Minor things that bother you

[Scott5114]

When a multi-serving pack of some sort of food item only contains nutrition information on the outer box, and not on the individual serving containers. This means in order to be able to consult the information, I either need to keep the box around (meaning the empty space is going to take up room in my extremely stupid cabinets), cut the nutrition facts out of the box and keep it vaguely around the food item, or do something like Sharpie the most relevant figures on each container. ("Look it up on the phone" isn't an option because when I go downstairs to decide what to eat, I normally don't remember to bring the phone downstairs with me, and food manufacturers vary on how easily-accessed nutrition information is online.)

You mean people actually pay attention to that noise?

I would enjoy being less fat someday, so from time to time I tally up the calorie and protein numbers of what I eat to see where I can get the most bang for the buck in terms of protein vs. calories.

I might have to start paying attention to the sodium numbers at some point since my dad nearly died of heart failure last week, and apparently his sodium intake had something to do with it.

Shocking stuff, I know.

[TheCatalyst31]

When a multi-serving pack of some sort of food item only contains nutrition information on the outer box, and not on the individual serving containers. This means in order to be able to consult the information, I either need to keep the box around (meaning the empty space is going to take up room in my extremely stupid cabinets), cut the nutrition facts out of the box and keep it vaguely around the food item, or do something like Sharpie the most relevant figures on each container. ("Look it up on the phone" isn't an option because when I go downstairs to decide what to eat, I normally don't remember to bring the phone downstairs with me, and food manufacturers vary on how easily-accessed nutrition information is online.)

On a related note, nutrition facts that list serving sizes that are way smaller than a realistic serving to look healthier. I don't want to be tricked into thinking a snack is healthy before I notice the calorie count is for like two little pieces.

[SSOWorld]

When a multi-serving pack of some sort of food item only contains nutrition information on the outer box, and not on the individual serving containers. This means in order to be able to consult the information, I either need to keep the box around (meaning the empty space is going to take up room in my extremely stupid cabinets), cut the nutrition facts out of the box and keep it vaguely around the food item, or do something like Sharpie the most relevant figures on each container. ("Look it up on the phone" isn't an option because when I go downstairs to decide what to eat, I normally don't remember to bring the phone downstairs with me, and food manufacturers vary on how easily-accessed nutrition information is online.)

On a related note, nutrition facts that list serving sizes that are way smaller than a realistic serving to look healthier. I don't want to be tricked into thinking a snack is healthy before I notice the calorie count is for like two little pieces.

the serving sizes are reasonable. Eating habits are not, nor are the sizes of servings that restaurants offer here in the USA.

[Rothman]

When a multi-serving pack of some sort of food item only contains nutrition information on the outer box, and not on the individual serving containers. This means in order to be able to consult the information, I either need to keep the box around (meaning the empty space is going to take up room in my extremely stupid cabinets), cut the nutrition facts out of the box and keep it vaguely around the food item, or do something like Sharpie the most relevant figures on each container. ("Look it up on the phone" isn't an option because when I go downstairs to decide what to eat, I normally don't remember to bring the phone downstairs with me, and food manufacturers vary on how easily-accessed nutrition information is online.)

On a related note, nutrition facts that list serving sizes that are way smaller than a realistic serving to look healthier. I don't want to be tricked into thinking a snack is healthy before I notice the calorie count is for like two little pieces.

the serving sizes are reasonable. Eating habits are not, nor are the sizes of servings that restaurants offer here in the USA.

Meh.  Depends on the food.  The chocolate covered cashews I buy has a serving size of 9 cashews.  I scoffed at that until I discovered it is a decent handful.

Breakfsst cereals, on the other hand, are ridiculously small.  Anyone that eats it regularly for breakfast will put more than those sizes in a reasonably-sized bowl.

Potato/tortilla chips -- all over the map.

[formulanone]

When a multi-serving pack of some sort of food item only contains nutrition information on the outer box, and not on the individual serving containers. This means in order to be able to consult the information, I either need to keep the box around (meaning the empty space is going to take up room in my extremely stupid cabinets), cut the nutrition facts out of the box and keep it vaguely around the food item, or do something like Sharpie the most relevant figures on each container. ("Look it up on the phone" isn't an option because when I go downstairs to decide what to eat, I normally don't remember to bring the phone downstairs with me, and food manufacturers vary on how easily-accessed nutrition information is online.)

On a related note, nutrition facts that list serving sizes that are way smaller than a realistic serving to look healthier. I don't want to be tricked into thinking a snack is healthy before I notice the calorie count is for like two little pieces.

the serving sizes are reasonable. Eating habits are not, nor are the sizes of servings that restaurants offer here in the USA.

Meh.  Depends on the food.  The chocolate covered cashews I buy has a serving size of 9 cashews.  I scoffed at that until I discovered it is a decent handful.

