The US needs nationally mandated unit price labeling. We’ve had it in NY for as long as I can remember.
You’d be shocked at how often the middle size is the best deal. It’s almost always the case with cereal. The large box ends up more expensive than the medium per ounce, but people assume it’s the better deal because it’s a bigger package.
They’re still jerks about it in stores. To keep you from easily comparing products they’ll offer the unit price per oz for one box, then give you the unit price per lb for the other. So they make you do the math, and I’m sure plenty of people just skip that and buy the larger size.
Costco do this too, at least in my area in California. They price some canned drinks per fluid ounce, and others per can. Really annoying.
I used to see Walmart do it too, but I think they’ve gotten better.
They do this here in the UK too but because we use the metric system now you just add or take away a zero. It registers in your awareness but you don’t need to go away and install an app on your phone in order to convert it.
Unit price labeling is mandatory in France too. This is the only price I’m looking at when shopping.
France, doing the right thing
Producers always tout and advertise when they put more into the package, but fail to let us know when they reduce the contents
This is common sense
We recently had a local candy brand advertise that the packaging has gotten smaller, but still contained the same amount. So I guess that they over time had removed enough pieces, that the box started to look suspiciously empty, and they then shrank the box to make it look fuller
Brazil did this years ago. We see in the package “new weight, from X to Y, reduction of N%”. And nothing actually came out of it. Everyone does, we have to buy it, shit stays the same.
You don’t have to buy it though! None of the packaged products in a grocery store are necessities. You could live a very healthy lifestyle eating only the fresh stuff from the store!
it is my contention that you could eat any random items form the perimeter of the store and be healthier than anyone that buys items from the health food aisle.
Food is an ingredient, it shouldn’t have ingredients
Is a plate of spaghetti and meatballs not food?
did it come out of a box pre-made?
Being mega pedantic, pasta has ingredients.
But I understand your general point, you should be able to read the list of ingredients and understand what they all are right? Pasta being, flour, eggs, olive oil and salt is a much shorter list than whatever is in a microwave meal
pretty much.
it’s an oversimplification that works well enough. don’t get me started on flour though …
(I’m of the opinion that if it didn’t have parents it isn’t food either but that doesn’t need to be a conversation)
I always look at the price/kg. Makes no difference what size the packaging is, that price will always tell which one is the cheapest.
I do that all the time too, is especially good when I’m shopping for snacks like biscuits, of course I have to factor in calories but that part isn’t going well
Package price can still matter depending on how much you need of a product. Buying 10kg of rice when you need 500g is going to be more expensive than buying a smaller bag. Even if the price/kg is higher.
“This product used to be bigger for the same price.”
Dunce hat of the supermarket. Good.
Me paying my bananas 50c per unit when they’re different sizes 🫨
