Winco...For Lunch

Carson Park Ranger takes a look today at a new lunch offering available at Eureka's Winco. While he seems a bit skeptical of the product, he reminded me that Winco has become my place of choice for lunch lately.

I'd normally paid scant attention to the delicatessen at Winco when I'd go shopping there, but some things caught my eye. So, one day I just had a craving for something I'd seen at the Winco deli and decided to try it out. The only prepared food I'd had there before was their fried and baked chicken which, while good, I can only take so much of as I can't handle grease and fat very well.

The first thing I tried, after the baked chicken, was a premade Chicken Alfredo as that appealed to me at the time. I think it was a little over $2.50. Heated it up when I got home and it was pretty good. My only complaint was the portion wasn't quite big enough to satisfy me. Maybe a half size bigger would of left me filled. Couldn't beat the price, though.

A day, two or three later, I had a craving for salad. I'd taken a close look at the salads they had available when I was there the other day and they stuck in my mind. I just wondered if there was enough salad for the meal as the containers were relatively small.

Not to worry. For between $1.50 to around $3.50, depending on which salad you wanted, there was more than enough. The package size is deceiveing as somehow they really cram the thing full. The downside to that is it can be tricky to eat the salad right out of the container as it decompresses and spills out of the container. Best to take it home and get a LARGE bowl to eat it from.

So, you can go from $1.48 for the Garden Salad, which is just vegetables, to just under $4.00 for the Seafood Salad (I'll have to try that one one of these days) and have a nice, healthy, filling lunch. Two of us can buy a salad lunch for around $5.00 total and it's still cheaper than going to a salad bar for one person.

One problem with lunch at Winco- other than Leonardi's Pizza- is the deli is all the way in the back of the store. Still, that's quicker than going to Taco Bell and waiting in line. Another is having to wait in the check out line to pay for your salad, but the lines at Winco seem to go pretty quick for me even if there's a lot of people there most of the time.

So, I recommend you all join me and my fellow riff- raff at Winco for lunch one of these days, except it's best to take it home to eat it. After all, you musn't forget to wash your hands and you'll need a big bowl, at least for the salad.