and always have. Healthier than both.

time cooking--and cleaning up.

When I retire, I might try to do more cooking.

RTE and prepared foods sometimes paired with in-store seating. Whole Foods was doing it ten years ago but now it is more about taking business that would be going to casual dining. And it has restaurant chains worried:

in NY where my daughter lives has fresh soups, hot food and salad bar. They also have a very large seating area where you can buy these foods and eat them right there. I love that and can never make up my mind what I want to eat for lunch when we go there. Unfortunately, where I live in Florida, the Whole Foods store has nothing like this in comparison.

While I probably wouldn't have dinner there (cook for myself), but after a day of shopping it is nice to have someplace fast, inexpensive, and good to eat for lunch other than theh typical fast food.

Maybe two or three meals a week we eat out.

Makes food prep easy and there is much less waste.

Zaxby's is out of GA. Don't know about Jimmy John's.

They're sort of comparable to KFC or Subway's.

workers I will give them a miss.

I have never heard of either place!

..... his employees prepare your food while sick than give them a sick day.

They're obviously in the "restaurant-ish" business if they are preparing food, but what are they...so I'll know now to avoid them? Are they a regional chain or one big famous place I've never heard of...?

His shtick is "crazy fast delivery"

There were some stories posted here in the last year or so about employees trying to unionize.

They don't sound like they are good to their workers OR healthy, with a heavy dose of MSG....?

I'll give them a miss! That is, if I ever come across one.

I live in a region where we prefer local places for pizza and subs and so forth.

into a nutrient paste that I eat with my hands.

They make spoons for a reason.

but this topic ain't it. Sorry. You just have to accept, in life, that some places have polite standards.

This was a waste of an alert IMO, intended to express the indignation of the alerter rather than to point out a hide-worthy violation of community standards. Yeah it's gross, but so what? No one was threatened or harmed or diminished by it.

It's potty humor, and the alerter wanted it hidden because it's potty humor.

As I said in my reply:

That's a disgusting post that in no way relates to the OP. It also makes no meaningful contribution to the conversation.

I'd never alert on a post like yours. First, I wouldn't want it hidden because it gives you a chance to be embarrassed for the absolutely rude, useless tripe. Second, not hiding it allows me to write a response to it to let you know just how far off the farm you got when you posted it.

If you were trying to be funny and sarcastic I get that. But that sort of "funny" and "sarcasm" is better saved for the political OPs - not serious OPs from people asking a sane question.

Shame on you.

Please, please jurors, let the buffoons deservedly reap what they sowed. Don't hide their posts. Allow their ridiculous posts to get the shitstorm of disapproval they deserve.

Not terribly impressed.

That's a disgusting post that in no way relates to the OP. It also makes no meaningful contribution to the conversation.

I'd never alert on a post like yours. First, I wouldn't want it hidden because it gives you a chance to be embarrassed for the absolutely rude, useless tripe. Second, not hiding it allows me to write a response to it to let you know just how far off the farm you got when you posted it.

If you were trying to be funny and sarcastic I get that. But that sort of "funny" and "sarcasm" is better saved for the political OPs - not serious OPs from people asking a sane question.

Shame on you.

IT'S PEOPLE!!!

The salad bars are OK, too. Since I cook just for two, I often pick up the raw veggies I want to use at the salad bar. More per pound, but zero waste. Same thing with things like blue cheese or other ingredients I don't use a lot of. It's all at the salad bar.

The sushi at my local supermarket's pretty good, too, except for anything with tuna on it. A nice Japanese woman makes it every morning and they toss what's left over from the day before. If you pick stuff carefully, it's not bad at all.

I think you should roast your own chicken. The rotisserie chickens are first brined and then the skin is salted as well. They are full of salt.

rotisserie chickens. He is doing pretty good, but since his heart valve replacemt he is supposed to keep his sodium down. And he is one of those people who salt their food before tasting.

and just for the reasons you mention. You get what you want - you might pay a bit more per pound, but why buy a whole head of broccoli or an entire bag of spinach for it to go to waste?

I like variety in my salads, and I hate to waste food.

Can we reduce the amount of snark here about it and be serious? Please?

as they might not add as much other stuff.

Because they have an absolutely fabulous hot prepared food section, especially Fresh Market. I've gotten stuffed cabbage rolls, carrot souffle, pork loin, soups, and other items including sushi from them. I would recommend them over a conventional grocery store if you have the opportunity to go there.

