Thanks for the head's up about AJ's... I rarely shop there but I'll check out their salad bar as I eat great quantities of salad.
Normally I go to Tomatoes but I won't vouch for their salads overall - I just buy their take out with veggies that I use in small quantities and mix those with higher volume components that I buy at Sprouts. Also that allows me to buy organic for things I worry about. It saves a lot of chopping and trying to maintain things that come in larger quantities than I need per salad. Their plastic take out container looks small but it holds over a quart and costs $6.05 per, tax included. Their stuff is fresh - they do a high volume of business and they're constantly refreshing the trays of food.
If you're interested in my take on buying organic, read on. I don't have a lot of faith in the ratings of high and low amounts of pollutants because I don't know how they arrive at them. My ideas are based on simple chemistry. The worst food pollutants are called POPs - Persistant Organic Pollutants. They persist because they're not water soluble but since they're not, plants don't take up from the soil. They're usually dispersed via the air to begin with - thus if the part you eat is exposed to air I go organic - leafy greens in particular because they have lots of surface area. POPs are generally soluble in oils and fats so I buy organic oils and animal products including dairy and eggs - as you go up the food chain pollutants are more and more concentrated.
Foods with tough, non-porous skins I just wash with a fruit and veggie wash - apples, pears, plums, celery, tomatoes, etc. Things with porous skins I peel or buy organic - peaches and apricots for example. Canned foods I go organic but I rarely eat anything canned except tomatoes (in sauces). Cabbage is exposed to air but the outer leaves are discarded - even moreso with cauliflower - so I don't worry about them.
