Why You Should Visit A Salad Bar Before Making Homemade Pizza

There are many different types of pizza, and topping combinations can be as varied as the people eating them. No matter how you like your pie, one genius hack can considerably shave off money and prep the next time you want to bake one at home: Stop off at a salad bar.

Do we advise this because salad pairs great with pizza? No (though it definitely does). Is it to help you fit in some fresh veggies with your meal? Again, no (though that's never a bad idea). Think of everything you can find in the refrigerated bins at a salad bar: veggies like cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, onions, olives, and spinach; pre-cooked meats like chicken, pepperoni, ham, and bacon; and various kinds of cheeses, including shredded mozzarella. Salad bars usually even have the controversial pizza ingredient that is pineapple, all chunked up and ready to go.

Yessir, a salad bar is the key to easy and effective meal prepping! Instead of buying all your pizza toppings separately (which can get expensive, with lots of unused ingredients left over) and doing the arduous prep work of washing, chopping, dicing, and grating, you can skip it all. Just pay by the ounce and buy the exact amount of ingredients you want from your local salad bar, all cut up and ready to adorn your pizza.

Many places have fresh, nicely stocked salad bars where you can select what you want and purchase by weight. Grocery stores and specialty markets often keep a salad bar replenished throughout the day, as do cafeterias on educational campuses and in other facilities. If you work in an office building, there may be a great salad bar for employees in the dining area. The best salad bar I ever encountered was in the cafeteria of a hospital, and you didn't have to be a patient or medical professional to dine there –- anybody could enter and make a purchase. Some buffet restaurants will also allow you to buy a to-go container and load it up with food items, including goods from the salad bar.

If you're tired after a long day and looking for a quick meal solution, homemade pizza might not seem like the most obvious option. But if you pair the salad bar hack with a premade crust snagged from the supermarket, add a jar of pizza sauce that is already seasoned and ready for use, your pizza night could well become one of the fastest dinners of the week, requiring only a quick sprinkle of toppings and a shove into a hot oven. You're welcome!