New Package Sizing

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CarolPa

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One of my pet peeves is when a manufacturer reduces the package size so they don't have to raise the price. I have been making Lasagne for years. I use 12 pieces of lasagne, 1 jar of pasta sauce, 14 oz of Ricotta and about 8 ox shredded mozarella. And browned ground meat, of course. I think they are making the lasagne noodles smaller. Thinner, actually. When I put them in the 13 X 9 pan that I have always used, there seems to be so much more space around the noodles. I know that most of the jars of pasta sauce have been reduced a few ounces, and in order to have enough sauce I have to add a small can of tomato sauce to it. I don't mind that too much because it's easy to fix, but the size of the lasagne noodles is annoying.

I'd like to add that I cook the noodles and cut them in thirds. I layer the pieces with the other ingredients, then when it bakes, the cheese melts down in the spaces between the noodles and it is automatically scored in portion size pieces and easier to remove from the pan.
 
I agree. Their credible shrinking tuna can is my favorite example. it has shrunk for 7 to 6.5 to6 to 5 .0 oz. If you consider that some of that weight is the oil or water you drain off, you're getting even less.
 
Yeah Andy,
The incredible shrinking tuna can is a prime example, although I think the Kirkland brand tuna at Costco may still be 7oz.
How about packaged sliced bacon? Use to be 16oz, now some brands have it in 12oz packs. And remember the half gallon container of ice cream? Now it's about 48oz:rolleyes:
 
Carol, that is a problem if you use the same pan all the time. Guess I haven't noticed since I use one or more various pans, depending on freezer space and desire for leftovers.

JohnL, my favorite brand of ice cream, having gone from 64 to 48 oz tubs, has also decreased in price from $4.50 or more to $3.59 or less (depends on the store). As a trade-off I am able to buy two cartons of different flavors, now having variety in the space I used to have one carton in. I don't mind that option.

Andy, isn't the tuna weight after being drained? I know that's how it goes with olives and other items. I did check the cans I have and there was no information other THAN weight.
 
I agree!

I also have a problem with recipes simply calling for a package, can or box of this or that. I have to guess at the amount based on the other ingredients and the age of the recipe.
 
Carol, that is a problem if you use the same pan all the time. Guess I haven't noticed since I use one or more various pans, depending on freezer space and desire for leftovers.

JohnL, my favorite brand of ice cream, having gone from 64 to 48 oz tubs, has also decreased in price from $4.50 or more to $3.59 or less (depends on the store). As a trade-off I am able to buy two cartons of different flavors, now having variety in the space I used to have one carton in. I don't mind that option.

Andy, isn't the tuna weight after being drained? I know that's how it goes with olives and other items. I did check the cans I have and there was no information other THAN weight.

But, a lot of brands have also cheapened the product. Many Edy's (Dreyer's) are "frozen dairy dessert" because they can no longer be called ice cream because of so much air whipped into them and not having enough cream. Breyer's is now doing the same exact thing (with certain flavors). So much for Breyer's being all natural with easy to understand ingredients, that only applies to a few of their offerings now.

Did you know that it can still be called ice cream even if it is 50% air? One thing that I know, I can eat a lot of commercial, grocery store ice cream, but give me Ben and Jerry's or another premium ice cream and I cannot eat as much, it's much richer and more filling. I could eat 1/2 a carton of Edy's in one sitting and not be stuffed, I can't finish a pint of premium stuff, maybe 1/2.
 
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Yeah, the most maddening part is how it will mess with recipes! There are times now where you have to buy 2 of something and only use part of the second one!
 

The point that article makes about store bought being better than name brand is true. I no longer let Charlie in my house because the quality was inferior. When I made tuna salad the other day I used two can: one Mermaid and one house brand (the one with cousins fighting right now, for those in the Boston market ;) ). Both were solid white albacore. The Mermaid's looked more like a chunk light...and it wasn't that "light". Needless to say, I'll be buying store brand when my stock runs down.
 
