We're Making: One Giant Salad To Eat All Day Long
I hate the word hack, but this is one: Meet the All Day Salad
Is it getting older and the fact that time horizons have severely shrunk? Is it hustle culture (I don’t even think I’m technically a member of that culture)? Is it social media robbing us of our attention tensility? Whatever it is, the relentlessness with which meals have to be ideated, created, and consumed is dizzying.
Don’t get me wrong: I actually really love to cook. But this—breakfast, lunch, something kind of healthy, but ultimately satisfying, everyday—this is not a creative expression; this is not trying new things; this is not acquiring new skills. This is the culinary doldrums. And yet, we have to do it.
I have found exactly one solution and I call it All Day Salad. If you are bored of asking yourself what to eat, multiple times per day, it might be a good option for you, too.
It all started many, many years ago, when I made a delicious and beautiful salad, which I took a photo of and sent to my friend, Sarah. This salad was pretty oversized, and ultimately, I got too full to finish it. I lamented, again, to Sarah, that I would hate to throw it away and she gave me this foundation-quaking advice: Save it and eat it when you are hungry again. Because, of course, there’s always another hungry coming.
The basic principles of all-day salad are rough and malleable: (1) Salad needs to be too large to eat in one sitting, possibly two; (2) Salad needs to be full of all kinds of things you like (you need to feel OK about going back to eat it again and again); (3) Salad is a great way to get rid of leftovers; (4) Add a breakfast protein to it for breakfast; a lunchier protein for lunch. That’s pretty much it.
Blueprint for creating your own All Day Salad ~~
A few extra things to make all-day salads particularly successful~~
A deep plate/shallow bowl/pasta bowl: There are a lot of different ways to describe this particular vessel, but essentially—it’s not a bowl and it’s not a plate; it’s something in between. The size of plate/platter is going to be different for each person’s size of All Day Hunger. I use this one, but someday I will upgrade to this one.
OR, pre-batch a dressing you love ahead of time.
Speaking of pre-batching, having a few spoon salads (bean salads, grain salads, etc.) in the fridge make assembling your All Day Salad way, way faster.
When to assemble all-day salad? ASAP, before you are actually hungry. This is meant to be a lazy option, so if you have to amble over to the kitchen and start chopping things when you’re hungry, it’s just not going to work. I make mine while I’m also making school lunches. Or you could make it while the coffee is brewing. Or some other time between waking up and becoming fully hungry.
A Few All Day Salads, By Way Of Example ~~
OK pals, what do you think of All Day Salad? Good solution for mainlining vegetables? Totally overthinking feeding my human body? Will you try it? I’d love to know. 🥗
I have a standing search term for LL Bean and Patagonia in the Ebay kids’ vintage section and recently an LL Barn Coat appeared that was just spectacular. Cue search wormhole sequence… Here are a few of my favorites, plus the full length one because I know a few of you like mine. :) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Tart Vinegar is offering three (!!!) classes on how to home ferment your own at home. Perfect accompaniment to an All Day Salad, frankly. (LINK)
OH MY. (LINK)
Meanwhile, this one, while not amazing looking, is free? (LINK)
Upcoming talk about the history of Levi’s and its general effect on culture. (LINK)
Kale is also a great option and then that salad can last daaayyysss
As a regular salad muncher and disturbingly regular food prepper, I have only one alteration. Try switching lettuce for thinly shaved cabbage (napa, purple or regular green) and your salad will feel fresh so much longer - for multiple days even. The crunch is satisfying. Add nuts or chia if you need more.