Lunch Ladies: Ready Pac Bistro To Go Salads
10:31 AM CDT on Tuesday, April 24, 2007
The Lunch Ladies were already quite familiar with Ready Pac’s bags of prewashed, precut salad greens, found in the produce area of the grocery store, but recently we discovered the brand’s Bistro To Go bowl salads. Each salad comes packaged with the produce contained separately from the protein, condiments and dressing. Ready Pac ensures that “each flavor stays true and fresh." The bowl even comes with a fork, making it a great meal on the go.
We tried four of the flavor varieties: Spinach Bacon, Chef, Asian Style Chicken and Santa Fe Style Caesar. We chose the Asian Style Chicken as our top pick for its unique flavor and conservative calorie and fat count. So far we’ve only spotted these salads at the Simon David on Inwood, so please e-mail us and let us know where you’ve seen them -- be sure to include your city, state and store name and location.
Web site: www.readypac.om
Iceberg and romaine lettuce, roasted white chicken meat, sesame ginger dressing, celery and wonton strips
Price: $3.99 at Simon David
Portion size: 1 bowl (8 oz.)
Looks/smells: The bowl appeared small, but Ready Pac lived up to its name -- “packing” in as much lettuce as possible. Still the veggies look fresh and unblemished.
Texture/taste: The celery and wontons gave the salad super-crunch. The dressing was tangy and slightly fruity -- one of the better light sesame ginger dressings we’ve tasted.
Gretchen: I love Asian-style salads (my all-time fave is Wendy’s Mandarin Chicken Salad) and this one rates right up there. This salad was also the lowest in calories and fat.
Kimberly: This is a good salad as a grab-n-go. The bowls are deceptively small.
Score: 5 out of 5 lunch bags
PER SERVING: Cal 230 (100 calories from fat); Fat 11 g (Sat 2.5 g; Trans Fat 0 g); Chol 30 mg; Sodium 820 mg; Carb 19 g (Fiber 2 g) ; Protein 13 g; Weight Watcher Points® 5
Baby spinach, honey bacon dressing, hard-boiled egg, bacon, Colby-Monterrey Jack cheese and sliced almonds
Price: $3.99 at Simon David
Portion size: 1 bowl (5.95 oz.)
Looks/smells: In comparison with the other salads, this one was a little light on the vegetables and heavy on fattier toppings. The dressing smelled like barbecue sauce.
Texture/taste: A high-protein lunch with a nice balance of sweet and salty flavors.
Gretchen: These salads proved to be better than fast-food restaurant fare. I suggest running into the grocery store for one of these rather than pulling through a drive-thru -- sure you’ll have to walk a little, but personally I know my rear end would benefit from those extra steps.
Kimberly: We sampled this before the great North America spinach scare. It tasted great, but I would lay off this one until the FDA gives a green light for the dark greens.
Score: 5 out of 5 lunch bags
PER SERVING: Cal 300 (140 calories from fat); Fat 15 g (Sat 5 g; Trans Fat 0 g); Chol 150 mg; Sodium 1240 mg; Carb 24 g (Fiber 3 g) ; Protein 20 g; Weight Watcher Points® 7
Iceberg lettuce, ranch dressing, turkey breast, ham and Swiss cheese
Price: $3.99 at Simon David
Portion size: 1 bowl (10 oz.)
Looks/smells: Iceberg, meat, cheese and ranch? This is one of those “I don’t really want anything good for me” salads.
Texture/taste: For a white glob, it was mighty tasty, thanks to the sharp flavor of the Swiss cheese.
Gretchen: I think they managed to cram an entire head of lettuce in that bowl. I would have preferred less Iceberg and more veggies to offset the heaviness of this salad.
Kimberly: Sorry, I’m an iceberg lettuce snob. I prefer the much more flavorful mixed greens.
Score: 4 out of 5 lunch bags
PER SERVING: Cal 320 (210 calories from fat); Fat 23 g (Sat 8 g; Trans Fat 0.5 g); Chol 70 mg; Sodium 1120 mg; Carb 13 g (Fiber 2 g); Protein 19 g; Weight Watcher Points® 8
Romaine lettuce, salsa ranch dressing, roasted white chicken meat, corn, four-cheese blend and tortilla chips
Price: $3.99 at Simon David
Portion size: 1 bowl (7.35 oz.)
Looks/smells: A colorful salad of oranges and yellows atop greens. The tortilla chips were adorable little things -- like a Mini Me of Doritos.
Texture/taste: Crunchy and a wee spicy. This and the Chef Salad both had more calories and fat, so we suggest cutting back on the creamy dressing. A little really went a long way since it was so flavorful.
Gretchen: I was surprised it came to only 8 Weight Watchers Points considering the 23 grams of fat. But the calories were still low. I would consider this a worthy splurge -- after all, my rear did all that walking to and from the parking lot to the store, right?
Kimberly: Hmm, corn in a salad? Oddly, it works.
Score: 4 out of 5 lunch bags
PER SERVING: Cal 320 (210 calories from fat); Fat 23 g (Sat 6 g; Trans Fat 0 g); Chol 35 mg; Sodium 640 mg; Carb 17 g (Fiber 2 g) ; Protein 13 g; Weight Watcher Points® 8
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