Freezing food and salad in a jar: two ways to make your life easier

I'm not much of a meal planner. Okay, I don't plan meals at all. I get why having a meal schedule is a great thing to have. I'm just not going to kid myself and pretend like I would keep something like that up. I love leftovers (normally lunch consists of leftovers from the previous night's dinner). However, I don't really do the double batch cooking and freezing that people recommend. I might not be able (or want) to meal plan, but I know I can at least make more food. I went grocery shopping today and forgot my list so I ended up with some double items (extra peppers, carrots, etc.) and I didn't want them to go to waste. It also so happens I bought some canning jars, so it was time to put them to use. I made a huge pot of soup this afternoon. I actually followed this recipe except that I used fresh thyme and didn't put the vegetables through a mill. No, I'm not on a skinny lady French diet, but rather I thought the recipe sounded easy enough and I had all of the ingredients. (The recipe turned out great.) (caption id="attachment_3990" align="alignleft" width="300")

Soup and a salad(/caption) After dinner, I took the leftover soup and filled three canning jars. I made sure to leave two inches of room at the top so I wouldn't have any vegetable soup bombs going off in the freezer. I even had some leftover for the fridge so I don't have to defrost tomorrow's lunch. For the jarred salads, I lined up four clean jars in front of my cutting board. I chopped up the ingredients and sprinkled a little into each jar. Here's how I layered the jars: First layer: carrots, cucumbers, yellow pepper Second layer: black beans Third layer: grape tomatoes Fourth layer: sunflower seeds Fifth layer: spinach and baby arugula I then placed a small piece of paper towel on top of the fifth layer to further prevent the leaves from wilting. I did something similar for the other jars except I used red pepper, chick peas (and white beans) for the second layer and pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds) for the fourth layer. The first layer can also be used for salad dressing. Since we'll be eating these at home, and I usually only drizzle some balsamic vinegar on our salads, I skipped it. If you plan on taking these jars and eating them elsewhere, feel free to add a tablespoon of dressing at the bottom. You can also check out this page about Mason Jar Salads from Home Everyday or one from the Kitchn called How to Pack the Perfect Salad in a Jar. It sounds like a lot of work, but now I have so many healthy meals to choose from. You can serve these as sides, eat them as a whole meal or mix and match with other meals. Now I can spend less time wondering what to make and more time eating. It's a win-win situation. To read more about The New Abides and our adventure to do one new thing, every day, for an entire year, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter. To subscribe to The New Abides, type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.