Top 10 Places to Find Free Snacks

(image from popaver at Flickr)

Snacks: we eat them all the time… sometimes until no room remains for actual meals. But the term “snack” means different things to different people. While most of us agree that a snack is smaller and less filling than a meal, some would consider a Starbucks Frappuccino a snack, while others might opt for a pack of edamame or a half-order of buffalo wings. No matter what brings us individual snacking pleasure, there’s one other thing most people tend to agree on: snacks are even tastier when they’re free.

As a former poor college student, and a cheapskate in general, I’ve become somewhat of an expert in finding free food. Some of what I’ve found over the years has been atrocious, but I’ve found a fair amount of four-and-five star snacking destinations also. Below, I’ve compiled a list of my top ten places to find free snacks. My rankings are based on several factors including free snack variety, quality, and ubiquity of locations. May your taste buds be satisfied, and your stomach - and wallet - never empty!

10. BP/Speedway Convenience Stores

A gas station convenience store - not a place you’d expect to find free snacks, right? Wrong. If you’re lucky enough to have a BP Connect or a larger-than-average Speedway gas station around, a) you’re probably in the UK, the Midwest or the South, and b) the likelihood is you’ll find a supply of four-ounce sample cups at the coffee bar.

There’s no limit on how many flavors you can sample (there are often five or more varieties of cappuccino and several blends of coffee available), and you’re free to mix in syrups and toppings to your heart’s desire. Make a mini-mint mocha or caramel machiatto… all for free! Beats Starbucks any day.

• Speedway SuperAmerica Website

9. Yogurtland

Yogurtland is a chain of self-serve frozen yogurt shops throughout California. At $0.30/ounce, its 16 varieties of quality yogurts and endless mix-and-match toppings are a deal already. When you enter a Yogurtland, however, you’ll be handed three paper sample cups - this is your opportunity to sample as many types of frozen yogurt as your heart desires. Unfortunately, toppings are off-limits unless you buy. Still, this is a great free (and tasty) way to cool off on a hot summer day in the California desert.

• Yogurtland Website

8. Heini’s Cheese Chalet and Heini’s Bakery

In my personal experience, this is one of the best places for sheer quantity of free snacks. The fact that it’s a single location in the middle of Ohio’s Amish Country, however, forces me to place it a bit lower in the ranking than it probably deserves.

Heini’s Cheese Chalet makes 50-plus varieties of cheese, and all are available to sample in the cheese room. If you like cheese, this just might be your nirvana. Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Baby Swiss - all of the old favorites are available here. So are some (surprisingly tasty) oddities, such as fudge-y “chocolate,” “cherry,” and “blueberry cheesecake” varieties. Needless to say, this is a popular tourist attraction, and on weekends half-hour lines have been known to form outside the sample room.

If all that free cheese leaves you with a taste for something sweeter, head toward the bakery across the way. At least forty varieties of cookies, brownies and cakes are available there for your unlimited sampling pleasure. There are also several types of bread available, for you purists. With such abundance, you can afford to pick and choose your free snacks.

• Heini’s Cheese Chalet Website

7. Hartville Marketplace and Flea Market

Once again, a place I’d rate much higher if not for its singular and largely inaccessible location. What is it with Ohio and first-rate free snacks? This Marketplace in Northern Stark County is home to 200 vendors year round, selling everything from personalized Christian CDs for children to antiques to weight loss snake oil. Naturally, it’s also home to some of the best “country” specialties the region has to offer. On any given day, freebies might include flavored coffee, bowls of flavored pork rinds and soy-crisps, and multitudes of crackers with every salsa, jam or dip you might imagine.

For the full experience, though, visit during the summer, when the marketplace explodes outward into a 1,000-vendor “flea market.” The free snacking opportunities increase, too. Be on the lookout for plentiful samples of cookies, fudge, kettle corn and - what else? - fresh summer fruit.

• Hartville Marketplace and Flea Market Website

6. Bristol Farms

Bristol Farms, a chain of 16 upscale markets in California, is probably the chain I’d rank highest were it not so geographically limited. No matter your current snack craving, it’s likely Bristol Farms can fulfill it - all for the low, low price of nothing! I’m not exaggerating by stating that it’s possible to snack your way through a gourmet meal here.

To give you an example, a recent visit to my neighborhood Bristol Farms yielded squares of whole grain bread with cashew butter and apricot jam, strawberry lemonade, large pieces of zesty Italian sausage, almonds, four types of cheese, three types of muffin, and complimentary coffee to top off the feast. This is typical. A perfect snacking destination - spectacular food, something for everyone, and not a penny spent. Now, if only the company would expand eastward….

• Bristol Farms Website

5. Fresh & Easy

A division of U.K.-based Tesco Markets, Fresh & Easy opened its first U.S. stores in November 2007 - and have already opened 76 total stores in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada, with plans for at least 500 more in other areas.

On the free snacking front, Fresh & Easy ranks highly due to its dependability - enter any location at any time on any day, and there will be between two and five free snacks as well as two free drinks at the “sample kitchen” area in the store’s rear. Look for one of these gems, coming soon to a neighborhood near you!

• Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Markets

4. Trader Joe’s

Trader Joe’s earns high marks for both dependability and convenience. Sure, they can only be counted on to have one or two free snacks (in addition to fabulous free coffee), but they will always have at least that. Oh yeah… and Trader Joe’s is virtually everywhere.

• Trader Joe’s Website

3. Panera Bread

Another place that’s both dependable with the free snacks and ubiquitous, Panera is known for its ever-present display of artisan bread samples. Usually, there’s a cookie or pastry sample to be found, as well. I’d place Panera in a similar class to Trader Joe’s, but it wins by a slight margin. There are Paneras even where there are no Trader Joe’s - even at Midwest rest-stops alongside the freeway - and there’s a slightly larger variety of (larger-sized) freebies.

• Panera Bread Website

2. Whole Foods

With almost as much free-snacking yield as Bristol Farms and locations in most major U.S. cities, Whole Foods is an all-around winner in the free snacking arena. From fresh fruit to freshly-ground peanut butter, organic potato chips and cheese cubes to bakery sweets, Whole Foods can be counted on about 75% of the time to meet your snacking needs and provide you with much-needed shopping fuel. Whole Foods can be flaky now and again, though. Some locations which normally offer plenty of free snacks will turn out to have none from time to time. This occasional moodiness prevents WF from assuming my number-one spot. That honor goes to drumroll…

• Whole Foods Markets Website

1. Costco

“Welcome to Costco. I love you.” The line from “Idiocracy” seems to associate the big-box retailer with the dumbing-down of the average American consumer. However, in many ways, Costco does show love to those who shell out $40.00 to become members… especially where free snacks are concerned. On any given day, at least five samples are dependably available… and on the weekends, this often expands to fifteen or more. For this reason, it’s actually very smart to shop (or “shop” as the case may be) at Costco.

• Costco Wholesale Website

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So, in conclusion… no matter where you live, there are likely ample free snacks to be found nearby. Get out there and have some fun in your quest!

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