Bagged greens usually state that they are pre-washed and ready to eat on their labels, but that doesn't mean that they are edible. In their most recent issue, Consumer Reports tested several types of bagged salad mixes for the "yuck factor," the phrase that they used to describe the percentage of the "ready to eat" greens that were wilted or otherwise inedible. It turned out that there was a lot of yucky stuff. Out of the 62 bags that they meticulously tested, inedible greens ranged from .5% to 83% of the salads and "the vast majority had 'off' odors, smelling like rotten vegetables, sauerkraut or chlorine... [or] imitation crab meat." Needless to say, they recommended buying greens and making your own salad mixes, or at least washing the bagged greens before eating them. Besides, as they rightly point out, it is less expensive to chop up your own lettuce - especially if you're going to have to throw away a portion of the bagged stuff that isn't as fresh as it should be.

Consumer Reports always delivers the information that shoppers need to know: what's out there, what is (and isn't) good about it and whether or not it is worth the price or time involved. More often than not, they are evaluating products, but in a recent study, they took a look at some of the stores that sell them.

Based on a survey of more than 20,000 consumers, CR found that the three most important things to grocery shoppers were "short lines, low prices, [fresh] produce," though good service and clean stores were also important. Most shoppers went to multiple stores each week or each month to pick up all the things they needed, shopping for produce at one store and dry goods at another. But using these criteria as a baseline, five supermarkets came out ahead: Wegmans Food Markets, Trader Joe's, Publix Super Markets, Raley's and Whole Foods Markets. All five had a desirable combination of qualities that kept shoppers coming back regularly.

Since Kellogg's cereals are about to go up in price, taking a look at some of the lower-priced alternatives to name brand cereals seems prudent. This month's Consumer Reports happily obliges us with their taste test of store brand frosted flakes (Kellogg's Frosted Flakes), toasted oats (GM Cheerios), and frosted mini wheats (Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats).

Frosted flake cereals are the least nutritious of the bunch, with about 120 calories, 12 grams of sugar and only 1 gram of fiber. Kellogg's well-known brand topped the taste test, tied with the lower-priced Malt-O-Meal version of the cereal. Other brands tasted slightly bitter. CR also noted that a few turned the milk bright yellow. Sounds like it's best to stick to the familiar in this case.

Quite often, the things on which Consumer Reports reports don't make it online (or it's by subscription only), but since they tested casual dining restaurants - one of the most popular sectors of dining - it's no surprise that the story has popped up. Casual dining restaurants range from lower priced Cracker Barrel and Denny's to more upscale chains, like Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. They're popular because not only do they offer a familiar option to hungry patrons, but you generally know exactly what you're going to get and how much it costs before you walk in the door. This can be a huge asset for diners on a budget.

CR grouped the chains by the type of food they offered and their price level, then rated them based on the survey results from 66,000 readers who ate 149,000 meals over the course of a year. If you're familiar with the magazine, you already know that they go into great detail on all the things that they review, so this piece doesn't even cover half of the info in the article. To get the full story, pick up a copy the next time you're out at the newsstand, but I'll share their quick picks for special occasions, where the food and service justify higher prices, and "good food at a good price", where price and quality hit an equilibrium: