The pros: Trader Joe's Organic Caesar Salad Kit is a vast improvement over Trader Joe's Caesar Style Salad Mix.
The cons: Keep your expectations in check as this mix is as good as this is a good bagged salad mix.
The verdict: Â
I remember the day when my father picked up a cookbook by Lidia Bastianich. If my father wasn't working outside the house, then he was probably cooking something. He kept the TV glued to PBS.
We did not have cable at that time. No cable, no Food Network.
So naturally, Lidia's Kitchen was a fixture on tv at the time. Her cooking always looked pretty darn amazing. So, with cookbook in hand, the first recipe we got into was for Caesar salad.
Unless you've had homemade Caesar salad dressing, you'll never quite understand how amazing the "real" stuff is compared to the stuff that comes in a jar or bottle.
Or in a plastic bag for that matter.
Trader Joe's has sold a caesar salad mix in the past. It was Caesar Style Salad. I only bought it once. I don't give numerical ratings on this blog. If I love something, I'll repurchase it. There is no better judge of how good something was than voting for something with your hard earned money.
This salad mix was ok. It will never be homemade, restaurant level of good. This was Costco level pre-made salad good.
There is a sufficient amount of all the mix ins in the bag. They probably could have been more generous with the croutons and salad dressing. But that tends to be a common theme among the salad mixes sold at Trader Joe's.
For $3.99, it's not bad. It's not nearly as cheap as something sold at Costco, but you won't need a membership card or wait in a long line for it. The elements are easy enough to replicate at home, so it's up to you whether or not you feel the premium is worth it or not.
Here is the visual run down of what you get if you buy this product:
The bag of Trader Joe's Organic Caesar Salad Kit:
The nutritional information:
The ingredients:
How Trader Joe's describes this product:
Out of the package you get:
After being mixed together you get:
Would I buy this again? Trader Joe's Organic Caesar Salad Kit gets a maybe from me. It wasn't anything that would blow me away. For the price, it would be easy enough to make this at home.
Want to see more items I've reviewed from Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe’s for a searchable list.
Did you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments section!
Wow that bag of Parmesan looks itty bitty. In my opinion most of Trader Joe's prepackaged salad mixes just never seem to have enough of the mix-ins. But that pretty much goes for most of the convenience bagged salads in the general grocery stores also.
It wasn't that big. And yes, there are never enough mix ins. I'm not sure if its cost cutting or keeping the calorie count down, but in either case it adds something, just not enough to make it special. Thanks as always for taking the time to stop by!
Huge heads (?hands?) of Romaine are less than a dollar most of the year, so $4. for this bag seems pretty high to me, but, true that it is "dump it out and eat it", and there is something to be said for that as a not-too-often treat for the cook. Add some other goodies, and it could serve nicely as the base for two or three packed lunches to take with to work, or as a nice treat on a picnic.
Virtual hugs,
Judie
Hey Judie! I have to agree with you about the price too. You can make quite a few salads from a package of Romaine hearts. More importantly, they will keep in ways that cut lettuce just won't. Thanks as always for taking the time to stop by!