It’s a strange truth that people tend to eat lighter during the summertime. With warm weather making an appearance earlier than usual this year, we decided to designate a food feature towards the season’s most trusty, yet underrated standby: salad!

Always in our refrigerator, we often forget it’s quite easy to create a whole meal out of it with a just little creative thinking. In fact, for the next month we challenge you to not let a single bag of greens go bad. Are you up to the challenge?

Whether you buy it bagged, chopped, prepared, or raw, here are five ways to dress up your greens. The shopping list and recipes include enough ingredients for five salads, two servings of each (ten meals total!) for less than $50. With a few simple tricks and some select seasonal ingredients, you’ll be whipping together delicious and hearty salads in no time flat.

Download or print off the shopping list and recipes in The Everygirl Handbook. There you’ll also find our last two features of 10 Meals for Less than $50 and 10 Vegetarian Meals for Less than $50.

*ingredients prices based off Trader Joe’s in Chicago

Monday – Strawberry and Walnut Salad with Balsamic Dressing

Salad Ingredients:
2 cups of fresh baby spinach
1 cup of strawberries, sliced
½ cup of toasted walnuts
½ cup of goat cheese, crumbled

Dressing Ingredients:
2/3 cup of strawberries, sliced
¼ cup of balsamic vinegar
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp dried thyme

Directions: 
Blend all dressing ingredients together in a blender or food processor. Drizzle over salad.

Tuesday – Bok Choy Chicken Salad with Sesame Dressing

Salad Ingredients:
4 baby bok choy or 2 regular bok choy, rinsed and thinly sliced
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, grilled and sliced into strips
1 cucumber, thinly sliced into half moons
½ cup of carrots, sliced
¼ cup of peanuts
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Dressing Ingredients:
1 clove garlic minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon chopped scallions

Directions: 
Whisk all dressing ingredients together and drizzle over salad.

Wednesday – Grilled Corn and Chicken Salad with Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

Salad Ingredients:
2 cups of romaine lettuce, chopped
½ cup of roasted corn
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, grilled and sliced into strips
½ avocado, diced
½ cup of black beans, drained and rinsed
½ cup of cherry tomatoes, halved

Dressing Ingredients:
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
juice of 1 lime
1 clove of garlic
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp fresh cilantro, minced

Directions: 
Blend all dressing ingredients together in a blender or food processor. Drizzle over salad.

Thursday – Crab Cobb Salad with Lemon Basil Dressing

Salad Ingredients:
2 cups of romaine lettuce, chopped
1 (6 oz) can of crab meat, strained
3 pieces of turkey bacon, cooked and roughly chopped
½ avocado, diced
½ cup of light shredded mozzarella
½ cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
½ cup of chopped scallions

Dressing Ingredients:
1/3 cup of olive oil
¼ cup of fresh basil leaves, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
1 clove of garlic
Dash of salt

Directions: 
Whisk all dressing ingredients together and drizzle over salad.

Friday – Spinach and Blue Cheese Salad with Warm Balsamic Vinaigrette

Salad Ingredients:
2 cups of fresh baby spinach
¼ cup of crumbled blue cheese
3 pieces of turkey bacon, cooked and roughly chopped
½ cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
¼ cup of red onions, cut into half moons
¼ cup of toasted walnuts, finely chopped

Dressing Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

Directions: 
Heat all dressing ingredients together in a small saucepan over medium heat until warm and pour directly over the salad.

lara matos shari press danielle moss jenna fain alaina kaczmarski