Reducing Packaging instead of Food

12 years ago

I was thinking of this while feeding the cats.

We all know we're getting ripped off in the amount of food in packaging, and are being charged at least the same amount of money, and most often more. More money for less food.

Manufacturers have trimmed costs by making little changes to the package itself that doesn't hurt the food. Some are good, some not so much........I hate the flimsy plastic bottles. They don't keep their shape even when fill. I also find it difficult to open the shallow caps on water bottles. I seldom drink bottled water, so that isn't a big issue. But this little thing has saved the company millions.

I buy Whiskas pate food in a small square container as a treat for the kids. It comes in a small white tray, with an aluminum cover that you peel to open it. It also comes with a clear cover to store it in the frig. I don't have any leftovers, it gets used up among the 3 cats.

But when I bought a case of it at Costco, I noticed that there were only 4 plastic lids, one for each flavour. Brilliant!!! Instead of having each container (24) with their own clear cover, there is just one for each flavour that you re-use. The plastic is very sturdy, so re-using isn't a problem.

I wish the manufacturers/companies would keep on working on ways to save money thru packaging, and leave our food quantity alone.

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Comments (11)

marie_ndcal
12 years ago
I agree, and we should let the manufacturers know what we like and don't like. Many times shopping I just don't take the time to look to see how much I am really getting, especially since I moved and don't cook much any more. But it stills effects all of us.
lisa_fla
12 years ago
DH bought a gallon of Zepyrhills last week while we were on vacation. I noticed a big concave underneath-yep it wasn't a gallon after all they shrunk it.
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User
12 years ago
I've noticed that canned goods are often dented on the shelf because the metals are flimsier.

We love Bluebell ice cream. It's yummy! I sometimes pay a little extra because they have kept the half gallon size.

I've wondered if we would be better going to back to reusable packaging like milk and soft drink glass bottles. Stores would sell in bulk, but you bring your own containers for packaging and measure items by weight or volume. You'd get the amount you need and there would be less waste being tossed into the landfill.
socks
12 years ago
I like your ideas, adellabedella. It seems to me that Amazon is one of the biggest offenders when it comes to overpackaging with the shipping materials. Almost always a cardboard box with one item inside cushioned with air pillows even if it's not a breakable item.
Jasdip
Original Author
12 years ago
Hey Socks, I was thinking that yesterday!!!!!
I ordered a mattress topper and it came in a heavy-duty bedding bag of course, but also in a large cardboard box. I wasn't expecting the box!
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
12 years ago
A lot of grocery stores have gone the route of having items out in bulk containers and you scoop out the amount you want into a bag or container. Sprouts is like that, they have lots and lots of stuff in the large bulk bins. I like that because I can get just the amount I want. But then there is the element of how many grubby hands have been in this bin.
dorothy_oahu
12 years ago
I hate to see little kids reaching in those bins to help themselves. Too many parents not watching them.

I like yellow banana pepper rings. They used to pack them in tightly but now they are just floating loosely in the jar.
User
12 years ago
I'm thinking more in terms of bulk that is gravity fed. Milk or other liquids would be coming out of a spigot like you get if you bring in your own bottles for water. You would just be reusing your own container. Things like butter could be parceled out by automation or a person into your container. You would just bring in your reusable containers you already have instead of something that would be thrown away after it was used up.
joyfulguy
12 years ago
Cookies were a pound - 454 grams. Then it was 350 ... then 300 ... and recently some have been 284 grams.

Yogurt was 175 grams per tub, with a number in a cardboard sleeve. Then it was 150, then 125, then 112, now almost all are 100 grams per tub, that are sold in the sleeves.

I called the 800 number a while ago, to complain about them having discontinued the 175 gram ones, and he said that they were still available, that I could still buy them ... and I said, yes, but I have to buy them individually, at a higher price ... no longer in the sleeves.

I can buy a tub of about 650 grams (slightly under a pound and a half) on sale for $2.00, and a sleeve of a dozen 100 gram ones, on sale at $3.00 (a few cents under, in each situation).

How come, buying 3 of the $2.00 650 gram ones, I get 1,950 grams of goods ... but buy 2 sleeves of 12 of the 100 gram ones for 2,400 grams, at a cost of $6.00?

I plan to take about a dozen stacks of the empty 100 gram ones, 12 high ... and 18 of the larger tubs, which telescope down inside one another when empty, to make a stack not much more than double (maybe three times) the height of one tub, to the store for a discussion with the manager.

When one considers the extra cost of making all of those little tubs, of packing them in cartons to ship to the dairy, the hauling, then filling them and putting them into sleeves before putting into other cartons, then hauling to the store ... how come I get 2400 grams of stuff in the little ones at the same price as 1,950 grams of the same stuff in the big tubs?

Ice cream, used to be 2 litres (just under a half gallon) per package ... then it was 1.75 ... then 1.66, recently some have put it out in 1.5 litre tubs.

One company still produces their ice cream in the original size ... and they're the almost only kind that I buy. I've found that sometimes, even when the price per litre is lower in the smaller tubs ... I have passed them by.

BUT ... I haven't told the store people about that choice yet ... and think that I should.

You can take those shrinking-sized packages and stick them ....!

ole joyfuelled ... (with some help from yogurt ... and ice cream and cookies, on occasion)

P.S. But just think ... what a considerate benefit the suppliers are giving us, in helping us with our dieting ... in helping us use most of our fuel to manage our systems, so that a higher proportion of it goes to getting our work and play done ... and less to fat!

What's that you say - that the servings that we dig out of the packages are the same size ... that it's just that we get to the bottom of the package sooner?

Oh, rats!

o j
ont_gal
12 years ago
has anyone purchased the Vachon chocolate 1/2 moon cakes lately?

If not,you're in for quite a surprise-bought some here last week for lunches-couldnt believe what was NOT in the package-they aren't even 1/2 the size that they used to be

What about Olay handsoap? Same thing there-same sized packaging,but the bars have shrunk-considerably.
A good lot of what I purchase is always in bulk-either a bulk food store,or bulk in large quantities in grocery store-have to-there is no other way to make ends meet anymore
talley_sue_nyc
12 years ago
The thing w/ the Amazon boxes is that it's roughly the same money (and uses the same gas) to ship a larger box as a smaller one, as long as the *weight* is the same. Which is what those air pillows do.

But they standardize on sizes, and fill w/ air pillows, because that makes it faster to get stuff out the door. I don't really have any complaint about their shipping.

And the cardboard boxes can often be reused or recycled.

Reducing Packaging instead of Food

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