Sandwiches and Wraps from the ShopRite Deli

Sit-down restaurants and fast food joints aren't the only places in town for lunch. Our grocery stores offer salad bars, made-to-order deli sandwiches, even soup, sushi and fried chicken—not to mention a freezer section with meals you can take back to the office and heat. And you can do your dinner shopping while you're there.

My gold standard for lunch time salad bars in the area is not Whole Foods on Springfield Avenue in Union, but King's on Morris Avenue in Short Hills. Whole Foods may have a host of ethnic selections as well as separate bars for antipasto, dessert and trail mix, but King's offers a simple, quality salad bar at a much lower price.

Across Morris Avenue from King's is , Springfield's only grocery store now that has closed. I wondered how the salad bar at ShopRite might compare to King's—and then remembered it did not have a salad bar, just a small olive bar. In fact, the salad selection was almost nonexistent—just a few prepackaged salads with chicken.

This brought me to the deli counter. Off to the right are some hot soups and a selection of freshly made .

To the left of the sushi is an assortment of sandwiches, from the standard turkey and Italian sandwiches to a selection of Lent specials: seafood salad sandwich, pesto arugula wraps and a grilled veggie wrap. Actually, a sign said grilled vegetable sandwich, but the man behind the counter said he made wraps out of all of the grilled veggies that morning. Happy to know that the wrap was made that morning by the person talking to me, I grabbed it.

The grilled veggie wrap included a good variety of flavor inside: crunchy cucumber, soft roasted red peppers, a sweet red onion that did not overpower, a flavorful pesto and a slice of firm mozzarella. But it was too much wrap and not nearly enough filling.

A wrap is supposed to have a health advantage over a sandwich by having more filling and fewer empty carbs. This was light on cheese and veggies, with a lot of tasteless white wrap.

Regardless of how much it was filled, a veggie wrap wouldn't come close to filling me. I bypassed the Cheetos—my weak spot—and headed to the canned fish aisle and grabbed one of my favorite healthy fish snacks: a can of spicy Thai chili seasoned tuna with crackers.

You know that strong smell of canned tuna? Don't grimace, because this can has none of that. The fish has the consistency of pulled pork, and a good spicy flavor—not fishy in the least. With 15 g of protein, 1 g of saturated fat, and 9 g carbs, it's much better choice than Cheetoes or a Snickers bar, which would have been plans B and C to accompany my veggie wrap.

A final note: I overheard a Jewish colleague of mine saying how much she loves Lent because of all of the fish sales. As a browsed the deli at ShopRite, I saw what she was talking about: Prince Edward Island mussels and crab meat on ice were part of the store's nine-day “seafood festival.” , take advantage of the seafood everywhere. It's tasty, healthy, and most of us do not eat enough of it.