, or anyone else who needs a slightly more durable salad.

You can buy salad containers with a separate dressing cup included, or just bring your dressing along in a separate smaller container. The tiny little plastic containers sold for toddler snacks work really well for this.

Here are a few quick and easy salad dressings, or try…

• Mexican Salad Dressing (Things My Belly Likes)
• Paleo Caesar Salad Dressing (Rubies & Radishes)
• Easy One-Jar Lemon Salad Dressing (The Fitchen)

3. Use the right container.

Mason jars are trendy and cute, but they’re also heavy and breakable, and they don’t have an easy built-in dressing holder the way some plastic containers do. They don’t hold very much spinach or lettuce, and they can be a pain to eat out of, unless you want to eat all the components of your salad separately.

If you like mason jars, by all means, keep using them, but don’t sacrifice functionality for style – that’s a surefire way to get irritated at the whole project and give it up.

4. Consider tougher greens.

If your lettuce always wilts no matter what you do, try something a little sturdier. Shredded cabbage is one great option. If you go for coleslaw, you can even break the dressing-on-the-bottom rule, and if you’re not a coleslaw person, you can easily use it in all kinds of other salads as well.

Another green that holds up better than lettuce is kale. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it with the right dressing and something crunchy on top!

Recipes with tougher greens:

• Coleslaw with Apples and Poppy Seeds (Paleo Leap)
• Thai Kale Salad with Coconut Lime Dressing (Three Beans on a String)
• Brussels Sprouts and Kale Salad with Sweet Dijon Dressing (Pain Free Kitchen)

5. Try it without the leaves.

If you constantly have trouble with wilted greens, try taking the lettuce out of the picture completely in favor of a chopped salad. You can still have plenty of vegetables in the mix: what about bell peppers, cucumbers, or steamed and chilled asparagus, broccoli, green beans…

Some tasty leafless salads:

• Thai-Style Broccoli Salad with Sweet Chili Lime Dressing (GI 365)
• Fresh Vegetable Salad with Black Olives (Paleo Leap)
• Asparagus Basil Salad (Elana’s Pantry)

6. Use a DRY container.

Whether you go for glass, plastic, ceramic, or pure gold-plated titanium, make sure your container is dry as a bone before you start putting your salad in there. Wipe it out with a paper towel, or wipe it with a clean rag and then let it air-dry for a few minutes before you start. A wet container will give you wilted produce in no time.

7. If you’re using canned fish, try just bringing the can.

Canned tuna or sardines are delicious over lettuce, maybe with a mustard vinaigrette and some other vegetables for color. But you know what’s not so delicious? Tuna-flavored lettuce, topped with tuna-flavored red peppers, tuna-flavored almond slices, and tuna, with a tuna-flavored vinaigrette.

The hard fact of fish is that it has a distinctive smell. And since canned fish is already packaged in a portable container, you’re not losing any convenience by just throwing the whole can into your lunchbox and then opening it when you’re ready to eat.

Recipes with canned fish:

• Keto Tuna Salad (Paleo Leap)
• Chopped salad with Tuna (The Salty Kitchen)
• Mason Jar Loaded Tuna Salad (So Let’s Hang Out)
• Kale and Sardine Salad (Reclaiming Yesterday)

8. Go for cherry tomatoes over slices.

Tomato slices or wedges can be a great addition to a salad, but they tend to leak liquid over the course of a day or more in the fridge. Get the same flavor without the potential for sogginess by throwing in a couple of cherry tomatoes instead.

Recipes with cherry tomatoes, or where you could substitute:

• Keto Taco Salad (Paleo Leap)
• Tomato and Spinach Salad (Paleo Leap)
• Shawarma Salad (Mark’s Daily Apple)
• Buffalo Shrimp Salad (Preppy Paleo)

9. If you want avocado, sprinkle it with lemon juice before adding it.

Avocado is a wonderful addition to any Paleo salad – it’s full of nutrients and healthy fats, and it tastes delicious. But brown avocado is arguably as gross as slimy lettuce. Avoid it completely by sprinkling the avocado with a few drops of lemon juice before you start packing it into your chosen container.

Some tasty salads with avocado:

• Salmon, avocado, and arugula salad with lemon-parsley dressing (The Iron You)
• BLT Salad with Avocado and Chipotle Dressing (Cook Eat Paleo)
• Cobb Salad with Green Goddess Dressing (The Domestic Man)

10. Prep in advance

The whole point of a portable salad is that you’re going to take it somewhere. Unless you plan perfectly every time you leave the house and never have emergencies, at some point you’re going to be running off in a rush. If your “salad” is still a pile of unwashed greens, un-chopped chicken breast, and various condiments scattered around the kitchen, chances are very low that you’ll have time to put it together.

