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Premeditated Leftovers™

Prep-Ahead Meals, Cooking Tips, and Frugal Living

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Easy Salad Recipes

We enjoy salads, but I don't like spending a lot of time chopping vegetables, so I prep the veggies all in one batch to use in salads throughout the week. Whenever possible I make my salads ahead of time, so I can just grab them and go for an easy lunch or a quick side dish.

 

make-ahead salads, easy meal prep salads for lunch, pasta salad recipes, quinoa salads, unique potato salad recipes, and even scrumptious chicken salads.

how to meal prep salads and prevent salads from getting soggy

How to Meal Prep Salads and Keep Salad Fresh

July 21, 2025 by Alea Milham Leave a Comment

Do you want to make salads for the week without worrying about a soggy salad? Use these strategies and tips on how to meal prep salads and keep salad fresh for a week to make healthy salads for lunch this week!  If you are looking for meal prep recipes and ideas, check out the cookbook Prep-AheadRead More

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

May 13, 2025 by Alea Milham 21 Comments

This Strawberry Spinach Salad recipe is one of my favorite salads! It is topped with a raspberry vinaigrette made with fresh raspberries. I enjoy this Strawberry Spinach Salad alone for lunch or as a side dish for dinner. It is also very easy to make and since spinach is hardier than other greens it canRead More

easy ranch dressing recipe

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Salad Dressing

January 15, 2024 by Alea Milham Leave a Comment

This homemade buttermilk ranch salad dressing recipe is quick and easy to make! Why do I make homemade buttermilk ranch salad dressing? In large part, I make homemade ranch because my kids say they can taste the difference between homemade and bottled dressing. However, I also make my own salad dressing because I have completeRead More

BLT Salad with Avocado Ranch Dressing

January 10, 2024 by Alea Milham Leave a Comment

This BLT Salad with Avocado Ranch Dressing is based on the classic Bacon Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich and it is always a hit with my boys! The BLT salad is simple to make and only calls for 4 ingredients: bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. The dressing is easy too. You just mix mashed avocado withRead More

Asian chicken salads in meal prep bowls with Asian dressing

Asian Chicken Salad Meal Prep

January 9, 2024 by Alea Milham Leave a Comment

This Asian Chicken Salad Meal Prep recipe makes it easy to meal prep lunches for the week, it is a delicious salad that will revival your favorite take-out salad. This Asian salad is an easy salad for me to pull together in under 15 minutes because it is made from vegetables that I often haveRead More

Apple Walnut Salad Recipe with a sugar free apple salad dressing recipe

Apple Walnut Salad

October 10, 2023 by Alea Milham 15 Comments

This apple walnut salad recipe is a delicious blend of sweet and savory ingredients! I made my family an Apple Walnut Salad for lunch, which is loosely based on a salad I had at a tea house in Virginia many years ago. This should fall under the category of Impromptu Leftovers, but it is soRead More

Bowl of Southwest Chicken Salad

Southwestern Fiesta Chicken Salad

June 14, 2023 by Alea Milham 21 Comments

This flavorful Southwestern Fiesta Chicken Salad Recipe is a no-mayo chicken salad made with tomatoes, peppers, onions, cilantro, and cumin. I have never met a chicken salad that I didn’t like. Unfortunately, many of them contain quite a bit of mayonnaise. This flavorful chicken salad recipe is dressed with tomato juice and spices and isRead More

Quick and Easy Broccoli Quinoa Salad Recipe

Broccoli and Quinoa Salad

May 23, 2023 by Alea Milham 12 Comments

This Broccoli and Quinoa Salad Recipe is a delicious twist on broccoli salad! Earlier this week I was rummaging through the pantry and found a stash of quinoa. And since then we have basically been living off of quinoa and whatever produce I have on hand. I am trying to disguise the fact that IRead More

Tasty Jalapeno Popper Potato Salad Recipe

Jalapeno Popper Potato Salad Recipe

May 28, 2022 by Alea Milham 12 Comments

This Jalapeno Popper Potato Salad recipe is a delicious twist on traditional potato salad recipes. It combines the flavors of jalapeno poppers (cream cheese, jalapenos, bacon, and cheese) with a potato salad. Warm or chilled, this Jalapeno Popper Potato Salad is the perfect side dish for your next barbecue or potluck! Do you know howRead More