I am really sympathetic to being too tired when you get home to cook: it sucks. But going to the store isn't fun either, and pre-cooked meals are expensive. If you keep some ingredients on hand, there are some quick and simple things you could make, at least a few times a week, that would take even less time than going to the supermarket for pre-made food, and would be a lot cheaper. And you don't even have to know how to cook.

One idea is to buy boneless chicken breasts in quantity (say a package of eight breast halves). They're a lot less expensive that way. When you get home, wrap one or two into a packet with plastic wrap, and then stick all your packets in zip-loc bags in your freezer. You'll always have some on hand. The night before, stick one of your packets in the fridge so it will be defrosted when you get home from work the next evening.

Now you will need ten minutes to cook these suckers. Heat a skillet with a little olive oil and or butter, throw the chicken in (after seasoning it with salt and pepper) and brown it for about 5 minutes on each side. At the end, you can throw on some herbs and some white wine or stock and let it reduce down for two or three minutes into a nice little sauce. In the meantime, throw a bowlful of frozen vegetables (they're healthy!) in the microwave with a little water and zap them for a few minutes. For your starch, you could nuke a baked potato. Or on the weekend make a whole pot of rice pilaf or something from a good quality boxed mix. You can heat up a portion in a minute.

So ten minutes, and you've got a healthy dinner, for probably less than half of the price you've paid for a hot-bar meal. There are a million variations on this kind of thing you can do--with poultry, frozen salmon fillets, or even a steak. None of that takes time. And frozen vegetables can be a nutritious and convenient alternative to fresh. You can even decide to cook a big pot of chili, say, on the weekend, and freeze portions to have later.

I like to cook, but sometimes I don't have the time either and resort to these kinds of easy 10-minute meals (especially when the spouse is out of town). The clue is to have the stuff on hand already in your house, so you just have to pull it out. If you have a Costco, it's great for stocking up on these kinds of things. And Trader Joe's has excellent frozen vegetable dishes--really, better than most.

Hope this helps as an alternative.

ON EDIT: I realize that the thought of having skillets and dishes to wash after a hard day's work is not all that appealing, but maybe a few times a week you could try it.

on a day off to cook several dishes to reheat on work days. I did that myself quite often when I was single and if you don't mind eating the same dish multiple nights during the week you can make a large batch of something that is difficult to cook as a single serving such as chicken adobo, chili, spaghetti sauce, homemade hamburger helper and divide it out into single serving containers.

I bake them - lay out the whole batch on a cookie sheet, season them, and bake until just done.

Then I chop them up or shred them and package the cooked meat in 1 cup quantities. When I need a quick dinner, I pull out one of those, and add it to some other items - the Knorr Pasta Sides (http://www.knorr.com/product/category/245876/pasta-sides) are a favorite but there are other brands and flavors - and add vegetables - the 10-12 ounce size steam in the bag vegetables are a good size for this.

I can defrost the chicken, prepare the pasta, steam the vegetables, and mix it all together in the same microwave container the pasta was fixed in. For the two of us, that combo will make 2-3 dinners. It's also a good way to use up leftovers from those rotisserie chickens.

Anytime I do serious cooking, I cook large quantities and freeze portions. Tonight's dinner is beef stew I made a month or so ago. There is enough in the container I just thawed our for 2-3 meals. This weekend I made chicken and yellow rice and froze half of it to eat later. I took the stew out of the freezer earlier today, defrosted it in the microwave and it's now ready to heat for dinner.

Not only does this make for efficient use of my time, we don't get tired of the same thing night after night.

about the chicken, and cutting it up into 1 cup quantities. Thawing out frozen uncooked chicken is kind of a pain, but if it's already cooked, that certainly saves time! I'm going to try that, thanks for the tip!

The unsalted mixed herb seasoning from Costco is great. I have cooked it without any seasoning and that works, too.

Having the chicken cooked ahead does save a lot of time. Plus with that small a quantity, defrosting it only takes a few minutes. I've had days when I put frozen uncooked meat in the fridge to thaw then didn't have time or energy to cook it for a couple of days - that is not safe food handling. With the pre-cooked stuff it's safer to leave in the fridge but it also takes so much less energy to deal with.

