I eat no meat. At least deliberately. I learned to check labels after I latched onto a bargain brand of plain yogurt and read that the manufacturer used gelatin as a stabilizer.
Even that episode didn't dissuade me from bargain brands, but perhaps today's experience -- added to yesterday's -- will finally persuade me that there must be a better way to get a dollar's worth of value for every dollar spent than to stick to the same brands.
Yesterday was vegetarian lasagna day at our house. It's a family favorite. Spinach is a primary ingredient. I opened a can of Popeye's brand and poured out the liquid to save for dog food. And poured. And poured some more. Once drained, I checked the can. There was less than a half a can of actual spinach left in the can.
Today it was garbanzo beans, yogurt, and garlic for lunch. I decided to measure the contents by weight. The can promised a serving of 15.5 ounces.
I used a food scale to measure ...
- 4.5 ounces of liquid
- 9 ounces of garbanzos
- 2 ounces of imagination
Apparently water provides a better profit margin than spinach. Or garbanzo beans. It's nothing new, of course. I can remember following a debate thirty or forty years ago regarding the meat packing industry's desire to sell ham with a 10% moisture content. In their attempt to sell ten hams for every nine they processed, those meat packers were ahead of the curve.
I only wish their grandchildren had stuck with the meat industry. They apparently became vegetarians and now peddle spinach and beans.
