Tuesday, March 09, 2010

The truth behind the Costco Food Court


Costco is a place that I frequent on a regular basis to stock up on supplies for the kids' school lunches, staples for my Weight Watchers journey, and where I stock up on Fruit.

When the kids and I go to Costco we stop, from time to time, at the Costco Food Court on the way out. Tricia will get the Chicken Bake, Parker a hot dog. Sometimes we get fruit smoothies, and now Tricia likes the Cofee/Mocha freeze.

I was curious to see what the nutritional value was, so when I stopped by the Customer Service Desk and asked if they had the nutritional value and they told me to ask at the food court.

I did my shopping and then headed to the Food Court to get a Fruit Smoothie. I asked the man behind the counter for the nutritional value and he was very hesitant to hand it over. Then he asked me if there was an item that he could read to me and I told him that I would read it myself and write it down He then said, "You know there is NOTHING good here for you, don't you?"

I then preceded to read the nutritional value for the iteams we get on a regular basis.

Here are the Weight Watchers Points for our favorite items. I get 30 points a day, so you have some perspective on the point vales.

Chicken Bake: 17 points
Cheese Pizza Slice: 16 points
Pepperoni Pizza Slice: 14 points
Hot Dog with the works: 13 points
Frozen Yogurt: 8 points
Fruit Smoothie: 6 points
Coffee/Mocha Freeze: 5 points

These next two items you would think are healthy just by reading the titles of the food items. People think that they are eating healthy because they are eating a salad or a wrap, but the truth is in the nutritional value. Pretty eye opening, isn't it.

Ceasar Salad: 16 points
Turkey Wrap: 19 points

Here is a link to all the items and their nutritional values. I just put up the ones that my family gets the most. I hope you all find this helpful for your health and fitness journeys. Here is the link: Costco Food Court Nutritional Values

7 comments:

Molly said...

Good for you for asking for the info! It's amazing how much fat they can pack into supposedly healthy items...we have to be so vigilant everywhere!

Aunt Linda said...

Aww...c'mon...don't spoil my junk food binge. I only eat there about 2 times a year!!! Ha!!! that's about how it is everywhere.

M said...

oh my.

that is just astounding.

it also goes to show that eating out is always going to be a gamble in terms of nutrition. cook it at home - your better off.

awesome info - very cool of you to post it.

ShesAlwaysWrite said...

Few months ago looked up nutritional values for some common restaurants (Chili's, Applebees, Cheesecake Factory, Macaroni Grill, Olive Garden) because we were going out with friends and I wanted to make a wiser choice than if I went unprepared.

HOLY CRAP. The food is so outrageously bad for us across the board, it's made me not want to eat out much any more. It's very, very easy to have a 3000 or 4000 calorie dinner at one of these places and never even realize it.

Anonymous said...

I usually get the ceasar salad, only add 1/6th (or less) of the dressing, and sometimes skip the croutons- it cuts down on the calories dramatically but is still tasty and filling.

The kids get a cheese pizza slice, cut in half, and we split a frozen yogurt 3 or 4 ways (1/4th is less than 100 calories, we use the water cups), depending on who is there.

Mostly I just eat there because it's cheap, though! If we're out and I need a cheap place for fast food we almost always head to Costco if there is one nearby.

Anonymous said...

thank you so much for sharing the information! I was looking all over costco's website for it and couldn't find the nutritional info. Crazy high points! thought the salad was a good idea and I guess it was better than pizza, but wow!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for this helpful information!