100 cal packs commercial ploy or a real help??

Are these 100 cal packs that are poping up eveywhere helpful to anyone or is it just a ploy to get people on a diet to just keep buying snacks?? What do u guys think?

They're okay.   But really, it's a marketing scheme, your paying twice the amount of money for half the product.  If you pay attention to your calorie intake, and the box, you can save money, and weight.

I think they can be helpful for some people, but to me they are too pricey.  You can take small ziploc bags and portion out any type of food into 100 cal "packs".

Agree with the above post.  They're convenient to be sure, and that's where the majority of the cost is - packaging and the convenience of pre-measured portions.

By buying some snack size baggies and take the time, anyone can create their own 100 cal packs of almost anything at a reduced cost.  (I say "almost" because I don't know how to make the 100 cal oreo granola bars, which are yummy.)

Of course, if they want to pay to have it done (which I often do, I admit), then they're still okay.  Unfortunately, most don't have a high nutritional content.

Marketing scheme.
Why not just have a cookie? Or preztals, or fruit, or pudding.
I think those 100 calorie packs are extremly wasteful and pointless. I also don't understand why everyone thinks they have to have a dessert, or something sweet after every meal. I know there are people with legit sweet toothes, but I feel like these companies are pushing mini packs of junk food on the public and making you believe they are the only way you can get your sweet fix!

Original Post by lolo87:

I also don't understand why everyone thinks they have to have a dessert, or something sweet after every meal.

Some people mentally associate that sweet finish as the official "end" of the meal.  People who are just starting out on a healthier lifestyle may actually be helped by small portioned servings of something a little sweet and may actually keep them from overeating.

Personally, I prefer to finish off my evening meals with a small square of dark chocolate for the sweet finish because I'm an unrepentant chocoholic.

I actually like some of them .. especially the Keebler Grasshopper Cookies and Fudge stripe cookies .. it cures my "want" for Chocoalte .. but keeps things well portioned ..

As for the Cracker ones .. well .. if you pay attention to the serving size on the side of a box .. you can portion yourself and the calories fine ..

If you are like me .. and do better with things that are pre-packaged and portioned .. THEY ARE A LIFESAVER

Marketing ploy.

People will pay for anything. Why not just portion out your 100 calories and leave it at that?

I'm going to start selling bottled air.

They are also so wasteful. It's a shame. It just creates more packaging.

Bah. And they aren't even healthier. They are just smaller. It's not like they made them with whole grains or good fats or added in vitamins or minerals or anything. Nothing. It's frustrating.

What's next? 100 calorie bunches of grapes (50 grapes)? 100 calorie packs of apples (two small apples)? 100 calorie packs of oranges (2 clementines)?

I think they are helpful if you are new to watching portions and if you're not quite ready to give up old eating habits cold turkey.  Personally I don't buy them, but again, I can see how some would find this useful.

It's a marketing ploy and they aren't healthy at all.

However, I just finished lunch and I was craving a chocolate bar big time. Someone in my office had 100 calorie honeymaid cookies and it satisfied my sweet tooth and saved me 250 calories. So there's always an upside.

Original Post by hgielrehtaeh:

100 calorie packs of apples (two small apples)?

I don't know if they are 100 cal packs or not, but there are pre cut packaged apple slices in the produce section.  As well as pre packaged del monte cut up fruit in single serving cups, and applesauce.

I agree that it creates extra packaging, but for some they do help with portion control.

You're freaking kidding me, right? *Rants and raves*

Original Post by hgielrehtaeh:

You're freaking kidding me, right? *Rants and raves*

Nope - the fruit chunks in juice and applesauce have been offered in single serving cups for years - seen as ideal for putting in kiddie's school lunches like the pudding snak paks.

Apple slices - don't know when I started seeing those.  They're gaining popularity, I think, because of the prepackaged apple slices offered by McDs and Subway.

