Friday, January 8, 2010

Servings Per Container

I was in Target and browsing through the frozen food section to see if there was anything on sale or anything that caught my eye.  I hadn't had a chicken pot pie since I was a kid and it seemed like the kind of comfort food I could get into, so I picked one up.  - Now, I'm not the healthiest guy alive, but I try to take care of myself. I go to the gym regularly and I eat my fruits and vegetables. I don't count calories, but I try to keep track of what I put into my body.  - So, as I'm getting ready to throw the pot pie into the oven I quickly browse the nutrition information on the back of the box.  I am not naive enough to think something made of cream soup and pie crust is gonna be healthy, so I wasn't too shocked to see the calorie content around 500.  I was, however, SHOCKED when I realized that it was 500+ calories per serving.  Why was I shocked?  Because according to Marie Calendar, who produced this frozen pot pie, there were 2 servings in the box.  Excuse me? 
SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW YOU DIVIDE A CHICKEN POT PIE INTO MULTIPLE SERVINGS.  It's not like a pizza pie that you can cut into slices.  If I cut a pot pie into 2 servings the filling is gonna run all over the place.  And once it's cooked you can't refrigerate the half you don't eat and reheat it later (it will turn to mush).. Marie Calendar knows this.  I know it's a marketing ploy so the average consumer won't notice they are about to indulge in a 1000 calorie meal, but its nonsense. 
It's one thing for Entenmanns to say a serving size is 3 cookies knowing full well the average person is gonna eat more than that, but it's a whole nother to be asked to cut the cookie in 2.

Needless to say, this caloric mess is still in my freezer, just waiting until I'm desperate enough.

I guess the moral here is that everyone should pay attention to what they buy and what they put in their bodies.  'Cause the manufacturers won't.

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