I decided that I needed to set up an experiment. I needed to find out for sure if the big bags of M&Ms actually taste better. So I did what any normal person would do and headed to the store. I bought one (12.6 oz) large bag of M&Ms and five (1.69 oz) small bags of M&Ms. I took out two cereal bowls and labeled one #1 and the other #2. Then I had my daughter pour an even amount of M&Ms from the small bags and the large bag into each bowl. She then wrote down which bowl had the small bag M&MS and which bowl had the large bag M&Ms. She then hid the paper so I wouldn’t know which M&Ms were in which bowl. I wanted to be in no way influenced and I wanted to do a double blind study (hello college statistics FINALLY coming into play in real life).
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Then we set out around our neighborhood and asked our friends what they thought. “Please take an M&M from each bowl and tell us which is better.” Most of the people thought we were doing this for a school project for Reagan. “Uh, nope! Just for her nerdy mom.” What we found out was VERY interesting and significant.
We ended up asking 27 people their opinion (actually more than that but some people said they could tell no difference). These are the results:
18 people preferred bowl #1
9 people preferred bowl #2
So 50% more people preferred bowl #1.
And guess what was in bowl #1??? M&Ms from the large bag!!! I feel so validated.
P.S. Make sure to join in all the foodie fun on Instagram where you get to see behind the scenes at my awesome, life-altering experiments!
I have found that the milk chocolate M&Ms from the large 38 (used to be 42) oz bags are not as good as those in the smaller ~10 oz bags. Also, those in the larger bags lacked uniformity – several non-round and often cracked candies in the bag. So, what you are referring to as the “large” bags (10 oz) are the best tasting!
I have been saying the same for years! The bigger bags of both peanut and plain M&Ms taste much fresher and have a better chocolate taste than the smaller bags. The exception I found is the single serve bags at Halloween are really good. I think the bags that sit at the checkout are stale and old and the little bags are fresher because they are put out for Halloween. Don’t know why the larger bags are tastier but they def are!
Good take Lisa!
Absolutely agree that the big bags are best! Where can I get BIG M&Ms?
I complained to MARS that some were stale and they sent me a coupon.
I don’t think they make the BIG one’s anymore. Sad!
I found your post because I just looked to see if any M&Ms had been recalled. These are from the small bags and they taste awful. I wondered if they might have been tampered with. They taste soapy or perfumey or somehow like some chemical. Every tenth one, perhaps, tastes good but I’ve been hoping I’m not going to get sick or die from eating them. Now I’m pulling them out of the gorp I made and putting them in the compost. Your theory seems plausible and I really hope the company hears about it.
Oh shoot! That sounds gross! Sorry you got stuck with a bad batch.
This is an interesting subject. My wife and I have this conversation about the peanut variety. Our conclusion, however, is the opposite. We have been buying the big plastic container of M&M’s from Costco for a few weeks now. A few days ago, one of the local grocery stores had a sale on the Party size that we just couldn’t pass up. We were shocked at how much better the flavor was! The color was better, and the candy was much more uniform in shape and size, too. Why? I have no idea. Considering how well-sealed the Costco container is, “freshness” should not be an issue. I am very curious now about why we all feel different size packages taste different. The investigation continues…
Wow! So interesting! I now need to go directly to Costco and then to another grocery store and see for myself. 😉
In addition, to being less than uniform they don’t have an “M” stamped on them. I find that very strange.
Excellent work. I always pick out the peanut M & M’s from the trail mix package first. They are way better than the “shareable” size. The small bags say shareable and they are not. I think the Mars company would be interested in your work. Your voices must be heard.
100%!
Ok, I love what you did. Bravo! The problem that brought me here is the big square plastic containers of peanut m&ms from costco. I suspect that these are quality control seconds. Why? Sometimes they have a high number of ones without peanuts; sometimes they taste slightly burnt; and, worst of all, sometimes they taste less chocolatey! But no one talks about this. Can you investigate? PS This is based on years of observation, but I’m not telling you how many tubs… what a woman eats in the middle of the night during a pandemic is her own business.
LOL!!!!!! I haven’t bought those enough! I must start an investigation immediately. My dad eats them so much. Maybe I will ask him his thoughts on this important matter.
“IF” they last long enough to put in container, eating out of glass jar, is best tasting by far!!!
Good idea!
I just ate about a pint of pastel Easter M&M’s from the bigger bag while enjoying both them and this most worthy news feed. I was wondering as I ate, exactly WHAT makes M&M’s taste so good, and here I find people like me, who bother to ponder the small delicacies of life. Is it the perfect saltiness? Or the sweetness of the shell complementing the bitterness of the chocolate, despite the milkiness of it. I do believe the color definitely seems to effect the pleasure of the discriminating palate and emotional tie. I do not care for the brown ones. Yet, these pastels are to die for! I would like to see some scientific results on the different colors vs taste, and have also heard if you press 2 together that the green ones are the weakest, breaking first. There are many more mysteries to solve here.
Haha Jeanelle, this is so great.
I so agree with you that the pastel M&Ms are better!!!
Awesome post. I too wondered whether anyone else tasted the difference. And found your e periment!