....Did you know that it can still be called ice cream even if it is 50% air? One thing that I know, I can eat a lot of commercial, grocery store ice cream, but give me Ben and Jerry's or another premium ice cream and I cannot eat as much, it's much richer and more filling. I could eat 1/2 a carton of Edy's in one sitting and not be stuffed, I can't finish a pint of premium stuff, maybe 1/2.

Just saw that on "America's Test Kitchen" (or, maybe, "Cook's Country"), except I thought they said more air was allowed. A LOT more. Anyway, they mentioned that B&J's has something like 8% overrun (air). I love the denseness of their ice cream but, usually, it seems too sugary too me. I don't want that much "sweet" in my ice cream.
 
But, a lot of brands have also cheapened the product. Many Edy's (Dreyer's) are "frozen dairy dessert" because they can no longer be called ice cream because of so much air whipped into them and not having enough cream. Breyer's is now doing the same exact thing (with certain flavors). So much for Breyer's being all natural with easy to understand ingredients, that only applies to a few of their offerings now.
This is one of the reasons I started making my own ice cream. Actually, what I make is closer to "ice milk". But regardless, it's extremely easy to do, and all about making it the way I want it. The taste of homemade ice cream is far superior to what a lot of the manufacturers market as "premium" offerings.
 
Yeah, this has been ongoing and is infuriating to no end. The latest outrage (to me at least) is hot dogs and sausages. Packages that always used to be 16 oz are now 14oz or even less. I checked out some rope kielbasa that was 13 oz in the package that used to be a pound. Same for hot dogs- the packages that used to be a pound are now 14 oz...even for the better brands (eg. Hebrew National and Nathan's).

Part and parcel to this chicanery is the serving size. A brand of brat that I like now has four in the package but it's considered 7 servings! Really, a serving is like 1.75 sausages. Presumably this is to obfuscate the actual nutritional information.

One last rant about the smaller packages being pawned off on the consumers is the trend towards cheapening the actual products themselves. One brand proudly proclaims on the package that the meat contains "NO FILLERS!" yet is loaded with water, corn sryup and soy! How are those not fillers? Plus, it's very hard to find hot dogs or polish sausages that don't display "carb creep". I try to eat pretty low carb, but beyond that, if a product is really meat it will have virtually no carbs in it. When you see a hot dog that has 6 grams of carbs per dog you can be sure there's a lot of something besides meat in them. Probably corn syrup and some derivative or corn.
 
I rarely use bacon, but when a recipe calls for it, I'm happy to be able to buy a smaller package because a larger pkg will just be thrown out. We don't eat it just as bacon.

My husband gets upset about the smaller ice cream cartons, but like Cooking Goddess said, the brand we like it lower priced and usually on sale for a 2fer.

Cooking Goddess, I always use a 13 X 9 pan for lasagne and it's an older pan because I don't want to use the same 13 X 9 pan that I use for cakes. I looked at my box of lasagne and it's still 16 oz, so I could be wrong, but it seems that it used to fill up the pan more.

Aunt Bea
, I agree with the recipes that don't specify oz of items. I collect cookbooks and a lot of the recipes are old one passed down through families. They refer to cans by "#10 can". What the heck is that? LOL Others say "add flour to make a soft dough." Give me an estimate of how much flour that is going to be! I remember asking my mother how much of something to use and she would reply "As much as you think you need." My husband's grandmother used to make delicious baked goods, but there was never a recipe written down and therefore, those foods are gone but not forgotten.
 
Yeah, this has been ongoing and is infuriating to no end. The latest outrage (to me at least) is hot dogs and sausages. Packages that always used to be 16 oz are now 14oz or even less. I checked out some rope kielbasa that was 13 oz in the package that used to be a pound. Same for hot dogs- the packages that used to be a pound are now 14 oz...even for the better brands (eg. Hebrew National and Nathan's).

Part and parcel to this chicanery is the serving size. A brand of brat that I like now has four in the package but it's considered 7 servings! Really, a serving is like 1.75 sausages. Presumably this is to obfuscate the actual nutritional information.

