I've told you before. I was never very good at math!
My late brother was a math professor. He got all the
brains for math in our family.
I was so bad in the subject that one teacher made me
retake a test because I got a good mark! For some still
unknown reason I had studied for that particular test!
Now there's the "new math." I don't understand it
either. But I'm wondering if it is responsible for my
ice cream mystery?!
My wife and I bought some ice cream the other day
and we each had a little. Tonight we had a little more.
And now, the package is empty!
The container we bought looked pretty much like
the half gallon we used to buy. Same brand. Same
flavor. Same colored photo on the container.
But something was different.
And, apparently, it's the math!
Since I didn't trust myself I checked the web. According
to the figures there are 4 quarts in a gallon. I'm pretty
sure that would mean there are 2 quarts in a half gallon.
But, according to the figures on my package there
were only 1.5 quarts in my container and, unless I'm
failing another math quiz, that's less than a half gallon!
I'm guessing the company made the container
smaller so the price would look about the same as it
did when you were buying the old half gallon
container! It still looks close enough to the old half gallon
package to fool most of us. Especially if we're looking
at the pictured scoops of ice cream instead of reading the
label!
My search also uncovered one company that's
advertising the fact it still sells it's ice cream in full
half gallon containers. Unfortunately the company is
in Texas and that's a long way to go for an extra half
quart!
Guess I could buy two of the 1.5 quart containers which,
let's see....would give me 3 quarts. Then I'd have my half
gallon and some left over. Hey...this math stuff isn't as
hard as I thought!
Hope you've got some ice cream in the freezer and
that all your NEWS is good!
Ah, you missed the intermediate step where a "half gallon" of ice cream was 1.75 quarts. Eventually supermarkets took down their "half gallon" signs, and then sizes shrank to 1.5 quarts. It's an effort to keep prices at the level consumers are willing to spend. It's the same reason the "Weekender"-sized bag of Middleswarth chips is now 10 ounces, which I think used to be a "small" bag of chips. It was 11 ounces last year, and 12 the year before that. I think when it was first introduced it was at least 14 ounces, just under the size of the "Pounder."
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side, you don't have to feel as bad about finishing a carton of ice cream or bag of potato chips!