Making a nightly habit of prepping your salad for the next day is one great way to make sure it happens – and it’s the perfect time to incorporate dinner leftovers as well. Or do it in the morning if you work the night shift. Just make sure you do it.

…and some extra portable salad recipes, just because! (Eat Drink Paleo)

Salad is a go-to work lunch, quick to throw together and ready to take anything you need to use up, but it’s easy to get into a rut. And who wants to eat the same old lettuce + chicken breast + vinaigrette every single day? So here are 8 ways to perk up your salads with some different flavors and textures, without a lot of extra time in the kitchen.

1. Change the Greens

Romaine after Romaine can get old – so mix it up a little with spinach, mixed baby greens, or even something sharper like arugula or dandelion leaves. Or try a different type of lettuce; if you’re used to the crisper texture of Romaine, something soft and buttery like Bibb lettuce can be a nice break.

Recipe inspiration:

• Arugula: Easy Fig Salad (Healing and Eating)
• Friseé: Warm Bacon Friseé Salad (Three Diets One Dinner)
• Savoy cabbage: Salad Savoy (Sew Let’s Cook)

2. Dress it Up

Adding a different dressing can completely change the entire character of a salad. Sure, olive oil and vinegar is convenient, but even a basic vinaigrette is easy to modify with different spices. Or go exotic with a coconut-milk Ranch dressing or a spicy Thai almond-butter sauce.

Recipe inspiration:

• Paleo Caesar Salad Dressing (Rubies and Radishes)
• Dijon Vinaigrette Salad Dressing (Of Goats and Greens)
• Easy One-Jar Lemon Salad Dressing (The Fitchen)
• Zesty Ginger Dressing (Cavewoman Café, from Well Fed 2)

3. Add Some Crunch

One of the fun parts about eating salad is enjoying all the different textures. Sure, salad vegetables can be crunchy (depending on what you pick), but it’s also fun to experiment with toppings. Try some roasted nuts (almond slivers, walnuts, or anything else you like), crispy pork rinds, or even just raw cabbage.

Recipe inspiration:

• Honeyed Walnuts (Balancing Paleo)
• Celery Root and Apple Salad (Gourmande in the Kitchen)
• Cucumber Onion Chip Croutons (Urban Nettle)
• Kale Super Salad with Crunchy Onions (Cookie Loves…)

4. Heat it Up

Tossing just one or two warm elements onto a salad can switch up the whole experience in interesting ways. The classic is to make the protein warm: a chicken breast hot off the grill, tossed with lettuce, onions, and toppings. But you could also add all kinds of warmer mix-ins…

Recipe inspiration:

• Roasted cauliflower summer salad (Hold the Grain)

5. Smooth it Out

Crunch is all well and good, but the perfect counterpoint to crunchy nuts or raw onions is often a little something smooth, like roasted beets or winter squash, or maybe some avocado slices.

Recipe inspiration:

• Sweet Potato Sesame Salad (Canada Girl Eats Paleo)
• Roasted Beet-chive Salad (Worthy Pause)
• Creamy Beet Salad with Middle Eastern Spices and Avocado (Betacyanin)

6. Sweeten the Deal

The beauty of salad is that a little sweetness goes a long way, so you can get a nice sweet flavor in your whole meal without dumping on a huge pile of sugar. The classic suggestions are to either use honey in the dressing or add some fruit – berries, pears, peaches, or citrus would all work well, depending on what you’re working with.

Recipe inspiration:

• Fennel and Orange Salad (And Here We Are)
• Spring Salad with Asparagus and Honey Chipotle Vinaigrette (The Organic Kitchen)
• Chicken and Brussels Sprouts Salad (with apples and grapes) (Popular Paleo)

7. Let go of Leaves

“Salad” doesn’t have to involve a pile of leafy greens at all if you don’t want them! Instead, try one of these interesting salads that use other vegetables – like cucumbers – for the “base” vegetable.

Recipe inspiration:

• Green Bean and Tomato Salad (Jan’s Sushi Bar)
• Avocado Cucumber Pistachio Salad (The Healthy Foodie)
• Spiralized Cucumber Dill Salad (Virginia is for Hunter-Gatherers)
• Simple Celery Salad (Balancing Paleo)

8. Deconstruct Something

Turning something else into a salad is a fun way to enjoy a favorite meal that otherwise wouldn’t be Paleo – it’s especially good for sandwich combinations or other recipes where the non-Paleo elements are really just fillers.

Recipe inspiration:

• Deconstructed Gyro Salad (The Clothes Make the Girl)
• Deconstructed Hamburger Salad (Real Food Outlaws)
• BLT Salad (Eat Drink Paleo)

What’s your favorite go-to salad? Let us know on Facebook or Google+!