Beware of the Protein Box!

Starbucks In the Morning

If you are like me, you end up rushing around in the morning trying to get to work on time.  Most days, I don't have time to fix breakfast for myself; even though, I find the time to feed my cat and four dogs. 

Lately, I have started stopping at Starbucks for more than just a hit of caffeine.  I found that they offer a great little breakfast box.  By fast food standards, it is probably the healthiest choice out there.  Their little Protein Box contains three apple slices, approximately 15 grapes, a small slice of cheese cut across making two triangle shaped pieces, a small piece of muesli bread, a hard boiled egg, and a small package of honey peanut butter - all of this abundance of food for just $4.95.

Despite the fact that the cost for this product seems excessive, I found that it did fill my need for a healthy breakfast so frequently went through the drive-thru on my way to work to purchased it along with my morning coffee.  Until a couple of weeks ago, I really enjoyed the Protein Box.  Ever since, I have been a little leery of buying one.  This is because, the box I purchased that day had rotten grapes and almost rotten apple slices.  

I used the drive-thru so didn't notice the rotten fruit until I got to my office.  I couldn't go back and exchange the box for a fresh one and given the condition of the fruit, I was afraid to eat the egg.  This left only the bread.  At $4.95 for approximately an ounce of bread, I think this may have been the most expensive piece of bread I have ever eaten!

In case you are wondering, I notified the store manager on my next visit but there wasn’t anything he could do as I had thrown out the box instead of bringing it back.  I then sent an e-mail to Starbucks' corporate office.  I did get an acknowledgement that the e-mail was received along with a note stating that due to volume, it would take some time before they got back with me if they could provide an answer to my inquiry.

If you decide to purchase a Starbucks Protein Box, make sure you not only check the sell by date but also look very closely at the contents.  The box I bought containing rotten fruit was within the sell by date so just checking that would not have prevented me from getting spoiled food.

I have so little time in a day to deal with such annoyances!