AIBU to think that producers should have to declare a 'usable volume' on liquid products?

[Lougle]

DH complains that when he's serving soup, the container says it's, for example, 600g, but he puts 300g in the first bowl then there's only 260g for the other bowl.

Today I decided to push this as far as I could. Covent Garden Pumpkin soup. 560g. Now, it's a Tetra Pak, so tricky to get it all. I poured it out and shook it as much as I could. 520g. So I cut it open and used a spatula to scrape it all out. 553g

Technically, I suppose, we're close to 560g. But nobody who has this soup is going to do what I did and actually get 560g out of it.

I think producers should have to declare the usable mass under standard conditions (pour it out, perhaps give it a few shakes and a tap).

I don't think they should have to take account of the wastage that comes from pouring it into a pan and heating it, or what might get left behind in the bowl if you aren't a bread wiper. That would be silly.

But then, the other part of me thinks that producers don't have to account for the stalks on grapes, or the skin on onions... it's a minefield. I guess that's why we see people snapping the stalk off a broccoli before weighing it, which is probably why a lot of broccoli is wrapped in plastic these days.

Oh, I didn't add my evidence for consideration.

You find find it interesting to read about tolerances on measures for food products.

And also your home scales.

Thought I’d stumbled into Dull Men’s Club for a minute! This is the kind of pedantry I’m here for.

YANBU 😂

You could do what my Mum trained me to do, rinse out the carton with a splash of milk or water. We do this with cans, jars and cartons. That is WW2 rationing still affecting behaviour today.

I thought this was standard practice!

Splash of water. Close it back up as much as possible and shake/swish if not closed. Add the dregs to the main. The 20/30mls water evaporates as you heat whatever it is so doesn't compromise the product. No wastage. Plus you have to rinse before recycling anyway so kills 2 birds with 1 stone.

The variation is already indicated by the 'e' in front of the weight on the packaging. It's basically an average from what I remember from GCSE food tech many moons ago.

I agree OP.

What really gets me though is cleaning products, I can always feel some sloshing around as I get close to the bottom but it won’t spray out. Do they cut the straws too short on purpose so you can’t use it and have to rebuy quicker?

I think they should have to declare what volume the product was a year ago. I swear those used to be 600g.

Not bothered about this example; like others I'd rinse out the packet and add to the pan. But some cosmetics have terrible packaging where you waste lots.

It's not the variation that I'm complaining about. It's about the fact that you have to destroy the packaging to get the full amount out.

But @Talltreesbythelake has suggested a good compromise with adding a little water.

@PiggieWig I love Dull Men's Club. I should have added a banana for scale. My shoes are a size 6.

I thought you were going to be talking about things like little expensive bottles of foundation or moisturiser with a stupid pump thing or a lid you can’t take off. Those are annoying!
But I’m with a pp - I always add a bit of water to containers and swoosh / shake around to fully empty them out - partly so as not to waste it, but also to help the cleaning process of the container - all the glass jars have to be rinsed out anyway for the recycling and if it’s something that would be in the bin I don’t want smelly food residue in the bin either, so it all gets rinsed out one way or another. Might as well get to eat it!

Your husband weighs the bowls of soup when he’s serving them?! Does he have a medical need to do that or is he just extremely particular about portion size?

I'm more interested in how he knows how much is in each bowl?

How else would you know that everyone is getting the same amount? You can't have one person having ⅔ of the carton and the other having ⅓. It's the only logical way, surely.

I feel like I could just do it by eye. If it’s something like stew I just dole out 3 spoonfuls each.

well I can see if the bowls are equally full? I also count. so I'd pour for two seconds into each bowl then repeat etc so that you get a mix of the first pour and the end pour as that tends to contain more of the chunks of chicken

In most cases you can unscrew the top, pull off the straw and put it back on. If you turn the bottle upside down and spray you'll be able to use the rest of the product 😁

As for unusable last bits, I go between spending silly amounts of effort to get the last little bit of product to convincing myself the waste is less than the effort to access it!

I do this too!

If there is plenty (e.g. a homemade soup) then we just use a ladle. But cartons are so meagre anyway that it seems like accuracy matters. DH isn't good at judging portions. He would give everyone 4 potatoes and not take into account that some are huge and some are tiny. Size matters.

I’ve always used a little water to get the last out.

I am amazed at weighing soup, I do it by eye, no complaints

I also use the water trick to remove dregs from jars/cartons.

Agree with PP about makeup products with pumps, they’re the worst.

I always rinse the can or carton too

Creamy soups = rinse the tin/carton with milk
Stocky soups = rinse with a little bit of hot water from the kettle
I reserve my irritation on this topic for squeezy mayo bottles - totally impossible to get more than about 3/4 of the product as it’s too thick and you can’t get a spoon up the hole

Weighing hot substances can affect the calibration of the scales.

The Mitchum stick deoderant is my bugbear. Once you’ve used it as far as you can there’s about 7mm of product left so I’ve started melting the remains once I get 3 or 4 of them to save wastage 😂