Watch any diet/healthy eating show and they talk a lot about portion size. I had an M&S butter chicken curry tonight. It costs £4 and comes in what people would commonly believe is a single potion size. I do actually only eat half at a time, mainly because I have it with naan bread, but can easily see why someone would eat one on its own. Yet look on the back and it says, in small print, “portions 2”.
DS has been eating a lot of tinned soup lately rather than more calorific lunches as he is trying to lose weight. But again look on the back and 1 tin is apparently 2 portions. So why don’t they sell it in half tin sizes? You get half tins of beans, spaghetti etc so why not soup.
Many, many other foods are sold in portions of 2, sometimes even 3 or 4. But it’s not clear unless you go looking for it.
If we want to tackle the obesity crisis then why doesn’t it say in big letters on the front “x amount of portions” rather than bury it in small print on the back? Yes you could argue that people should look and inform themselves but realistically, until a person is already overweight, most won’t bother.
While I don’t disagree that people need to take personal responsibility I do think that the way things are packaged and sold has had an influence and that highlighting to people what a single portion is could go some way to making a difference.