Salad party: what salad bowls to get?

Well, is there any particular theme to this dinner and can I come?

Have you been reading the other discussions about saving for retirement?

I would not buy anything new. I would go to GoodWill and see what they had for sale. You can get some nice nice glass salad bowls for a very low price. Save your money. Remember, the most important part of the meal is the company.

I stay away from wood. I feel they cannot be cleaned completely. I suspect that is probably not true but it feels like it to me. Glass has a crisp sanitary feel.

I would look for flat soup bowls, or something similarly styled. Wide and not too deep, with a nice rim for bread/crackers. I don’t care for wooden bowls. Glass or ceramic and, of course, chilled.

I also think it would be cool to use medium dinner platters. Corelle platters are amazing for BBQ, with a nice rim and steep lip.

And I would shop The Dollar Tree first. They have some great dishes at times, and all for $1. :)

Or you could go for colourful ceramic bowls (from the GoodWill is a great tip from @LuckyGuy). Mismatching bowls could be very stylish if you choose carefully.

My local Goodwill is expensive. I’ve seen the colored Coca Cola glasses from the Dollar Tree literally marked $2 each!

Wait!
Is this a ‘Build a lettuce salad party’, or a party of different ‘made’ salads?
I recommend the Flat soup for lettuce salad, small/medium platter for made salads or a combo of the two.

Oooh…go to one of the import stores like Pier One or Cost Plus. I LOVE those stores, beautiful, unique, ethnic dinner ware. I am sure you could find some really amazing large bowls that could double as soup and pasta bowls as well. I love eating out of bowls anyway over plates. I just made myself a bowl with leftover broccoli, chicken and home made stuffing from the other night.

Also see pasta bowls.

Similar to a flat soup, but a tad larger.

@ibstubro the salad is already made. I was going to put ingredients in the bowls and have the dressing on tiny individual dishes so that they could toss the salad as we sat.

Pasta bowls actually seem great. But, in terms of size I was looking for something more specific than L, M , or S. I have 6” bowls I use for ice cream or salad when it is not the main dish. What size are we talking about here 8”, 9”, 11”? Don’t know what size the soup/pasta bowls are.

@Yeahright I’d go for bigger. The bigger the better to be used for multi-purpose dining. haha
The 9–11 would be my choice. Larger if they are shallow, smaller if they are deeper.

@Coloma makes sense!

@Yeahright I’m a former home stager and Interior designer, I’d love to find the bowls for your party, I get really excited about things like this. haha

@Coloma I need you here ASAP!

Pasta bowls tend to run around the 9–10” range, on average. Although there are restaurants (Olive Garden) that use bowls at least 11–12”+.

I would stick with the 9–10” bowls. You don’t want your guests to feel self conscious if they don’t want a huge salad.

@ibstubro yes 9–10 sounds great. I know restaurants use huge plates that would not look that great at home.

I like a lot of dressing, so I would probably serve it in something akin to a martini pitcher, if I could find them cheap enough. Even the stirrer would be great for dressings that separate/settle.

These are kinda groovy, but probably not large/deep enough.

@ibstubro those would be perfect and are 8.5” but I haven’t seen anything like that at my Dollar Tree store.

You can order them delivered to your store for free, @Yeahright.
You know Melamine is dense plastic?
Appears the best offer is a case of 24 for $24.

Print it out, take it to your store, and ask. You might have missed them, or they might be able to get you one.

@ibstubro I like the design but white is boring, I vote for COLOR!

@ibstubro Oh yeah melamine….I missed that… not my fave though…

@Coloma Sure, color would be great too…I’m open really.

@Coloma:

#1. The Price is Right.
#2. Stainable (think beet juice).
#3. Placemats, table covering, accents.

White just makes the other colors ‘pop’ more.

We need to know your socioeconomic position, too, @Yeahright.

Are you loaded?

I usually use my pasta bowls for salads.

How many people?

@ibstubro Yes, price is right, I can’t help myself though, these would be my pick.

www.pixabay.com/en/art-background-bowl--ceramic-color-2756/

^ That’s what I had in mind too. Bright colours and patterns. Vibrancy.

@ibstubro not loaded but can spare a few dollars on this.Want things to look good.
@Coloma those look nice but prefer solids to patterns. But yes open to color.

@Yeahright I’m sure whatever you choose will be great, have fun!

@Coloma

Those bowls you posted are beautiful. How much are they and where can they be purchased? Are they Melamine or ceramic?

@Buttonstc I think they are ceramic pasta bowls…not sure about the site for purchasing, I just liked the pictures. haha Maybe one of the import stores would have similar ones.

But I don’t want similar, I want those…

whines and stamps foot…

:D

^^^ haha

They don’t look food safe to me, @Buttonstc.

I was wondering about that. The designs look Mexican-ish to me. But if they were made in Mexico, I would definitely get one of those lead testing pens and check for that.

^^^ They might be Italian, a lot of really nice, safe, pottery comes from Italy as well as Morocco, and other countries. Look at all the colorful wares to be found at World Market, I have used a lot of ethnic pottery over the years and here I still am.

You’re right, I wouldn’t have a problem if they were from Italy because there are pretty strict EU regulations. (I love my Tramontina pans).

But afaik, neither China nor Mexico are that stringent about policing for lead.

Obviously, before purchasing either in person or online, I would ask about where they were made.

And fwiw, Melamine isn’t the safest thing around either and shouldn’t be used in the microwave. I just found that out fairly recently a few years ago.

Melamine is a fairly early form of plastic. This from Wiki:
During the late 1950s and 1960s melamine tableware became highly fashionable. Aided crucially by the stylish modern designs of A. H. Woodfull and the Product Design Unit of British Industrial Plastics, it was thought to threaten the dominant position of ceramics in the market. The tendency of melamine cups and plates to stain and scratch led sales to decline in the late 1960s, however, and eventually the material became largely restricted to the camping and nursery market.

Not too far from Bakelite, apparently, as it has a high formaldehyde content. I no longer advocate anyone putting plastic in a microwave. Plastic is basically some form of petroleum mixed with a toxic chemical. No good can come from heating it intentionally.