Breakfsst cereals, on the other hand, are ridiculously small.  Anyone that eats it regularly for breakfast will put more than those sizes in a reasonably-sized bowl.

Potato/tortilla chips -- all over the map.

It's amazing how the cereal packaging has typically specified one ounce as the serving size for at least forty years. We had a tiny food scale back when my parents were watching calories (it was the 80s) and I was amazed how small that portion size was; I was usually going for 3-4 ounces, more if it was a Saturday morning (ibid). On the other hand, I definitely didn't need a multivitamin on those days.

[kphoger]

the serving sizes are reasonable.

I just checked the nutrition information for a can of Kroger brand tomato condensed soup.  One serving size is 17% of the can.  Are you telling me that ≈ one-sixth of a can of soup is a "reasonable" serving size?

One slice of bread and one slice of cheese:  that's more reasonable than two of each?

The serving size for Kroger brand Canola oil cooking spray is one-third of a second.  The serving size for Pam Ultimate spray is one-fourth of a second.  That is not reasonable.

[GaryV]

The serving size for Kroger brand Canola oil cooking spray is one-third of a second.  The serving size for Pam Ultimate spray is one-fourth of a second.  That is not reasonable.

If you spray it for a couple of seconds, that 6 or 8 servings of spray will likely be distributed among 6-8 servings of the food. I wouldn't count this as being as unreasonable as some of the others that were listed.

[kphoger]

If you spray it for a couple of seconds, that 6 or 8 servings of spray will likely be distributed among 6-8 servings of the food.

Good point!

(Unless, of course, you're using it to fry an egg in a skillet.)

[thenetwork]

When a multi-serving pack of some sort of food item only contains nutrition information on the outer box, and not on the individual serving containers. This means in order to be able to consult the information, I either need to keep the box around (meaning the empty space is going to take up room in my extremely stupid cabinets), cut the nutrition facts out of the box and keep it vaguely around the food item, or do something like Sharpie the most relevant figures on each container. ("Look it up on the phone" isn't an option because when I go downstairs to decide what to eat, I normally don't remember to bring the phone downstairs with me, and food manufacturers vary on how easily-accessed nutrition information is online.)

On a related note, nutrition facts that list serving sizes that are way smaller than a realistic serving to look healthier. I don't want to be tricked into thinking a snack is healthy before I notice the calorie count is for like two little pieces.

the serving sizes are reasonable. Eating habits are not, nor are the sizes of servings that restaurants offer here in the USA.

Meh.  Depends on the food.  The chocolate covered cashews I buy has a serving size of 9 cashews.  I scoffed at that until I discovered it is a decent handful.

Breakfsst cereals, on the other hand, are ridiculously small.  Anyone that eats it regularly for breakfast will put more than those sizes in a reasonably-sized bowl.

Potato/tortilla chips -- all over the map.

It's amazing how the cereal packaging has typically specified one ounce as the serving size for at least forty years. We had a tiny food scale back when my parents were watching calories (it was the 80s) and I was amazed how small that portion size was; I was usually going for 3-4 ounces, more if it was a Saturday morning (ibid). On the other hand, I definitely didn't need a multivitamin on those days.

The cereal people could be assuming that their product is part of (as they used to say Saturday Mornings to kids) a "Complete Breakfast", comprised of Eggs, Toast, Juice, Milk, and Super Sugar Crisp.

[Max Rockatansky]

When a multi-serving pack of some sort of food item only contains nutrition information on the outer box, and not on the individual serving containers. This means in order to be able to consult the information, I either need to keep the box around (meaning the empty space is going to take up room in my extremely stupid cabinets), cut the nutrition facts out of the box and keep it vaguely around the food item, or do something like Sharpie the most relevant figures on each container. ("Look it up on the phone" isn't an option because when I go downstairs to decide what to eat, I normally don't remember to bring the phone downstairs with me, and food manufacturers vary on how easily-accessed nutrition information is online.)

On a related note, nutrition facts that list serving sizes that are way smaller than a realistic serving to look healthier. I don't want to be tricked into thinking a snack is healthy before I notice the calorie count is for like two little pieces.

the serving sizes are reasonable. Eating habits are not, nor are the sizes of servings that restaurants offer here in the USA.

Meh.  Depends on the food.  The chocolate covered cashews I buy has a serving size of 9 cashews.  I scoffed at that until I discovered it is a decent handful.

Breakfsst cereals, on the other hand, are ridiculously small.  Anyone that eats it regularly for breakfast will put more than those sizes in a reasonably-sized bowl.

Potato/tortilla chips -- all over the map.

It's amazing how the cereal packaging has typically specified one ounce as the serving size for at least forty years. We had a tiny food scale back when my parents were watching calories (it was the 80s) and I was amazed how small that portion size was; I was usually going for 3-4 ounces, more if it was a Saturday morning (ibid). On the other hand, I definitely didn't need a multivitamin on those days.

