Power Salad

Last week Earth Fare's weekly coupon was for one of the new Earthbound Farm's Power Meals.  The line includes 3 different salads - Cranberry Boost Protein Meal, Blackberry Quinoa Protein Balance, and Tomatillo Black Bean Protein Energy.  Each 6.5 ounce container includes the salad greens, "protein topping", and dressing.  The entire meal totals just 360 calories and includes 6 grams of fiber and 7-9 grams of plant-based protein.

At $5.99 per salad, this probably isn't something I would have considered buying had it not been for the coupon.  Salads in general are very simple to toss together and certainly not worth that price tag to me.  I'm all about free groceries though, so I gave tossed the cranberry boost salad into my cart.

Despite being an "easy" month, plastic surgery kept me very busy at the start of the week and I was glad to know I had an easy meal waiting for me at home in the evenings.  I split the salad into two servings.  The envelope of "protein" contained whole-grain bulgur wheat and wheat berries with garbanzo beans and dried cranberries.  Sadly, it was quite small and didn't appear very filling.  I bulked the salad up cumin-spiced chickpeas from Trader Joes.  

Salad Night #1.  Served along side Trader Joe's tomato bisque.

Salad Night #2.  Prepared salad with topped with an over-easy egg.

Gooey egg yolk makes the perfect salad topper.

Overall I'd say the salad was decent.  It was a tasty combination of ingredients and tasted very fresh.  The price tag, however, probably means I won't be a frequent consumer.  For those that are time-crunched or simply looking for a very easy to prepare healthy dinner option it is certainly a good option.  And the entire container for one 360 calories would make for a very filling meal.