There are a variety of salads available at Costco, and one of the newest is the Summer Fresh Crunchy Grain Salad. I love that it’s packed with nutritious ingredients like quinoa, broccoli, carrots, and pumpkin seeds. After trying it, though, I was slightly disappointed by the taste find out why below!
Location in Store
The crunchy grain salad is located in the refrigerated deli section at Costco, near the Good Foods Chunky Guacamole and the Fontaine Sante Spinach Dip. The item number is 1941441.
Taste
This grain salad has a mix of red quinoa, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, wheat berries, pearled barley, edamame, red pepper, pumpkin seeds, and dried cranberries. There’s a sweet vinaigrette in the salad that has a pretty strong vinegar flavor and is a tad too sweet for my liking.
This salad definitely has some crunchy texture, coming from the red pepper, pumpkin seeds, broccoli, and carrots. I like the idea of the salad but wish it were less sweet—the sweet vinaigrette combined with the dried cranberries adds too much sugary flavor. The sweetness reminds me a bit of a sweet coleslaw.
My parents tried this salad and really loved it, while my husband and I thought it wasn’t amazing. Everyone has different tastes!
Cost
The crunchy grain salad costs $13.99 Canadian for five 200-gram packs. That’s less than three dollars per container. Keep in mind, though, the containers are pretty small—each one is equivalent to one or two individual servings.
Convenience
The salads have a best-before date that’s almost a month from when I purchased them and need to be kept refrigerated. I wouldn’t recommend freezing the salads, as I think that would adversely affect the texture.
This crunchy salad works as a side dish, or for lunch or a snack. Since they come in little plastic bowls with plastic lids, they’re easy to toss into your lunch bag or backpack. If you want to add some extra protein, you could include shrimp, chicken, or beef.
Nutrition
Calories
In one entire 200-gram container of crunchy salad, there are 290 calories. In a 1/2 container or 100-gram serving, there are 140 calories, six grams of fat, 19 grams of carbohydrates, three grams of fibre, seven grams of sugar, and 440 milligrams of sodium.
The sugar is definitely a bit higher than I like for a salad, and since I could easily eat an entire container myself, I wouldn’t say it’s low in calories or fat either.
Ingredients
The ingredients list is a bit long but includes plenty of healthy items like quinoa, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, barley, red pepper, and kale. Ingredients I’m less excited about are sugar, orange juice, and canola oil. This salad isn’t gluten-free due to the barley and wheat berries, but it is soy-free and dairy-free.
Scoring
Taste: 7/10
Cost: 7/10
Convenience: 10/10
Nutrition: 6/10
Overall
Give it a try!
I think there are tastier salads available at Costco that I would recommend over this one! My favorites are the Kirkland Signature Mediterranean Pasta Salad and the Taylor Farms Dill Pickle Salad. My parents, however, absolutely loved this salad and were thrilled when I gave them the rest of my box.
Have you tried this Summer Fresh Crunchy Grain Salad from Costco? What did you think of it?
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