The cereal people could be assuming that their product is part of (as they used to say Saturday Mornings to kids) a "Complete Breakfast", comprised of Eggs, Toast, Juice, Milk, and Super Sugar Crisp.

Back when I was a kind that "complete breakfast" plate in commercials was comprised of an incomprehensible large amount of food.

[GaryV]

The city didn't inform us that they had hired a private contractor to trim the tree between the sidewalk and street in front of our house. Or if they did inform us, it was in a newsletter with a description of the program but no specific timing.

It would have been a huge major thing if we had left a car on the street and gone out somewhere. We watched - branches were falling all over the parking area in the street.

[Scott5114]

One slice of bread and one slice of cheese:  that's more reasonable than two of each?

At least doing it by the slice makes it easy to calculate the correct amount, since those foodstuffs can be used for many things (I might apply butter to a single slice of bread and have that as part of a larger meal, so if the serving size assumes I'm making a sandwich and quotes it for two slices, I have to halve the given figure).

[kphoger]

One slice of bread and one slice of cheese:  that's more reasonable than two of each?

At least doing it by the slice makes it easy to calculate the correct amount, since those foodstuffs can be used for many things (I might apply butter to a single slice of bread and have that as part of a larger meal, so if the serving size assumes I'm making a sandwich and quotes it for two slices, I have to halve the given figure).

The bolded portion is probably the correct answer.

However, I now notice this:

By law, serving sizes must be based on the amount of food people typically consume ...

Which brings me to reword my previous question:

I just checked the nutrition information for a can of Kroger brand tomato condensed soup.  One serving size is 17% of the can.  Are you telling me that ≈ one-sixth of a can of soup is a "reasonable" serving size?

Am I to believe that a typical person consumes 17% of a can of condensed soup?

[vdeane]

One slice of bread and one slice of cheese:  that's more reasonable than two of each?

At least doing it by the slice makes it easy to calculate the correct amount, since those foodstuffs can be used for many things (I might apply butter to a single slice of bread and have that as part of a larger meal, so if the serving size assumes I'm making a sandwich and quotes it for two slices, I have to halve the given figure).

The bolded portion is probably the correct answer.

However, I now notice this:

By law, serving sizes must be based on the amount of food people typically consume ...

Which brings me to reword my previous question:

I just checked the nutrition information for a can of Kroger brand tomato condensed soup.  One serving size is 17% of the can.  Are you telling me that ≈ one-sixth of a can of soup is a "reasonable" serving size?

Am I to believe that a typical person consumes 17% of a can of condensed soup?

I've even seen single-person beverage bottles with a serving size of less than the bottle size.  I'm especially not sure what the point of that was, since the one I remember had the nutrition information posted twice, side by side - left for per "serving", right for per bottle!

[jeffandnicole]

One slice of bread and one slice of cheese:  that's more reasonable than two of each?

At least doing it by the slice makes it easy to calculate the correct amount, since those foodstuffs can be used for many things (I might apply butter to a single slice of bread and have that as part of a larger meal, so if the serving size assumes I'm making a sandwich and quotes it for two slices, I have to halve the given figure).

The bolded portion is probably the correct answer.

However, I now notice this:

By law, serving sizes must be based on the amount of food people typically consume ...

Which brings me to reword my previous question:

I just checked the nutrition information for a can of Kroger brand tomato condensed soup.  One serving size is 17% of the can.  Are you telling me that ≈ one-sixth of a can of soup is a "reasonable" serving size?

Am I to believe that a typical person consumes 17% of a can of condensed soup?

I've even seen single-person beverage bottles with a serving size of less than the bottle size.  I'm especially not sure what the point of that was, since the one I remember had the nutrition information posted twice, side by side - left for per "serving", right for per bottle!

I believe a serving size is typically 8 ounces.  But it's well known that most people will drink a bottle of a beverage themselves.  I think it was an agreement with the soda companies that stated they would display both the normal serving size, and the contents of the entire bottle.

[cockroachking]

Since I have two seltzer bottles sitting next to me:

• 20oz Wellsley Farms - Serving Size 20oz
• 33.8oz Adirondack - Serving Size 12oz

If the contents of both are the same (water and bubbles), why are the serving sizes different? Puzzling...

