Grocery Store Samples?

happytree923
happytree923 Posts: 463 Member
edited November 27 in Food and Nutrition
How do you log grocery store samples? I'm not talking about one or two bites, I mean a trip to a store like Costco where there are samples on the end of every aisle. A lot of the time I'll go and call the samples a 200 calorie snack, curious how other people deal with this!

Replies

  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,979 Member
    I would ask the people offering the samples if they have any nutritional info. If not, then I would note what I ate and try to find something in the database that is similar.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,744 Member
    I don't know about Costco but Trader Joe's always has the packaging available. I normally just log it as 50 calories per sample and call it a day.
  • happytree923
    happytree923 Posts: 463 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    I don't know about Costco but Trader Joe's always has the packaging available. I normally just log it as 50 calories per sample and call it a day.

    That sounds reasonable. Thanks!
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    It is a sample of a product they are selling right? Ask for the nutritional info or find the package.
    If the total amount you eat is equal to a large snack or small lunch I'd think 300-400 calories might be a better guess than 200.

    I don't shop where they give out samples like that. I would probably sample 1 item and pass on the rest.
  • Dee_D33
    Dee_D33 Posts: 106 Member
    Costco and Sams club have signs saying what the product is. Find it if they don’t have the packaging sitting out and log it as accurately as you can. For example, my sams club had yogurt samples the other day. I didn’t bother logging it but if I wanted to I wouldn’t probably scanned the package and logged it as .25 serving or something.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,269 Member
    I just guess, which is pretty easy to do accurately enough (not perfectly accurately) after some logging experience: I know what an ounce of chips, crackers, cheese, etc., looks like, and the calorie variation in a category isn't that much.

    If I'm not sure, I'll guess toward the high side. I'm a believer in accurate logging, but also a believer in not jacking my life around in unpleasurable ways for the sake of avoiding occasional calorie inaccuracies. To me, sampling is fun.(I am more likely now to skip less interesting items as not worth even the few calories.)

    In my case, sampling is only once every week or two, besides. I'm not at Costco daily. If I'm off by 100 calories, even - which is unlikely - that's lost in the nose of other minor eating/activity calories in a week. YMMV.
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,989 Member
    As a side note....please don't be one of those people who blocks the entire Costco aisle while eating your sample. MOVE your CART and YOURSELF out of my way while having your snack. Some of us are actually trying to get our shopping done.

    Sorry, OP, that is not necessarily directed at you...just a generic rant based on my trip to Costco this morning.
  • melissa6771
    melissa6771 Posts: 894 Member
    I just log what I eat there when I do eat samples. It's pretty easy actually because you know exactly what it is. Sometimes I ask them how many pieces they cut something into if it's that kind of food. One cookie thin is easy, etc. I have found everything from there in the database. It usually adds up to about 150, not always worth it but sometimes.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Depends what it's a sample of, but I'd go for 50 cals a bite to be on the safe side.
  • happytree923
    happytree923 Posts: 463 Member
    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    As a side note....please don't be one of those people who blocks the entire Costco aisle while eating your sample. MOVE your CART and YOURSELF out of my way while having your snack. Some of us are actually trying to get our shopping done.

    Sorry, OP, that is not necessarily directed at you...just a generic rant based on my trip to Costco this morning.

    People who do this should have their membership revoked. And the people who hover around the sample cart like a pack of vultures waiting for the employee to finish heating up the food.
  • rj0150684
    rj0150684 Posts: 227 Member
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    happytree923 wrote: »
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    You don't have to eat the samples!

    I had absolutely no idea I could not eat the samples, thank you so much! But let's just say, for the sake of this question, that I am choosing to eat them.

    You asked how people deal with it. I deal with it by making the choice of not eating the samples, but if you simply have to eat them, then you have to choose to estimate the calories and live with it.

    To be fair, the question was “how do you log grocery store samples”

    I think eating them is implied in the question.
  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
    Scan in the package, then figure how much of the serving you had. You can ask the associate how many samples they get from the package. Even if it's a rough estimate, it's better than not logging. (Most of the time you are getting 1/8 a serving, used to work at a store that gave out samples, we were instructed to cut each item so that we would get 8 pieces per recommended serving, don't know if this applies to all stores though)
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    I call it 50-75 calories per sample. This is one time where being vegetarian (or having various other dietary preferences or needs) comes in handy. I usually can't eat whatever they're sampling! But if they're offering something sweet...yeah, I'll have that.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I don’t usually eat the samples but I’d just make my best guess. Maybe 50 calories per sample.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    I do it all the time at Sam's Club because it helps me decide if I want to purchase an item that's usually in a very large package.

    I'll only sample the ones I'm not already familiar with and only the ones I might consider buying. I have a 200 calorie "Misc Grazing" food I created just for this purpose.
  • mburgess458
    mburgess458 Posts: 480 Member
    How is this any different than eating at a non-chain restaurant or at someone else's house? Other than the fact that you're eating very little so guessing probably isn't going to be a problem? If you eat YYY at a restaurant you have to guestimate the calories, right? You aren't going into the kitchen while they are cooking and weighing all of the ingredients. Just do the same thing. Ate a bite sized sample of YYY at the grocery store, just find an entry on MFP that seems relatively close and ballpark what fraction of a serving you ate.

    You can't be accurate, just be reasonable.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7mqI5klgaQ
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    The grocery store I shop at most has samples of produce often. Squares of cantaloupes, slices of apples, strawberry slices, etc, speared with toothpicks. They are legit samples; when the fruit isn't ripe the samples are not very good. When they are ripe, I could stand in front of the melons all day. :) But I don't. I buy one and take it home and weigh what I eat at home. But when it's just small samples of produce, I log it as one of the fruits in a small amount that seems reasonable. I rarely try other samples.
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