I know it might be a surprise to some of you, but I don’t always spend my lunch breaks eating at places like McDonald’s and Burger King. There are even some times (although they’re few and far between) when I try to eat healthy by going to the salad bar at the Pick ‘n Save grocery store near my work.
Pick ‘n Save has two options at their salad bar; either you can pay $4.65 per pound and get your salad to go, or you can pay an extra $1.34 to stay there and eat all the delicious salad you want. Any time I’ve gotten a salad to go its always ended up costing me more than $5.99 anyway, so on my most recent visit I decided to go the all you can eat route.
For my first plate I made a salad with romaine lettuce, spinach, chicken, eggs and mushrooms and covered it in ranch dressing. After I finished that I decided to try a plate with two of their pre-made salads; tortellini vegetable salad and pasta salad. My third plate of salad was almost identical to my first except that with this plate I swapped out the mushrooms for some shredded Cheddar cheese. For plate number four I tried some cottage cheese and a couple more of their pre-made salads; a seven layer salad and some American pasta salad. Apparently the lack of ham is what makes the American pasta salad “American,” because aside from that it was almost identical top the regular pasta salad. I think they need to differentiate the two pasta salads a little more and maybe add some bacon to the American pasta salad. What’s more American than bacon right?
At this point I was pretty full, but decided to have one more plate of salad anyway. My fifth and final plate was piled high with romaine lettuce, spinach, ham and turkey chunks, feta cheese, chicken and eggs and was topped with ranch dressing. Come to think of it, with the amount of dressing I put on the salads that I made and the number of noodles I ate in Pick ‘n Save’s pre-made salads it probably would have ended up being healthier for me to just eat lunch at McDonald’s instead.
Sarah
June 9, 2011 at 10:47 am (13 years ago)Not every Pick has the All You Can Eat option. Being a PNS employee, I didn’t even know that but that’s an awesome way to be able to try things without wasting space in the container and take away from the regular salad options. Very nice.
I’m a huge fan of the bar and enjoy it about once a week. I have seen people even take just a few pepper pieces or lettuce and then use that for another entree at home and save themselves the hassel of buying a whole vegetable and throwing half of it out!
Nick
June 9, 2011 at 11:30 am (13 years ago)Yeah, there are three different Pick ‘n Save stores within a few miles of my work and this one is the only one with the all you can eat option. I love it though.
It’s funny that you mention the people just buying a few slices of random things because I did the exact same thing there last night when I was grilling out at home and only wanted enough peppers, onion slices and lettuce for a few burgers.
Chris G.
June 9, 2011 at 11:11 am (13 years ago)you used a new disposable plate each time?!
Nick
June 9, 2011 at 11:23 am (13 years ago)Yeah, they give you a new plate each time. It’s a total waste, I know.
Jen
June 9, 2011 at 1:19 pm (13 years ago)Could you let me know which PnS has that option.
Nick
June 9, 2011 at 1:26 pm (13 years ago)The one I went to was on 76th and Good Hope Road.
Dennis J. O'Boyle
August 1, 2013 at 10:16 am (11 years ago)Hey, thank you, Nick, Sarah, Jen, and Chris — although in June, 2011 you first commented about the PnS salad bar all-you-can-eat special, and I have never seen that in the numerous stores where I’ve shopped — I was at the PnS on 76th and Cold Spring last night and they did not have the all-you-can-eat deal there. Perhaps that is a thing of the past, or we’ll have to shop at 76th and Good Hope to find out more.
When I was working at Johnson Controls on N. Green Bay Ave. just north of W. Silver Spring Drive with MaryAnne Wright, Michael G. Andrew, Dr. Ronald C. Miles PhD, Mike Bedwell, Carol Riddell, Ed Mrotek and all the gang during the advent of the whole advanced automotive battery – hybrid and electric vehicle battery system development period, I frequently went to the PnS nearby and, alas, there was no all-you-can-eat special there during 2006-08.
Chris G., as for your comment, “you used a new disposable plate each time?!” the thing of it is, the State of Wisconsin has a law regarding all-you-can-eat situations and a new plate or bowl, etc. is mandated. Reasons include cleanliness — because you wouldn’t want some germinated slime from that one dude’s used plate to slide into the food that you’re about to put on your plate — and also serves as a way for the working staff there to dole out new servingware and assure that customers are legitimate and had paid for their meals.