Deciding what to make for dinner every day is hard enough. Feeding a family of 11 is even harder. But Melanie of RaisingCades on TikTok has come up with an ingenious solution to feeding her mighty flock: a restaurant-style salad bar.
Complete with a refrigerated salad bar section on top, a prep table, and refrigerated cabinets below, a commercial-grade salad bar may seem like a lot to a typical kitchen. But for Melanie, it’s the perfect solution for quick and easy meals and encouraging her nine children to eat nutritiously.
“Our salad bar is stocked every week with fruits, vegetables, everything,” she said.
Melanie stocks up on energy bars once or twice a week, depending on her household’s usage.
“This time I air fried some Brussels sprouts and some bacon,” she said. “I boiled some eggs and cut some – my kids have eaten about half of them. I sliced up whole turkey breasts from Costco, fresh peppers, tomatoes, gherkins, mushrooms. I washed the lettuce and placed paper towels in the bottom of the container to absorb the moisture and keep the lettuce fresh and chopped some fresh broccoli.
In the refrigerator under the bar, Melanie also stores dressings, salad ingredients, freshly washed berries, sandwich supplies, juice boxes and more.
Before investing in a commercial salad bar, Melanie kept a similar system of pre-washed, pre-cut salad ingredients in her regular refrigerator. While any food prep system takes a lot of work to keep up with, Melanie found that this is exactly what works for her family.
“A, it gives us a fast-food option because the salad bar is always stocked and open, and B, my kids are more likely to choose fresh produce if it’s ready and ready to eat.”
Commenters gushed over Melanie’s idea, with many saying how they now wish they had a salad bar in their own kitchens.
“My husband doesn’t know it yet, but we’re putting together a salad bar,” Melanie said.
“When food is ‘present’ to the eyes, you eat more, and in this case, it’s healthy… love this,” says Yella.
“Are you going to adopt?? I’m 34 years old but still! I’m clean! Jas_Victoria joked
Personally, I would also love to be adopted into Melanie’s salad bar family. But since that’s unlikely to happen, maybe I’ll start stocking my regular old refrigerator with salad ingredients.
