Silly Serving Sizes
It’s Feasting Season! The leftovers from Thanksgiving are finally all gone. So now it is time for the Christmas/Holiday parties with family, co-workers, fellow volunteers, church members, etc. Followed immediately by Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year’s and all the family gatherings that means.
Even with the current restrictions, there will still be gatherings – maybe smaller, maybe restricted to our bubbles within those groups. But, Hey, it’s the Holidays!
So we turn to preparing the feasts. But if we hew to the recommended serving sizes for many (all?) of the foods we have, it will not be much of a feast.
A block of havarti cheese, less than 8 ounces, says that a serving is 1 ounce. The block of cheese is no bigger than a deck of cards. One eighth of that might grace two crackers.
Speaking of crackers, a recommended serving of a very popular cracker is 5 crackers. Well, that is more crackers than cheese, I guess.
Speaking of a deck of cards, the recommended serving size for steak is 4 ounces or about the size of a deck of cards. I live in Texas, if I served a steak the size of a deck of cards there would be an insurrection!
My jar of salad dressing says that a recommended serving is 2 tablespoons. My salad will be naked.
An 18 ounce can of chunky soup says that a serving is 1 cup. That is just half a can.
A regular size can of cream of chicken soup, 10 ounces, says one serving is one-half cup. That is two and a half servings per this little can.
A 1 pound 2 ounce box of cereal says that a recommended serving is one cup. If you want a bowl of cereal you should only put one cup of cereal in it. Why not just use a cup?
A 44 ounce jug of ketchup says that a single serving is 1 tablespoon. One! About 0.6 ounce. How many french fries can you dip in that?
A jug of maple syrup says the single serving is ? of a cup. That’s not much. But maybe it is enough for the recommended serving size for pancakes since a box of pancake mix says that the recommended serving is just ? cup! Maybe two pancakes, smeared (not drizzled) with syrup. Yum?
I could go on. But I suppose you will now run to your own pantry to look in horror at the suggested serving sizes for your own stock.