One last rant about the smaller packages being pawned off on the consumers is the trend towards cheapening the actual products themselves. One brand proudly proclaims on the package that the meat contains "NO FILLERS!" yet is loaded with water, corn sryup and soy! How are those not fillers? Plus, it's very hard to find hot dogs or polish sausages that don't display "carb creep". I try to eat pretty low carb, but beyond that, if a product is really meat it will have virtually no carbs in it. When you see a hot dog that has 6 grams of carbs per dog you can be sure there's a lot of something besides meat in them. Probably corn syrup and some derivative or corn.

A brand of sausages and hot dogs that I found at one of our local supermarkets has intensely good product. It isn't cheapened at all. But it is $7 per 1 pound package. The brand, if you can find it is Cher-Make, out of Wisconsin. Good stuff, but only purchased once in a while, as a splurge.

We have a Mom & Pop restaurant that could almost be considered historic. It's menu hasn't changed much since I first tasted my first submarine sandwich there 50 years back. The sub was simply made with cold cuts, black olives, onion, bell peppers, and American cheese. But for whatever reason, the taste was incredible. The subs aren't as good now as they used to be, back in the 60's and 70's. I asked the owner why that was. She told me that the recipe is unchanged, but that the same quality of ingredients is just not available anymore. I believe her.

We really don't live in a progressive society, unless that progression is toward mediocrity, or worse. There are prescious few of any product that is made better now, than it was 40 years ago, at least in my opinion.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
Rob, years back the big beef about hot dogs was that hot dogs came in packages of 10, but hot dog buns came in packages of 8. People complained about that for years. Now, most hot dogs come in pkgs of 8 since they reduced the ounces.

I don't pay much attention to the ingredients in hot dogs because I consider them not a very healthy food that should only be eaten occasionally, and I guess I don't want to read just how bad they really are. My grandson eats a lot of hot dogs. He likes them and it's an easy, convenient food to give a child. I try to encourage my DIL to buy the hot dogs that say they have no nitrates because the nitrates are known to be cancer causing. They are a lot more expensive that other hot dogs, but I think the safety of your child is worth it.

Chief Longwind
- I find that a lot of foods I used to love just don't taste as good as I remember back then. I thought it was just my tastes changing, but it could be the ingredients aren't as good. It's all about the dollar, and companies all try to lower the cost of their product without lowering the price to the consumer.
 
I heard that white albacore tuna contains more mercury than chunk light. I don't know how true that is. I always buy chunk light. I used to always buy StarKist but recently have been trying store brands to save a little money. Not a whole lot of difference.

My husband likes it packed in oil. Yuk! I use it to make tuna salad for him, and mine is made with water packed. He says the oil gives the tuna more flavor, but it's too greasy for me.
 
I heard that white albacore tuna contains more mercury than chunk light. I don't know how true that is. I always buy chunk light. I used to always buy StarKist but recently have been trying store brands to save a little money. Not a whole lot of difference.

My husband likes it packed in oil. Yuk! I use it to make tuna salad for him, and mine is made with water packed. He says the oil gives the tuna more flavor, but it's too greasy for me.

White Albacore tuna is more cnotaminated than is the skipjack, or other tuna varieties. It is on top of the food chain, along with swordfish, shark, etc. These fish, if eaten frequently has been known to cause serious central nervous system damage.

I read a report where a lady regularly ate seafood, such as albacore, and swordfish in an effort to make meals more healthy. She ended up in the hospital from it. I never buy white albacore tuna. DW prefer ed it. She's gotten used to chunk-light. She won't eat any other canned fish though, like mackerel, or salmon, both of which I enjoy. The other good thing about canned mackerel, is that it is not only low in contaminants, but high in omega 3 fatty acids, and calcium, not to mention protein. It makes great fish patties, and is also good prepared as you would tuna in tuna salad. It's good in casseroles too. The dark skin isn't pretty in preparations though. So it should be removed. Me, I don't mind it. But if I'm making that others are going to eat, I remove the skin. I like the soft crunch of the bones.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
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