My most-read post last year was about McDonald’s bringing back salads in some locations after killing them during the pandemic. But it looks like the return of McDonald’s salads is over. A search through the Northern suburbs of Chicago the past two weeks (via the McDonald’s app) shows no outlets with salads on their menus in 2023.
I sent a note to McDonald’s customer service and got back a form reply saying salads are no longer part of the national menu and it’s now up to individual franchise holders whether they offer them. I find only a little truth in that since suppliers have to be found for them and I don’t see corporate letting individual outlets go rogue on finding suppliers. Corporate has decided to walk away from any pretense of having a healthy menu option.
That means there is now nothing even remotely healthy on McDonald’s menu and I can no longer frequent them. My favorite McDonald’s in the suburb of Winnetka was like my away-from-home office since I retired in 2015.
I’d go there twice a week and everyone on staff knew me and treated me wonderfully. I will miss them tremendously, but sadly McDonald’s now, just like Trader Joe’s, too is dead to me if I want to keep to my heart-healthy diet.
I’m going to test a Wendy’s salad to see how they measure up but looking at their nutritional information, they mostly seem loaded with salt. The same is true for Panera salads. I’ve had salads at Culver’s but found them bland in the past, it might be time to test them again as well.
I really want the salad to come back it’s been a long time since the pandemic