Don't mean to steam you anymore, but I've even seen individual servings of baby carrots with veggie dip.  Apparently some people don't want to bother with tupperware.

I think they're a total ripoff. 

Great. Now you've gone and done it, Santo. You pushed me over the edge. How-freaking-lazy-can-people-get?

I kinda (kinda!) understand the applesauce/fruit in light syrup for lunches. Kinda. Un Poquito. But, come on. My Rubbermaid set cost me $25. It has various sized containers and the appropriate lids, and they are perfect. They are always the right size -- .5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 4 cups, and then a couple larger ones for when we are going to a carry in. And it's saved us at least ten times what it cost. Perfect.

Plus -- no pollution.

Okay so apparently some people here are ticked off by the mini 100 calorie packs but, for me, I really enjoy them. If you give me a box of cheez-its, I'll find some way to convince myself that I can keep helping myself from right out of the box. It's really hard for me to stop going once I rip open a box of the good stuff. These little packs are good when I just want an innocent 100 calorie snack. But then again, I can see the whole portioning it out for yourself as a more cost-effective way of dealing with that. But most of the large boxes you buy come with mini-sandies, chocolate cookies and crackers. The variety is pleasing.

Benefit? I get to keep enjoying my guilty pleasure and training myself to eat smaller portions. It's as simple as that. Of course it's great marketing - you're walking around Costco and you see a giant box of the individually packaged portions and you think "they've done all the work for me!" It's much easier to grab the box off the shelf than to spend 45 minutes carefully portioning out from a box of cheez-its, a box of sandies or chip.

I tried buying a big box of 100-calorie biscuit packs once. I ate the whole lot in 3 days. It's like buying things on sale: they're cheap and it feels like you're not spending anything, and you end up spending too much. Luckily, there are hardly any available in South Africa, where I live.

I tend to buy a treat when I'm doing the weekly shopping, so the few available are useful for that. But I worry about all the packaging we're generating. Whatever happened to greengrocers and tupperware? Normally I cut my own carrot sticks and take them in a little container, or bake apple-carrot-bran muffins once a week (also 100 cals each and much healthier) and take one or two for teatime every day. I still buy mini yoghurts rather than decanting from a litre tub into tupperwares, but that's probably a good next step in my war on packaging.

I must say though, sometimes it's liberating to buy a small thing of good quality rather than a huge mediocre one. Looking at calories is a good excuse to do that. 

I just ate a 100 calorie thin chocolate bar - hgiel don't kill me :)

 

I fully support everyone's right to eat whatever works for them, but I'm really not into the whole 100 calorie pack phenomenon.  The cost and packaging are my main objections, but they also seem to all be really processed foods, full of stuff I can't pronounce.  I had the chips ahoy ones on a plane once (Southwest puts them in their snack boxes).  They weren't really satisfying at all. They weren't sweet enough to satisfy my sweet tooth or chocolatey enough to satisfy a chocolate craving.  When I want something sweet after dinner, I usually have a truffle.  The ones I eat are around 70 calories, and I never crave anything sweet or chocolatey after I've eaten one.  

I also think that this kind of portioning can work against you.  One of my favorite snacks is Newman's Own Soy Crisps.  I often will eat just one or two when I'm not really hungry, I just want something flavorful.  I think if they came portioned in 100 calorie packs, I would be more likely to eat the whole pack, rather than the one or two that I usually eat.   

Original Post by mds86:

you're walking around Costco and you see a giant box of the individually packaged portions and you think "they've done all the work for me!" It's much easier to grab the box off the shelf than to spend 45 minutes carefully portioning out from a box of cheez-its, a box of sandies or chip.

 and that is what's wrong with our world today.

I like them because they're built-in portion control in a stay-fresh easy-to-grab-and-go package... and since I know they cost X amount each it's easier to persuade myself that I can only AFFORD to eat one every X number of days! If they were cheaper I'd probably eat too many of them.