With the boys back in school, I’m trying my best during the daytime hours to get as much of the dinner prep done as possible. No brainer – it saves me in those late afternoon hours now that we have some serious second grade homework coming home each night. Once I’ve fed the kids and gotten then ready for bed, I don’t really have the energy to make myself dinner. I love to have a salad most nights as my main dish or a side to a smaller dish. Getting the salad put together and out of the way in the morning helps my hectic afternoon schedule. But when you put a salad together and put it in the fridge uncovered, it’s going to dry out or go limp…making your salad not edible. I have just the trick to keep your salad chilled all day while you’re busy playing mom!

Years ago, my friend’s mother taught me a quick and easy tip to keep your salad fresh for hours after you’ve assembled it (without dressing). This week I put together a quick salad with some leftover ingredients found in the fridge…

To keep it fresh all day, all you do is pull off a full paper towel sheet…

Run it under cold water until saturated, ring it out and lay it on top of your salad bowl…

Then put the bowl of salad in the fridge covered – just like this. I’ve heard of friends that cover their salad bowl with saran wrap, to be extra safe. If you choose to do that too – great! Either way, feel good knowing that you have your salad ready in the fridge for later that day…still be cold and crisp.

Just to let you know, I don’t recommend doing this if you plan on eating the salad the next day. The air in the fridge will dry out the paper towel if it’s left in for a day or more.

Hope this tip will help you when it comes to planning dinners and doing that morning prep work!