I am sorry to carp, !- but in order to qualify as doubleblind, study, didn’t your daughter have to not know which was which? Your daughter being the scientist in charge.
Anyhow, thank you for saving me the trouble and VERIFYING that what I’ve believed for years is true: The m&ms from the big bags taste way better.
Lol! yes not totally scientific but it gave me confidence that I’m not the only one who noticed this!
I hate to throw a damper on this, but before you publish this as your doctoral dissertation, you need to clean up the math. 18 is 100% more than 9, not 50%.
lol…I was not a math major obviously
I’m from the UK and my search for answers brought me here. I actually prefer the taste of the smaller bags! They have a stronger scent of chocolate also that is unmistakable within the small ones! Maybe a UK thing. Either way, I’m glad it’s not only me who notices the difference!
Interesting! maybe in the UK it’s different.
I had to laugh at this post, very cute. So….. just send your small M&M bags to me! I’m NOT picky!!!!! Hahahahahahahahaah
Jane, will do!!!
It’s 7:28 am and I just finished a big bag….. They do taste better I’m assuming due to the air tightness of plastic vs paper. But after I was done I actually googled why they taste better and here I am.
Lol 7:28 am! Classic.
Yes!!! I agree completely. That’s how I found this site. I was searching for a reason why the red/green holiday M&Ms are better than the small M&M bags. They’re also better than the M&Ms in a box that you get at the movie theater. For me it’s actually to the point where I don’t like the small bag version. They don’t taste very good. I always suspected it and now I feel validated as well. Thank you!
Now when people say I’m crazy I’ll just point them here.
It’s so true Jeff. I don’t like the small bag versions either.
Recently Costco and Sam’s Club both carry only the squarish hard clear plastic tubs of M&Ms and I think they are the worst. I’ve always thought the small bags taste best, probably because the portion size is controlled and I finish the bag wanting more, whereas with the large bag I eat them until I’m sick!
That is true. Portion control is hard.
I actually experienced this yesterday when I bought a mini-jar of M&Ms, a special packaged type you can buy in certain theaters. I usually hate M&Ms because they taste like poor chocolate and rat poison. However, the M&Ms in this jar tasted special, like how I always imagined an M&M should taste.It was creamy, the shell was thicker, and the candies were noticeably fatter in size.
I thought I was onto some conspiracy and actually did a google search to see if other people experienced this too. It seems I’m not the only one! Seriously I have HATED the normal ones since I was a kid, I only bought these one because there was nothing better, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Thanks for sharing your story! I LOVE the mini m&ms in the little canisters. They taste great!
Big-bag peanut M&Ms are sooooo much better than the fun-size ones! I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed. I’ll try to pawn off these fun-size bags on the unsuspecting neighborhood kids….
LOL!
I thought this was just me! I always check the best before date because I thought it was the difference. I noticed it mostly when I go to the movie theater- clearly I pay a premium to buy those but they are ALWAYS so good!
Good idea to check the date! I hadn’t thought of that 🙂
I have always thought the bigger bags had a better taste. Especially the ones from “Dollar General Store!”
ANSWER ME KAREN
How do you ask exactly 27 people about m&ms? I think you are forging evidence, I think you are being paid by MARS chocolate so that more and more people buy bigger bags of m&ms so they can pay their top genetic engineers to make plants that grow m&ms and produce them thousands by the minute. We need to fund our local m&m farmers in candy business.
I’m not sure on m&ms but we akways say that the seasonal oreos are better than the regular oreos.
Always*
Interesting!
My daughter and I did I blind test to see if Evian water really tastes better. (It does)
I agree about the m&ms but the ones from the [email protected] store in Las Vegas are the best if all.
I need to head to Vegas apparently!!
Lol. I ended up here because we just got some from the NYC stir and wondered why they were SO much better!!
LOL! It’s a thing. I’m glad you found this page.
I don’t have enough experience with comparing M&Ms to comment, but did just have some tonight from a share-size package, and this sounds plausable–but i have long noticed the snack-size Reece’s Cups 100% of the time are dry and stale in appearance and texture when compared to the twin and four cup versions, which are smooth and creamy. The difference is very marked and has been for over two decades! I’ll have to involve my daughter Reagan in a similar experiment 🙂
Thanks for your observation!!!! I love it. I want to know how your experiment turns out 🙂
What?! I ended up here because I did a search on this very thing. I compared a small bag of the caramel M&Ms (best thing ever) with the big bag. Yes, stale is the word I would use to describe the M&Ms in the small bag. Makes me so happy to know I’m not alone in my thinking. 🙂
Marcia, we are like soul mates.
OMG! You are my twin! I just told my daughter that I didn’t like the “Fun” size peanut m&m’s that I bought for Halloween. I thought that the candy coating was harder and didn’t have that softer feeling when you bit into it. I also thought that I would buy a larger bag from the grocery store and do EXACTLY what you did! I was planning to take it to work and ask my co-workers at lunch which ones they thought were the best. Then I thought, maybe there is another foodie out there who noticed the difference and write about it….so I stumbled on your blog!
Thanks for doing this little experiment! I feel validated!!!!
