Between your workouts, school or work, social life, and all of your other daily commitments, it can be hard to find time to prepare healthy meals that satisfy hunger and boost your running performance. Having said that, dedicating a couple of weekend hours to doing a little slicing and dicing is all it takes to help set yourself up for a week of clean eating. You can find more of my tips on how I do Sunday meal prep here, but today I’ve got one of my favourite portable lunches to share with you. Simply layer up all the ingredients in a mason jar, placing the greens at the top so they don’t get soggy. You can store several of these jars in the fridge and use them as portable lunches or on-the-go dinners all throughout the week.
Chopped Chicken Salad to Go
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook time: 25-60 mins (depending on soaking time)
Serves: 4 x 1.25 cup mason jars
Ingredients:
- 1 cup diced or shredded cooked lean chicken breast
- 3/4 cup carrots, grated or diced
- 1/2 cup red onion, diced
- 3/4 cup mixed sweet bell peppers, diced
- 1/2 cup celery, diced
- 1/2 cup raw spelt berries or wheat berries
- baby greens
Instructions:
- Optional: Spelt berries can be soaked in water ahead of time, which will shorten their cooking time. To do this, place spelt berries (or wheat berries) in a bowl of water and set it on the counter for 4-8 hours.
- If you soaked the spelt berries, drain off the soaking water and rinse. Transfer to a small saucepan and add 2 1/2 cups of water or low sodium vegetable broth. Cook over medium heat. Soaked berries should take about 25 minutes whereas unsoaked berries will take 50-60 minutes. When fully cooked, they should be slightly more chewy than cooked wild rice, but not crunchy. Drain any remaining water and rinse the grains. Set aside to cool.
- For the salad, chop all vegetables and chicken. Evenly distribute them in layers across 4 jars, in the order listed. (Chicken on the bottom, spelt berries on the top). Fill any remaining space at the top of the jars with baby greens.
- When ready to eat, drizzle with your favourite dressing and shake the jar. Pour into a bowl (over more greens if you want to), and enjoy.
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Angela Simpson is a certified Health Coach, blogger at Eat Spin Run Repeat, and regular nutrition contributor to the Run Waterloo blog.