[webny99]

Another entry:

• When the person mixing drinks at Dunkin' doesn't even understand their own menu. Dunkin' Refreshers are supposed to be half green tea, half fruit juice. But the fruit juice is highly concentrated, so they have a menu option for "less concentrate", which is my preferred mix because it brings out the tea flavor while still being mildly fruity, with less calories and a lot less sweetness. But about half the time when I choose "less concentrate", the person making it presumably misunderstands what "less concentrate" means and makes it with ~1/4 tea, ~3/4 juice instead. Not only does that completely overpower the tea, it swings the mixture so far the other way that the sweetness makes it almost undrinkable. Yet to try and explain all that nuance to an employee - quite possibly the one who made it wrong in the first place - and get it remade is doomed from the start, so one is stuck either (a) wasting $3 on a plain green tea to mix in, or (b) taking baby sips of fruit-flavored syrup all afternoon.

[wanderer2575]

When a multi-serving pack of some sort of food item only contains nutrition information on the outer box, and not on the individual serving containers. This means in order to be able to consult the information, I either need to keep the box around (meaning the empty space is going to take up room in my extremely stupid cabinets), cut the nutrition facts out of the box and keep it vaguely around the food item, or do something like Sharpie the most relevant figures on each container. ("Look it up on the phone" isn't an option because when I go downstairs to decide what to eat, I normally don't remember to bring the phone downstairs with me, and food manufacturers vary on how easily-accessed nutrition information is online.)

On a related note, nutrition facts that list serving sizes that are way smaller than a realistic serving to look healthier. I don't want to be tricked into thinking a snack is healthy before I notice the calorie count is for like two little pieces.

the serving sizes are reasonable. Eating habits are not, nor are the sizes of servings that restaurants offer here in the USA.

Seen everywhere:

"According to this box of mac 'n cheese, I'm a family of four."

[TheCatalyst31]

When a multi-serving pack of some sort of food item only contains nutrition information on the outer box, and not on the individual serving containers. This means in order to be able to consult the information, I either need to keep the box around (meaning the empty space is going to take up room in my extremely stupid cabinets), cut the nutrition facts out of the box and keep it vaguely around the food item, or do something like Sharpie the most relevant figures on each container. ("Look it up on the phone" isn't an option because when I go downstairs to decide what to eat, I normally don't remember to bring the phone downstairs with me, and food manufacturers vary on how easily-accessed nutrition information is online.)

On a related note, nutrition facts that list serving sizes that are way smaller than a realistic serving to look healthier. I don't want to be tricked into thinking a snack is healthy before I notice the calorie count is for like two little pieces.

the serving sizes are reasonable. Eating habits are not, nor are the sizes of servings that restaurants offer here in the USA.

Meh.  Depends on the food.  The chocolate covered cashews I buy has a serving size of 9 cashews.  I scoffed at that until I discovered it is a decent handful.

Breakfsst cereals, on the other hand, are ridiculously small.  Anyone that eats it regularly for breakfast will put more than those sizes in a reasonably-sized bowl.

Potato/tortilla chips -- all over the map.

It's amazing how the cereal packaging has typically specified one ounce as the serving size for at least forty years. We had a tiny food scale back when my parents were watching calories (it was the 80s) and I was amazed how small that portion size was; I was usually going for 3-4 ounces, more if it was a Saturday morning (ibid). On the other hand, I definitely didn't need a multivitamin on those days.

The cereal people could be assuming that their product is part of (as they used to say Saturday Mornings to kids) a "Complete Breakfast", comprised of Eggs, Toast, Juice, Milk, and Super Sugar Crisp.

Back when I was a kind that "complete breakfast" plate in commercials was comprised of an incomprehensible large amount of food.

[kkt]

Was it about 5-10 years ago that nutrition labels started having a column for the entire container as well as for one serving?  Less strain on the consumer's arithmetic skills.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

When you go to a specific webpage from Google, then you get force prompted to sign in to an account and then signing in redirects you to the website home page. 

[kphoger]

When you go to a specific webpage from Google, then you get force prompted to sign in to an account and then signing in redirects you to the website home page. 

When Google's description includes the exact phrase you were searching for but, when you click the link, the page it takes you to does not include that phrase at all.

[Rothman]

When I'm on an elevator going down and the elevator stops at a floor with someone who hit both buttons since they thought that would speed their trip going up.  And then, they act surprised that the elevator still goes down...

[thenetwork]

When I'm on an elevator going down and the elevator stops at a floor with someone who hit both buttons since they thought that would speed their trip going up.  And then, they act surprised that the elevator still goes down...

Or you get on the elevator at the ground floor, the doors are almost fully closed when someone hits the call button outside...

The doors open again, and the person asks you, "Is this elevator going up"?

Even worse if the elevator only goes between two levels, and the person still asks if it is going up or down...

[wanderer2575]

When I'm on an elevator going down and the elevator stops at a floor with someone who hit both buttons since they thought that would speed their trip going up.  And then, they act surprised that the elevator still goes down...

Or you get on the elevator at the ground floor, the doors are almost fully closed when someone hits the call button outside...

Even worse when that someone decides the elevator is too full and says "I'll take the next one" but doesn't wait for the doors to fully close before hitting the call button.