The Fabulously Versatile $1 Grocery I’m Eating with Absolutely Everything This Month
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I spend a lot of time in my kitchen, and even though I love wielding my chef’s knife to methodically slice and dice, I also appreciate a good shortcut. There are obviously some tasks I would not trust to a machine, but thinly slicing cabbage and carrots isn’t one of them. That’s how bagged slaw mix first ended up in my grocery cart years ago, and it’s been a staple ever since.
It’s been a minute since culinary school, but I remember my knife skills class fondly. I cut my fair share of fruits and vegetables, maybe even nicked a finger or two, and after a while, I got pretty good. I learned quickly what I liked to cut and what I didn’t.
One thing I didn’t like was thinly slicing heads of cabbage. You don’t realize how big a head of cabbage is until you’ve thinly sliced it. No cutting board is large enough to complete the task without strategically moving things around, in and off your board. It’s fine; it’s just not for me.
Flash forward a few years to my days as a personal chef. I was shopping for a client and was cutting it close on time. As I shopped, I ran through my prep list, finding ways to slash minutes. At first I scoffed at the bag of shredded slaw mix at my grocery store. I had the skills to do the task of slicing, so why would I even consider purchasing the pre-shredded stuff? I sheepishly grabbed a bag from the refrigerator shelf and hoped no one I knew was around to see.
Once in the kitchen, I got to work on the meal for my clients. I was running around, watching the clock move faster than I thought it should, then, at the last minute (which was all the time I had left), I ripped open the bag of coleslaw mix and tossed it with my dressing. It took two seconds. Then I found myself laughing, not in a hysterical way, but in a good way because I knew at that moment that choosing that bag of pre-shredded cabbage and carrots was the best decision I’d made that day.
Sure, I’d spent an extra dollar or two, but that was far less than the labor cost of cutting up those vegetables myself. My clients were none the wiser, they loved my slaw, and not once did they ask about my coleslaw mix shortcut. Of course they didn’t. From that moment on, I’ve been using bagged slaw mix like a champ.
What’s So Great About Good & Gather Tri-Color Coleslaw?
In my mind there are three great things about coleslaw mix.
- You don’t have to chop all of the ingredients. The red and green cabbages and the carrots are all there, ready to go.
- You can use coleslaw mix in so many ways. There are endless options, some of which I’ve shared below.
- If you store them in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator (in a resealable, air-tight container once opened), then they should last at least five days. That means I can enjoy them the whole week. It makes it infinitely easier for me to eat more vegetables when they’re ready and waiting like that!
Plus, you can find it almost anywhere. I do my fair share of shopping at Target, I often pick up a bag of its Good & Gather coleslaw (I also love Whole Foods’ brand as well as Trader Joe’s!). It’s often less than $2 per bag, so I’ll grab two, which is enough to add to my meals for the week.
Be sure to check the date before dropping your cart and look the bag over; sometimes if the product is old, the cabbage will brown, which is an indication that it might not have much life left.
What’s the Best Way to Enjoy Good & Gather Tri-Color Coleslaw?
You’d be surprised at the number of uses I’ve found for raw coleslaw mix! I stuff it into tacos, wraps, and add it as a topping for open-faced sandwiches. Each time it gets a new dressing, which I sometimes make, and sometimes I buy.
I also toss it into salads for extra crunch or wrap it up in seaweed with some crispy tofu for a simplified sushi experience. You can pickle it, too, and use it as a topper for all of those bowls you eat.
Bagged coleslaw can also be cooked into meals you’re already making! For example, whenever I make a stir-fry, I always add a cup or two of coleslaw. If I’m sautéing vegetables for a side dish, I’ll add some slaw mix, too. I’ll also toss it into soups and stews, sometimes chopping it up a bit to help it cook quickly. I’ve added it to ramen and other rice dishes for color and crunch, and it’s delicious cooked with bacon and finished with apple cider vinegar as a quick side for pork chops!
Buy: Good & Gather Tri-Color Coleslaw, $0.99 for 8 ounces at Target