Loaded coleslaw recipe with bacon, apple, and almond slivers

Coleslaw with Apple and Bacon

May 27, 2022 by Alea Milham 3 Comments

This coleslaw recipe with apple and bacon has two types of slaw: traditional cabbage slaw and broccoli slaw. It is also loaded with bacon, apple, onion, and almond slivers. This apple coleslaw recipe is topped with a delicious balsamic coleslaw dressing. Need an easy salad for your next party or barbecue? This easy coleslaw recipeRead More

Nutty Broccoli Salad

March 25, 2022 by Alea Milham 17 Comments

This Nutty Broccoli Salad Recipe combines sweet and savory flavors to create a delicious side dish! Last week I had to harvest 7 broccoli crowns that were getting burnt in the sun. I have been using it as a side dish, adding it to salads, and making stir-frys. I needed a new way to serveRead More

Easy Bacon Ranch Chopped Salad Recipe

Bacon Ranch Chopped Salad

January 2, 2022 by Alea Milham Leave a Comment

This bacon ranch chopped salad is an easy make-ahead salad recipe. “I like the stems too”. My husband was cutting up broccoli for my daughter when she was a toddler when she first said that. He was just putting the florets on her plate and she told him that she liked the stems too. HeRead More

Caribbean Chicken Taco Salad Recipe with Mango Salsa

Caribbean Taco Salad with Mango Salsa

February 2, 2021 by Alea Milham 3 Comments

Looking to jazz up your taco salad? Try this Caribbean Taco Salad recipe topped with homemade mango salsa! The salad days of summer require that I get more creative with my salad recipes so my family doesn’t tire of them. As the weather warms up here the salad greens growing in my garden will startRead More

Quick and Easy Asian Chicken Salad Recipe

Asian Chicken Salad

July 7, 2020 by Alea Milham 8 Comments

Do you love Asian Chicken Salad when you go out and wish that you could enjoy it at home? This Asian Chicken Salad Recipe includes a homemade recipe for Asian Salad Dressing. My lettuce plants bolted this week. I am trying to get as much of the greens as I can. I cut the flowersRead More

How to make Greek salad dressing ingredients.

Homemade Greek Salad Dressing

January 14, 2020 by Alea Milham Leave a Comment

This Greek salad dressing recipe is one of my favorite salad dressings. And like most homemade salad dressing recipes it is quick and easy to make it at home. Greek salad dressing could actually be called Greek Vinaigrette as it is made with white wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic, and oregano. I like to addRead More

Delicious homemade Asian Coleslaw recipe with Asian slaw dressing.

Asian Coleslaw

October 21, 2019 by Alea Milham 11 Comments

This quick and easy Asian coleslaw recipe can be made ahead of time. It keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I love Asian Coleslaw, but so many of the varieties contain ingredients that I or someone in my family can’t eat. And so many of the slaws are pretty high inRead More

Southwest Shrimp Salad with Spicy Honey-Lime Dressing

August 27, 2019 by Alea Milham

This southwest shrimp salad recipe with homemade honey-lime dressing makes a filling, yet healthy dinner. If you are a long-time reader you know I am a pretty big football fan. Since my favorite football team is over 6 hours away, we have to Home Tailgate. Home tailgating has its advantages. When I home tailgate, IRead More

Easy Homemade Apple Cider Vinaigrette Recipe

Apple Cider Vinaigrette Recipe

March 12, 2019 by Alea Milham Leave a Comment

This apple cider vinaigrette recipe is naturally sweetened with apple juice. I like making homemade salad dressings because it gives me complete control over the ingredients. Many people think that making a homemade vinaigrette is hard, but nothing can be further from the truth. It only takes a few minutes. All you do is addRead More

Raspberry Vinaigrette Recipe - easy homemade raspberry salad dressing recipe using fresh raspberries.

Raspberry Vinaigrette Recipe

October 8, 2018 by Alea Milham Leave a Comment

I use this raspberry vinaigrette recipe on my Strawberry Spinach Salad recipe, but it is delicious on a variety of salads. This homemade raspberry vinaigrette is one of my favorite salad dressings. It pares well with any salad that contains fruit. My favorite salads to serve with this dressing are a mix of leafy greens likeRead More

Asian Salad Dressing Recipe with Sesame Seeds

Asian Salad Dressing

September 18, 2018 by Diana Leave a Comment

I have never met an Asian Chicken Salad that I haven’t loved, but this homemade Asian Salad Dressing recipe is my favorite to use on Asian Chicken Salad. It is easy to make Asian Chicken Salad at home. You do need to start with a delicious Asian Salad dressing though. I like to make my dressingRead More

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Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches by Alea Milham

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Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

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