Smart grocery shopping is the difference between paying for expensive takeout multiple times a week and stay within my food budget while still enjoying delicious meals. For some people, planning ahead for lunch and dinner throughout the week means meal prepping recipes in bulk, but that’s not quite my style.

Instead, I prefer to stock ingredients in my pantry, fridge, and freezer that make preparing an office lunch or a 10-minute dinner an effortless affair — which is why you’ll always find a bagged salad inside my refrigerator.

I know I’m not the only person who depends on bagged salads for quick, budget-friendly meals, but what many other home cooks might not realize is that one grocery store makes this simple staple better than any other chain: Wegmans.

This Northeastern supermarket is known for its store-brand products, fresh produce, extensive cheese selection, and outstanding in-house bakery, to name a few excellent departments. However, I’d argue that if you haven’t visited a Wegmans yet and there’s one within driving distance, it’s worth going for the bagged salads alone. (To prove my point, I gladly carry my groceries for the entire 18-minute walk home from my nearest Wegmans in New York City, and the salads are a major motivationg factor for that long trek.)

This isn’t just about personal preference or sentimental attachment to Wegmans — I first started shopping at the store during college — and I can back up my assertion with facts. Wegmans’ bagged salads are more affordable, fresh, and delicious than most options out there.

Let’s start by looking at prices. A bagged salad at my nearest Wegmans in Brooklyn, such as my favorite option, the Sunflower Crunch Chopped Salad Kitcosts $4 for a package with about three servings (depending on whether you use it as a main dish or a side).

At the other major grocery store near me, Whole Foods, non-organic bagged salad kits from the store’s 365 brand (which offers the most affordable options at the Austin-based chain) cost around $4.69. That’s not a huge difference in price, but it adds up when you buy bagged salads on a weekly basis like I do.

When I visit local grocery chain Key Foods — a New York City-based company that actually has more locations in the Northeast than Wegmans — the price difference for bagged salads is even more dramatic, and I end up paying $6 for one at checkout.

It’s not just the sticker price that offers great value for Wegmans salad kits. Based on my experience, I’ve found that these products tend to last longer than similar options at other stores, often not expiring until more than a week after I buy them.

Wegmans constantly refreshes its shelves, and if I check the back of the rows of bagged salads, I can find options with even later expiration dates. This means I can buy a salad on a Saturday and take it to work for an office lunch six days later. (I don’t know about anyone else, but that hasn’t been my experience with salad kits from many other grocery stores.)

If you’re still not sold, I’ve found that it’s the flavor, variety, and quality of Wegmans’ bagged salads that keep me coming back. Many premade dressings tend to be overly sweet, but the options in these kits are well-seasoned and balanced. (Although if you want something sweeter, I recommend the Sweet Kale Chopped Salad Kita vibrant mix of green cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, radicchio, pepitas, and dried cranberries with a poppyseed dressing.)

The salad offerings go far beyond just a simple Caesar — though that’s available too — and include items like a Dill Pickle Chopped Salad Kit or Everything Bagel Chopped Salad Kit. In addition to green leaf lettuce, broccoli, red cabbage, savoy cabbage, carrots, and green onions, the latter option comes with miniature bagel chips for crunch and an everything bagel-seasoned dressing to tie it all together.

I’ll leave you with one last grocery tip that will improve your weeknight dinner game: Grab a bag of Wegmans frozen chicken tenders while you’re at the store. Crisp a few in the oven, chop and toss them on top of a salad, and you’ll have a complete, delicious meal ready to go. If you really feel like taking it up a notch, you can roll everything up in a tortilla for an easy handheld wrap.