Most people rely on intuition to decide what to count as a “single” serving of meals or snacks.
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But, as many have learned, it is not necessarily the best approach.
Some are surprised that the Velveeta Mac & Cheese box contains five servings. Crumbl Cookies are intended to be eaten in a quarter, and frozen pizza is probably in six servings.
Well, you’d expect at least one burrito to be equal to one serving, but it seems that’s not the case.
Reddit user U/Brumblest found this the hard way when he bought a frozen burrito at a gas station.
His posts on subreddit r/tiktokringewith 2,300 upboats and over 650 comments, calling for just how unrealistic some food labels are.
What was wrong?
“I’m at work and trying to get this bomb burrito hot,” he begins.
Looking at the label, it seems like a reasonable choice for u/brumblest.
“270 calories – that’s pretty good for a burrito, right?” he says. But then he takes a closer look at the label.
“And I look a little closer and there are three servings per container.”
He said, “Who? [expletive] Warm your bomb burrito and become gas station food.
The instructions are meaningless
Burrito serving size is not the only issue with U/Brumblet.
The instructions believe that the buyer will completely defeat the Reddit poster’s purpose of getting a frozen meal.
“who [expletive] The foresight about the bomb burrito says, “Hmm, let me thaw this in the fridge. Do you need this burrito tomorrow?” he asks.
For him, this is not food preparation. It’s an emergency food. It’s cheap, quick and intended to get hot as soon as you’re hungry.
“Why do I need to thaw this burrito to follow your instructions?” he asks. “Please tell me how to cook from the freezer.”
By the end of the video, he’s tired of unnecessary steps and misleading calorie counts.
“The most useless package I’ve ever seen [expletive] life. Five out of seven,” he concludes.
Is his point true?
What u/brumblest says at video checkout. The beef “bomb” burrito, made by Don Miguel, is labeled as three servings per package.
One serving listed at 270 calories, and eating the whole thing gives you up to 810 calories at a time.
Consider Recommended daily intake It has around 2,200 calories in men and 1,800 calories in women, which can be considered high for most people at a single meal.
This also results in a maximum of 72% of the recommended daily sodium intake and 45% of the recommended daily fat intake, based on the Don Miguel Burrito Nutrition Facts panel.
In the comments section, users discussed whether misleading serving sizes are corporate tricks or an unfortunate by-product of labeling regulations.
One person pointed out the differences in food signing methods.
“I’m sorry to beat your Americans, but that’s exactly why we have a law that standardizes calorie content in the EU and has to give it to you at a 100g each time,” they write.
Another user pushed back, claiming that the FDA has regulations in place, but that some companies are finding ways around them.
“There’s a standardization set by the FDA. “Sizes are usually set according to how many companies they eat, like people who look like this, like people who make random gas station burritos.
Others said they weren’t surprised at all. “When he said he had 270 calories, I thought it was for three people,” one wrote. “Yeah, a lot of packages split it, so they don’t have to write a full # of calories, and they can split it and make it look lower than it actually is.. It gets weird sometimes.”
Daily Dot reached out to U/Brumblest via Reddit chat and Don Miguel via email.
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