Iced Tea Frustrations!
 

Sorry, but I'm gonna rant here for a few . . .

I don't know about you guys, but I end up eating on the run more than I'd like. I think I've mostly found good ways to adapt though, as I'm pretty well-versed on what I can safely have at each restaurant we frequent (and we are eating out much, much less than we used to).

One of the things that ends up disappointing me a lot is iced tea. I do drink a lot of water, so when I get tea I consider it a treat. Um, when I can get it that is . . .

I get so annoyed whenever I'm at a restaurant and there is no plain, unsweetened iced tea available. I don't want/can't have the raspberry iced tea or any other kind of pre-sweetened tea! It's really frustrating when water is the only option available to me.

And say I'm hitting a drive-thru. They often only have bottled water or only offer tap-water in teeny little plastic cups. Or say I'm going to the theater where no outside drinks are allowed. I've actually asked them to charge me for a large soda but have them fill it up with ice and tap water so I can have something substantial to drink (they don't always have bottled water).

Hypothetically speaking, anyone having to watch their sugar intake (including diabetics) have very few choices. I suppose water is the best anyway, but it's frustrating that they expect those with issues to settle for little more than diet soda or sometimes "light" lemonade (neither of which I can have because I have a severe reaction to aspartame).

I suppose all I really need to do is take a bottle of water with me wherever I go (I do want to pick up one of those fancy aluminum ones!) or my own tea or whatever but I just wanted to vent about it. It would just be really nice if more places had more options to those being conscious over their calories or sugar.

*agreed*

I LOVE unsweetened iced tea :)

I drink a lot of water when I'm out. You can also usually ask for lemon/lime. I haven't really had an issue with unsweetened iced tea but I am picky in that I only want fresh brewed. Some restaurants will use a mix so I ask before I order.

I don't think I've ever been anywhere that had only sweetened tea and no plain iced tea. :shrug: I find unsweetened iced tea to be ubiquitous in all types of restaurants, from fast food to nice restaurants. The quality, however, isn't always so great. When that's the case, I just add lots of lemon juice - often the plain water isn't any tastier.

But it is amazing how hard it is to eat restaurant or convenience foods without sugar. And once develop a taste for very lightly sweetened desserts,well, that's that - very lightly sweetened cake or cookies or pie or ice cream or whatever is almost nonexistent. Actually, that's kind of helpful :dizzy:

I really don't encounter the sugar thing myself in foods when I eat out and desserts are a rarity (and usually planned for specifically).

My husband is on a business trip and it interesting to hear how he is navigating the food world. He told me last night he got a weird look from a waitress because the restaurant they were at had no vegetarian dishes so they would 'see what they could do'.

I keep several different kinds of sugar free flavored sticks of crystal light or even the kool aid kind in my purse so I can mix it into my water for something different. They have a tea flavored kind to if that's your thing. But I don't really like instant tea.
And as far as the movie theaters go, I know its against the rules and I don't really care, but I bring in my own diet bottled soda or drink in my purse.
:D

I thought *everybody* did :dizzy:

For iced tea at restaurants ask for a hot tea and a large cup of ice. After your tea has steeped, pour over ice Seriously-this works and everyone has hot tea and ice cubes.

I also always bring my own water or beverage in my water bottle to the movies-sorry, but I'm not paying 4 bucks for the absolute cheapest bottles water the theatre can find. Maybe if it was fancy water but not for pepsi's brand. And I don't feel bad. If the movies wants to make a food profit off me, they need to sell something besides sweaty hot dogs, artificially flavored popcorn and sugar water.

We go to the movies maybe once a year, although it depends. It has been over a year since we've last gone.

Sometimes I will bring a water bottle but other times I will buy a diet soda. The reason being is we don't go very often and I don't have drink soda very often. My husband and I can split the soda as well.

I never was into eating something while watching the movies though. Always kind of seemed odd to me to eat popcorn or candy while watching a movie at a movie theater. The real funny movie theaters are the ones that'll serve you entire meals which is a novelty to go once or twice but I also found that strange.

Honestly, I don't think it should be legal for venues to bar bringing your own food.

I totally understand where your coming from .. what if you buy the packets of sugar free kool aid, ice tea or crystal light and add them to the water at the restaurant that's what i do i always make sure to have a few in my purse or grab a few before leaving the house .. i dont know where your from but at walmart you can get a box of 12 i believe for $1.97


** i see someone already mentioned this .. lol this is what i get for not reading other peoples responses before i respond ..

I don't know if it's a regional thing or not but all restaurants and most fast food joints around here offer unsweetened tea - but as someone above said, quality definitely varies source to source.

In regards to the movies, I have forgone regular movie theaters altogether. I only go to the drive-in where I see two new release movies for $6 a person AND they allow your own food. We'll take a cooler with water, tea, diet soda's, salads (lettuce, chicken etc) hummas you name it.

I got tired of going to a movie and either feeling like a criminal smuggling things across the border or feeling like I'm being robbed by $5 sodas.

I think there is 1 drive-in in my state. I looked it up a while back because I remembered going to the drive-in when I was young. Anyway, they actually have a 'food charge' of $5 or so if you bring in your own food. It looks like the tickets to get in are cheap though. Since it is about 90 minutes from me, my chances of going are slim :)

I am going to be going to a broadway show in a few weeks and was looking at what the restrictions are there and they are basically the same. No outside drinks/food. I will probably bring a bottle of water anyway because NY prices are $$$.

I really don't mind the restriction of no outside food/water although not entirely enforceable. It also somewhat prevents people from bringing in super noisy stuff. I once went to the movies and a guy had brought in some fast food stuff wtih a bunch of wrappers. A lot of noise was made from wrapping/unwrapping food

Overall, I figure it is up to you whether you go or not, no one is forcing you to go.

Ooh, the hot tea with the cup of ice sounds like a good idea! :D

We were running in a pinch late the other night, and ran through the drive-thru at Taco Bell (I got a plain bean burrito). No plain tea there, only sweetened. So I asked for bottled water. I got this teeny little thing that wasn't even cold! I'd have been better off paying for a large cup and substituting tap water for the soda. And I suppose I could always carry little baggies of instant tea with me, lol.

It's been a while since I've checked labels, but last I looked I wasn't able to use the flavored "sticks" of crystal light or kool-aid since they contain aspartame. I pretty much stay away from artificially-sweetened products because of it (I'm hoping to see more products sweetened with stevia soon actually) and check my labels carefully if I do.

Heh heh, I used to be the master of sneaking drinks and snacks into the theater. Luckily we do have a drive-in here that allows you to bring your own stuff but we haven't checked it out yet.

OT, but this post brought up some funny memories. I used to travel with another technician throughout the US installing phone systems and we'd sometimes run into communities that didn't have unsweet ice tea, a concept that was completely foreign to us as we could order that anywhere in our home state. Some places would even get a little annoyed about us trying to order hot tea and ice so we started having me order pot of hot tea and he asked for 2 glasses of "mostly ice" water, which somehow didn't set off the same reaction.

Thanks for the memory.