Salad potluck: the easiest, cheapest, healthiest way to avoid packing lunch

Guest post by Alissa
Photo by: rishabh – CC BY 2.0
Photo by: rishabhCC BY 2.0

It started with a workplace baby shower with a salad potluck directive: everyone bring something you can put on a salad. As we stood around munching, while cards were opened, we thought, “Hey, this was REALLY easy, and it’s healthy, too! We need to do this more often!” So we made it a weekly thing for the summer.

One or two people volunteer to bring greens and everyone else looks in their fridge/pantry/garden/grocery store, and brings anything you can put on a salad — vegetable, protein, cheese, fruit, nuts, etc. Spread everything out in the conference room, and voila!

We have a few bottles of dressing we keep in the company fridge, and leftover non-perishables like nuts go in the cabinet for the next week.

It helps us all eat healthier and it makes “packing lunch” as simple as throwing a random fridge vegetable or a bag of dried cranberries or can of black beans in your bag. (Pro tip: don’t forget to have a can opener!)

But this doesn’t just have to be about eating at work. I’m totally going to steal it next time we have a girls night gathering or shower when I don’t have enough time or brain cells to plan a meal.

Comments on Salad potluck: the easiest, cheapest, healthiest way to avoid packing lunch

    • Some folks slice at home, and some wash and slice at work. ‘Tis helpful to have a few basic kitchen items around like a knife, serving spoons, plate, bowl, and can opener. 🙂

  1. We used to do this all the time with a group of friends i had. We used to meet at someone’s place and everyone would bring something, then we set everything up as a salad bar. It was very nice because everyone would bring the best they could- greens from someone’s father’s garden, buffalo mozzarella from the farmer, organic nuts, homemade bread etc.

    We did have dessert after that, too.

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