The 2 Best Salad Kits from Whole Foods

I recently moved across the country to Los Angeles, and one of the only things that got me through the three months of living out of suitcases and eating way too many tacos (is that even a thing?) was salad kits. Specifically, the salad kits from Whole Foods.

Between October and January, I didn’t have a real kitchen or kitchen appliances with which to cook. While eating out for almost every meal was fun for a bit, it quickly got expensive and I started to crave something healthier. This is where these magical salad kits came through. All I needed was a big bowl and a fork to enjoy crunchy raw vegetables slathered in a delicious dressings for less than $5. A true blessing from the grocery gods!

I have worked my way through many a kit now, and can tell you that Whole Foods does it best (I will not back down from this stance). Here are the very best of the best for all your lunch, dinner, and moving-across-the-country needs.

The key to a great salad kit is twofold: First, the vegetables in the kit need to be super crunchy and fresh. Second, it needs to strike a balance between being delicious and also a blank canvas to add other add-ins like cheese (duh), rotisserie chicken, avocado, and beans. The Southwestern Salad Kit from Whole Foods exceeds at both of these things. It is the Beyoncé of salad kits — the salad kit that other salad kits should look up to in fear and admiration. Without a doubt, it is my favorite.

The base for this kit contains chopped green cabbage, romaine, carrots, cilantro, and green onion. The mix-ins for the salad include tortilla strips and pepitas, and the dressing is creamy cilantro (sorry, cilantro-haters). It is supremely crunchy and delicious on its own, but it’s even better with other things like feta and chickpeas.

The key to this kit’s success is in the dressing. I find most dressings in salad kits to either be overpowering or overly sweet, but this one complements basically anything you want to throw at it. It’s a true team player.

The base of this salad kit contains chopped green cabbage, carrots, celery, cilantro, and green onions. The mix-ins are wonton strips and sliced almonds. And the dressing is an “Asian sesame dressing.” So, it’s very similar to the Southwestern salad, but you have wontons instead of tortilla strips, almonds instead of pepitas, and a totally different dressing.

The highlight of this salad is 1,000% the wonton strips, which make the salad very crunchy. The (slight) downfall to this salad — making it number two on my list — is the dressing, because it doesn’t complement as many add-ins as the Southwestern (I’ve tried to add cheese to this and it just doesn’t work). Despite its minor flaw, the kit is outstanding by itself and worthy of your dollars.

Do you have a favorite salad kit from Whole Foods? Let us know in the comments!