Right now I'm trying to empty my freezer. Before my hand surgery last fall I precooked stuff and put in the freezer. We simply didn't use it all up while I was unable to cook so I've been going through the freezer and trying to use everything. When it's empty, I'm going to be more organized about how I buy and use foods. We don't waste much but we do get some things that we've gotten tired of.

A while back someone posted a site with a plan for buying and cooking for a week (or was it a month?) at a time. I may try that, but I tend to not be that into pre-planning my life that far ahead.

and it's a great idea! You can bet I will be doing that in the future when I get chicken from the store. You can barbecue half a chicken and it's enough to feed an army with the other half left over. I can debone it and bake it (or just grill and separate it!) as you suggested and have chicken to add to salads and pasta.

It isn't safe to let it just sit in the fridge uncooked. Frozen after it is cooked and portioned into manageable sizes, though, sounds like a great idea.

about what you asked!

Products...whether they are grocery stores or 'restaurants'. All of the compound salads, etc. Also they use a lot of pressure cut produce on the salad bar. A carrot that has been milled down to a "baby carrot" for a week isn't nearly as tasty as a freshly peeled carrot. Same with onions peppers etc. I go to a lot of restaurant food shows, many products I see served in restaurants and groceries are pre prepared.

Another consideration is that pre prepared salad dressings and compound salads (potato, pasta, etc.) have tons of preservatives and have to have more acidity to maintain shelf life...this is why these things always taste the same.

to make everything that they sell at the prepared foods and salad bars. There are some that do prepare certain of their own products, but for the most part, no.

Those are food-service items made by any number of the large prepared-food commissaries and salad makers that sell to food-service wholesalers and restaurant distributors.

I will say this though, some of the ready-to-cook items and other prepared food items are really quite high in quality, very tasty, very fresh, made with high-quality ingredients.

But prepared salads are prepared salads, batches made by the hundredweight, although many times to the retailer's specs.



As an aside, every time I go to one of those food shows (both sons are in the biz, I used to be) I end up in a food coma.

Went in May, they had an oyster bar set up directly across from a microbrewer's display.

We killed them.

Was an annual bash for a regional supplier (I think 6th largest in the nation). It was their biggest show by vendors. Probably 80% of the show samples were prepared items. Most of the rest were protein vendors. They all have common non food additives which make them all have the same familiar flavors...Food shows demonstrate this as do most casino style buffets.

I probably wouldn't know the difference if I didn't run a restaurant where everything is made from scratch on the premises from 10 flavors of homemade ice cream to several varieties of sausage ground, seasoned, and stuffed on site. I employ people who are good scratch cooks and would be offended if I bought things they can make. I go to the shows to see what the prepared food companies are pushing and how I can make it better.

corresponding neighborhood shops are long gone, and nowadays it is a rare thing to find a specialty shop that still makes their style of sausage the same way that their grandfather made it.

Grocery store sausage in meat departments, even sold out of a service case and not the display shelf, are purchased from a wholesaler.

Bland, to the point of trying to guess what type it is supposed to be, fresh kielbasi? Sweet Italian? Hungarian? Slovenian? Chorizo?

That's why I still make my own.

I want there to be enough freshly-chopped garlic, fresh-ground coarse black and cracked white pepper, and Kosher salt in there to make your nose tingle and eyes water.



One of the interesting things I saw at that last show was the spice and flavoring displays, people are really getting into putting some savor back into their recipes instead of trying to accommodate the lowest common denominator type of palate.

I love Jimmy John's. I STILL cannot believe how fast they are. They may be the most amazing company in the World. Seriously, you order, they give you a cup and by the time that you have your soda, they are done. I find it amazing.

pounding after I ate it, and it wasn't because I'd seen some good-looking surfer boy.

It was MSG!

Zaxby's and Jimmie John's nutritional information should be available online. Your grocery store should be able to break down their foods nutritionally as well.

It's a good inquiry if one is going to make a decision between one or the other. My guess from my basic perusal of Zaxby's offering is that eating pure lard covered in salt is slightly healthier than that place.

You only live once, enjoy your life. Eat fried chicken

Most of the time, they are pre-prepared (this includes store like, and including, Whole Foods, by the way) and the store just heats them up. Frequently, the dishes are made by companies like Stouffer's though they are a better quality than the individual boxes in the frozen food isle since the recipe is not optimized for quick heating.