Methods and apparatus are provided for increasing compliance with the discard volume method of blood drawing. The method includes attaching an initial discard container for discarding an initial amount of blood drawn to a standard blood culture bottle. The apparatus, detachable and configurable with a variety of standard blood culture containers, may act as a physical reminder and a convenient handling arrangement for drawing blood according to the preferred discard volume method that reduces sample contamination and false positives. These methods and apparatus may be compatible or retrofit with existing standard blood culture bottles or kits.