Tired of the same old supper? Trying to get your kids to eat more veggies? Serve up a salad bar for supper. I found for some odd reason y’all my kids love a salad bar at a restaurant. So I decided to try serving up a salad bar for supper any old night of the week. And…it works! Grab your veggies and lay out a spread. Let them pick and choose and build a supper that you can be proud to feed them!
Start with a big bowl of lettuce. A few ideas for stretching your dollars here:
- be sure to check out any lettuce that is marked down especially if you are buying the same day as you are eating
- mix a cheaper lettuce with a more expensive one for all of the taste at a fraction of the price
Next up is veggies, fruits, and more! Grab anything from the produce, canned, or frozen department that your kids love. A few ideas for you:
- tomatoes
- mushrooms
- olives
- carrots
- cucumbers
- green onions
- frozen peas
- avocados
- peppers
- frozen corn
- beans
- broccoli
- cauliflower
- strawberries
- grapes
- peaches
- apples
- frozen edamame
- and oh so much more!
The beauty of this meal is to grab those items that are on sale or a bargain….then serve them up buffet style!
Be sure to layer on the protein. We want this salad to be filling so grab a few protein items to add to your salad bar. A few ideas for you:
- pepperoni
- bacon bits
- precooked chicken strips
- hard boiled eggs
- diced ham
- lunch meat
- salmon
- tuna
- or anything else that looks great!
This is also a great use for those little bits of leftovers. Pop those out buffet style and the family will eat them up!
Don’t forget the toppings! Add a little something special to your salad bar in the form of toppings. Some ideas include:
- cheeses
- nuts
- croutons
- a variety of dressings
Be sure to have the favorite dressings of each family member on hand to make this salad for supper a real success.
If you are tired of serving up the same meal night after night, the solution might just be to make a salad bar for supper tonight! The entire family will love making their own salad and picking and choosing from the variety of ingredients. You will love a simple yet healthy supper that can be pulled together in just minutes.
All 4 of our kids loved salad but not the same things in it. One would not eat tomatoes at all. One loves any kind of veggie and another would change preferences as time went on while fourth didn’t like salad she thought until she could try her own preferences. Kids love to try new/different items when they want to, not when we want them to. If they try something and don’t like it, can put it aside and not eat at all.
Having several kinds of choices is such a great idea and teaches kids to try different things when they’re ready. Even little ones. Our youngest (6 yrs. younger than 3rd.) would try what a sister or brother was having. Usually if she didn’t like it one of them would eat so not wasted, especially our veggie lover from babyhood. He was the kid that would eat anything rest of them wouldn’t. Give it to Mikey, remember that commercial, well our salad/veggie lover is named Mike. He’s now 52, 6’3 1/2″ tall, 220 lbs. Smart Mom doing salad bar, happy weekend Made me hungry as all get out for salad.
Thanks as always Jane!