Salad bars are my lunch choice when eating out these days. I’ve written about three near Millennium Park in Chicago, not far from my office.
But salad alone rarely fills me up on any given day, so I often buy add-ons to try to quell my normal hunger pains. When getting my salad at Marinao‘s, I’ll also pick up two ounces of raw salmon for $7, often doubling the cost of lunch from around $7 to $14.
In the lunch pictured here, I went all-out, likely because I was having a bad day, buying not only the salmon but a $4 box of unsalted edamame and a small fat-free frozen yogurt with strawberries, also around $4, from a small food shop in my building at 150 N. Michigan Ave. Add it all up and I spent $22 trying to fill up. Did I? More so than usual, thanks mostly to the edamame I think.
Compare that to the cost of a Big Mac Meal, which is filling, and you see the challenge of trying to eat healthy on a budget.
John
The No Salt, No Fat, No Sugar Journal 
Just going through the Whole Foods hot bar or salad bar can cost more than a sit down meal!