A month into the new year, I have hit the ground running with trying to get fit and cut down on daily caloric intake. I have not done anything too drastic but tried to find areas of the day where I can offset weekend and occasional indulgences. That time of day to right the ship is my lunch. I have recently gotten into the habit of packing a salad with protein (usually grilled chicken). I typically go with salad kits by Taylor Farms (Meijer or Jewel), Little Salad bar series (Aldi), or the Dole line of salad kits sold at most grocers.
This review will discuss the Dole Chopped Sunflower Crunch Salad. Dole like the other brands mentioned above has a decent variety of salad kits that include a variety of twists and turns whether you crave Asian, Latino, Ranch, barbecue……the list goes on and on. I was intrigued by the Sunflower option as I really enjoy sunflower seeds in foods and was inspired by the advertised sweet onion and citrus dressing.
Packaging
The salad
kit is sold in the nine and a half generous size clear package with the
trademark Dole label at the top with pink Sunflower crunch label in front
showing icons of every veggie and flavor expected in this kit. A good portion
of the bag is transparent so you can get a pretty good idea what is inside the
kit (more on that later). There are smaller packages tucked inside the salad
kit. One package contains the dressing. The second package contains the
sunflower seeds. The last small package includes bacon bits. Finding the Dole
kits is no mystery at my local Meijer or Jewel as they are positioned in back
walls of produce aisle next to bulk lettuces and greens.
Price
The price
of this salad kit is $4.49 (as of February 2024). The nutrition labeling on the
back assessed this kit to contain 3 and a half servings which comes out to
about a $1.28 per serving. Since this is my lunch or meal replacement, I
portion his kit out into two lunches for the week which makes each portion
about $2.25 (not including the grilled chicken that I purchase separately and
add in for my protein).
Convenience
There is
a pretty good abundance of items in this salad kit that includes finely chopped
leaf lettuce, cabbage, and kale, along with bacon, seeds, carrots, and
dressing. You just tear apart the packages and place everything in a bowl and
toss or shake it up! My method was slightly different as I portion out half of
the dry ingredients into a Tupperware bowl and place half the dressing in small
sealable container, then refrigerate when I get to work. Once I get to the
lunch hour, I mix them all up in a bowl and add the diced chicken. All in, the
meal is about 400 to 425 calories. Not bad, but I do add a small portion of
Italian or French bread to partner up with this chopped salad.
Taste/Texture
Crunch,
crunch, crunch away! The chopped salad has a very crunchy texture given the
multitude of cabbages and sunflower seeds. This New Years chopped salad plan is
my battle of the bulge, so I should not complain about the cabbage. The sweet
onion citrus dressing hits pretty darn good and I would consider this dressing
one of the better ones amongst the salad kits out there. The bacon bits are
trivial and while they add some flavor the salad would be okay even without it.
Overall
Result
The Dole
Sunflower crunch salad mix proved to be a decent lunch as it provides plenty of
good flavor and keeps the waistline honest too, although I had two strikes
against this salad. One was the large cabbage core that was included in my
bagged salad mix. Did not expect that, nor did I spy that “roughage” through
the see-through packaging. The second strike was the dressing was scarce after
mixing up the salad mix. Not sure if the cabbage and chicken absorbed it all or
there maybe just wasn’t enough. I really liked this dressing and craved more.
Would I buy this salad again? Of course, given the price point, decent flavor,
and convenience of it all. I would also
like to explore making these kinds of salads from scratch at the beginning of
the week to maybe save a little more money and keep the core out of the mix.
The most difficult part will be trying to find a copy cat for the salad
dressing. Here’s to healthy eating; at least one part of the day!
