Whole Foods & You: Putting Salad Bars in Schools

I remember the first time I heard about a school having a salad bar. I was like “WHAT??” and then thought “why couldn’t we have that when I was in school!”. Did any of you have salad bars in your schools? Do your children have them now? We’ve been homeschooling for a long time, but our three oldest children did attend public school for the elementary years and they didn’t have a salad bar. Knowing how my kids eat salad, they would have LOVED it.

That’s why when I heard about the Whole Foods “Eat Your Greens To Give Some Green” program, I was proud to share it on my blog.

Here’s how the Whole Foods “Eat Your Greens To Give Some Green” program works:

On Sunday, September 9th, Whole Foods Markets in Southern California, Arizona, Hawaii, and Las Vegas will give $1 for every pound purchased from their salad bar and hot bar to the Whole Kids Foundation, which donates the money to fund salad bars school grants in our community.

I shop at Whole Foods Markets occasionally, but had never bought from their salad bar before. Today, the family and I headed over to our favorite Whole Foods — right on the Las Vegas Strip in Town Square — to check out their salad bar and grab some lunch. (oh, and bonus, I’m also participating in a Foodie Pen Pals exchange so this was a perfect place for me to pick up some Las Vegas local products.)

The salad bar is pretty massive at Whole Foods! It really had everything you could want. Just when I was walking and thought “oh, they don’t have artichoke hearts?”, I found them.

It also had things you wouldn’t usually expect on your average salad bar, like this guacamole that looked great.

Here’s a photo of my salad — I used organic spring mix, baby spinach, broccoli florets, artichoke hearts, chickpeas, carrots, mushrooms, sunflower seed kernels. On the left in my box is some hummus and pita bread — another item you wouldn’t normally expect on a salad bar. My salad was delish and the kids loved their lunch too.

If you live in Southern California, Arizona, Hawaii, or Las Vegas, I hope you head over to your favorite Whole Foods Market this Sunday (September 9, 2012) to participate in this great program. Salad bars + schools = more fruit and vegetables for children and that’s something I think we can all be proud to support.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for Whole Foods Market. All opinions are 100% my own.