Oh my gosh!!! How awesome that we found each other. Now we can be friends for life!!!
My daughter and I noticed the difference with peanut m&ms. We got so much teasing from the rest of the family that we did the same experiment a few months ago. We made sure expiration dates were the same on all bags. The m&ms in the large bags were preferred two-thirds of the time. The other third consisted of people with no preference. No one preferred small bag over big. We also noticed that some big bags have varying numbers of dots along the crimped edge of the package. The packages with no dots taste better. In our rural area, there is only one store that sells big bags with no dots. Lol. I found your post when I did a search to find out what the dots mean. No luck yet . . . but glad to know there are others who noticed the m&m difference.
Lisa, thanks so much for letting me know! I love that you were so observant about the expiration dates and the dots on the packages. You and I need to get together!! Ha ha 🙂 Let me know if you ever figure out about the dots!
I have done a blind taste test of real m & m” vs the fake ones found in bags of trail mix. Everyone could tell the difference and preferred real m & m”. The fake ones taste waxy.
those one’s in the trail mix bag are the worst!!
haha!
I totally agree with you. I was just eating a small bag, and thought to myself, wow, these don’t taste nearly as good as the ones from the big bag in my fridge. Great post!
So glad I’m not the only one!! Haha!!
Hi Karen. Thank you so much for your post. I actually found your blog searching “why do the big bag of m&ms taste better than the small bag?” I actually hadn’t had any in years and then a few weeks ago went to the movies and bought a big bag for 7.50 (yeah highway robbery). They were so good. Some even spilled in my purse and I still ate them (I’m ashamed but not really)…After I finished those I have had a craving since. I have gotten about 5 small bags from a convince store and the vending machine at work and none match the quality of my big bag from the movies…The only difference between my experience and yours is that mine were the peanut m&ms each time. The ones from the movies actually were larger. Strange….
Didn’t mean to put convince…I guess my blood sugar is dropping.
I love this! Thanks for sharing, Lisa!!!
Would have been helpful to know how many people noticed no difference. Also, buying m&ms that have the same expiration dates regardless of packaging would have been a great control. I have a fresh individual bag of m&ms that was delivered within the last 8 days & is “best before” 11 months from now and they taste better than the large bags i usually buy in my opinion. When I worked in a drug store I sold way more large bags of m&ms than individual ones because the large ones were often on sale, meaning we generally ran out of large bags before small ones. So that could be part of why you find the large bags fresher; ergo better.
good point! I’ll have to do the experiment again 🙂
Totally makes sense! And don't forget the coconut m&m's. 🙂
Dorinda, thanks for the reminder! Those things are awesome 🙂 I think they should make caramel M&MS!
I know that Hershey has started making some of their chocolate in Mexico a few years ago. Now I do not know if M & M's are a Hershey product, but I do know their Hershey candy bars taste different in the different sizes. Maybe the M & M's are made at different factories? I think the kisses also taste different in the different size bags. I was positive when I started reading this post, the big bag would win. It is the only size I buy, unless some of the smaller bags are left over after Halloween and then am forced to eat them so they do not go to waste. But they do go to waist after all. Good post.
Linda, M&MS is part of Mars I think. But good suggestion! I think you should use the leftover halloween M&MS in cookies. They taste much better like that than plain 🙂
Karen – you are awesome. I love your experiment. I need to conduct some chocolate experiments in NH. Maybe several. You know, just so people are informed. It'll be torture, but a woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do…
Allie, I think you will definitely need to do several rounds of testing. It is very important!
But, I did enjoy your findings….
Karen, this old 78 year old man thinks that you need to find something benefitial to keep your time occupied…..LOL
WHAT?!? You don't think this is beneficial? Ha ha!
Simple. The small packages are bagged up and live in grocery warehouses FOREVER before they are sold. Also, the bags have more paper content, and do not hold in moisture. The large bags have more elasticity (plastic) content and hold moisture, and turn over quicker in the stores. (The hubs was in the grocery warehouse biz). You'd be amazed at how long some grocery items live in a warehouse before they are EVER shipped to individual stores.
Clare, you've totally pinpointed it! This makes so much sense to me 🙂
Thanks for the insights! I will make sure to tell my friend !
I honestly LOVE that you did this, took the time, did the double blind study – seriously. SO fun and definitely rewarding to know you were right all along 🙂 Now I know I should only ever buy M & M's in the large bag. Also your friend's sign in her kitchen is AWESOME.
Ha ha Amelia! Do you think I have too much time on my hands 🙂
I love her sign too!
Thank you for your informative post, quite helpful! 🙂
If you really want a great M&M experience, look for BIG M&Ms in the future. We were given a small bag when leaving 6 flags. Yummy. I think they are about the size of a quarter.
Those are so good! I bought a huge bag at Costco once 🙂
I really love this and your reasoning.
Thanks! I really probably thought about this a little too much 🙂
Wow! I've never really paid attention to that. I think an experiment is in order. For the good of the people, you know. 😉
Wow! I've never really paid attention to that. I think an experiment is in order. For the good of the people, you know. 😉
Well of course it is, Lori!