Watch your sodium intake! Seattle woman will only eat food from Starbucks for a year

A Seattle woman whose legal name is Beautiful Existence says she's only going to eat food and drink beverages from Starbucks in 2013.

Why? Because the 'bux is such a great company, she says.

"The company pays good benefits for part-time workers. That's where my money is going," she says.

So far she's spent an average of $18.79 a day on food and drink at the coffee chain.

Americans are spoiled, she says, "because we have all these different eating options. You go to all these other countries and they don't have these luxuries. Really? Is it really going to be that hard for one year of my life to limit my menu? We'll find out."

She adds:

"I've been going in and getting their nutrition by the cup charts for all their serving sizes. I'm already getting a feel for what to eat - the plain nut pack as a snack because it only has 190 calories, compared to the piece of pumpkin bread."

* Seattle woman will only eat food from Starbucks for a year
* Earlier: Woman says she lost 85 pounds by only eating at Starbucks for two years

Comments

[Venti Urnex Latte]

A lot of baristas take the leftover marked-out food home, so they eat primarily Starbucks food. We have had days when dozens of sandwiches were marked out, along with dozens of pastries.

The baristas do this because the food is free to them, which is a lot less weird than eating only Starbucks food and paying for the privilege.

[BurntBean]

What a twee pompous gasbag.

[D]

"Watch your sodium intake???" Why? Where is the scientific evidence that sodium is a problem? Oh, there are thousands of popular press articles about this old wives tale, but zero double-blind studies.

[osgood9]

Taking leftover/expired pastries/RTD food home is theft. Should be donated. Not saying that it doesn't' happen everywhere...

As for this girl..I hope she has a trust fund for her "menu" and stocks up for Christmas day.

[Herman]

BurntBean - in the future please be more specific about which of the gazillion pompous gasbags that inhabit this blog you are referring to.

[Katie]

As a partner and student for a few years, I did the exact same thing. It's not theft if the product is going into the garbage. The only reason Starbucks won't allow workers is because they're afraid of the abuse that might happen if partners felt it was okay to eat the food (eating it before close without paying, etc.)

During my shift, I paid for anything except my free drinks (partners are allowed a certain number of free drinks, fyi). After work, since I was a closer, despite a sign-up sheet, no one ever came to claim the pastries for charity and the yogurts, salads, sandwiches and breakfast items, along with the hot coffee and iced teas and coffees, would just be lined up on the shelf. After making 7.50 an hour with the possibility of 10 or 13 dollars in tips, it would have been a crime throw that food away.

We were all college students and if we didn't have that food, probably would have gone hungry or used 50% of our paychecks on food. I always tip well now that I'm not a partner anymore because I know that most of them are struggling to make ends meet. I really can't understand why anybody would take a hardline stance against allowing partners to take marked out food. I know WHY it isn't allowed (food safety) but partners acting like it's stealing is ridiculous.

I also lost about five pounds, probably because the stats are all right there. Fairly easy to eat low-cal, low-fat when the numbers are staring at you.

[TirdofThis]

Good lord there are only so many sandwiches I could stand eating in a year.

[frapatte]

osgood, we can't donate RTD food. It's actually against the "law" (if I remember correctly?) to donate food from the RTD officially because it's a health/safety hazard with the whole refrigeration thing. Soooo toss it out like official Starbucks rules say, or "toss it out" into employees homes so that we can live with our meager wages and not feel the moral sting of literally throwing away mounds of food? Gee, tough choice.

[Coffeelvr]

Off topic but, if I have a question for baristas (or managers) can I ask it here?

[Starbucks Gossip webmaster]

Fire away!

[Coffeelvr]

Thanks! I know there is a no fraternizing policy with baristas and managers. But, is a store manager allowed to be friends outside of there with customers?

[Martha]

At the Barnes & Noble cafe I work at, we have to throw out all marked-out waste. :/

[SarahB]

"But, is a store manager allowed to be friends outside of there with customers? "

Yes.

[D]

I'm sorry, but this still sounds like $18 per day on junk food. This is a gimmick...

[That Guy]

"But, is a store manager allowed to be friends outside of there with customers? "

"Yes. "

But not recommended....

[spaghettipocket]

She's not sticking to just what you can buy in a Starbucks store, she's also buying Starbucks stuff from grocery stores, as well as stuff from Tazo Teas and Evolution Fresh.

[sanoga]

"Americans are spoiled," she says, then in the same breath tells us she'll be spending $18 a day to eat out. Well. As a poor college student that budgets, grocery shops and cooks my own meals... that doesn't sit well with me. I'd like to shove a panini in her smug little mouth but... well... I don't think she deserves something quite so tasty.

[Guat.my.mala]

Yes, a store manager can be friends with customers. I gained two best friends that way. =)

[David]

Sorry to break it to you, but this has already been done. I did it when I was living in Las Vegas. I was staying with a friend in his apartment and I couldn't afford foods after rent, paying him to help me move, and a few doctor bils, so I did this for about a year and a half. We didn't have the sandwiches until about a year after I started working there. I never had problems with sodium levels, just the occasional dry heaving of an old egg salad sandwich. I was so sluggish by the time I could afford to get into my own place. Ahh, memories