Supermarket Shell Game: You Pay the Same, They Give You Less

So does that box of cereal seem a little slimmer, that can of tuna a little lighter? Does it feel like you just bought that jar of peanut butter that you're now scraping the bottom of?

Well, at least you can take comfort in the fact that you're not going crazy. As the New York Times reports, we can say so long to the era of "supersizing": Meet the incredible shrinking carton of ice cream.

No doubt you've heard that the cost of, well, just about everything is going up. But what you may have only had an inkling of until now is that one sneaky way food makers are passing those costs onto you is not to raise prices; it's to get you to shell out the same amount for just a little bit less in return.
The list goes on and on: pasta, canned vegetables, crackers, candy. Where once you could get a 64-oz. jug of Tropicana orange juice, now you have to settle for 59 oz. Bags of Doritos and Fritos today contain 20 percent fewer chips than they did two years ago.

Now, this isn't an entirely new. We've all heard from our grandparents how much bubblegum you could get back in the day for a nickel.

But what is new is how manufacturers are trying to trick customers into thinking that these dwindling portions are a good thing: good for you; good for the planet. They're touting their smaller packages as eco-friendly (because they use less raw materials) and advertising them as "healthier" (while neglecting to trumpet the fact that the only reason they're healthier is because they're forcing you to eat less).

And then there's this gem from Kraft. It's promoting its new "Fresh Stacks" packaging for its Premium saltines and Honey Maid graham crackers. Each sleeve contains 15 percent fewer crackers for the same price.

"The packaging format offers the benefit of added freshness," a Kraft spokesman told the Times.

Yeah, "fresh" is one word for it

Is There Hope for Hospital Food?

Photo: Mike Groll / AP Photo

Who wants to eat in a hospital? We're guessing most of you would rather head for a school cafeteria or an airline, if given the option. Anyone who's ever found themselves in a hospital bed quickly discovers that medical centers and rehabilitation facilities aren't exactly the best places in town to nab nutritious grub. To be fair, hospital kitchens are dealing with the pickiest stomachs on earth because of an endless variety of dietary restrictions. It's enough to make even the most skilled chef quiver. Enter Lynne Eddy, instructor for Food Service Management in Health Care, a first-of-its-kind course at the Culinary Institute of America.

"We're dealing with medications, chewing problems...we could talk for eons about it," says Eddy. She comes to the CIA as a registered dietitian with 25 years' experience in the industry, and this month, she'll send off her first batch of graduates equipped to serve as entry-level managers in health care facilities.
"When I started to look at where the demographics are going, I just think it's a wonderful career option for our students to consider," she says.

Offered in the second semester of senior year, the course welcomes students in the final leg of their bachelor's degree in either Culinary Arts or Baking and Pastry Arts who already have courses in nutrition and management under their belts. In Eddy's class, students are exposed to medical terminology, hospital budgets and health care politics. Over the 15-week period, students hear from guest speakers along every stop on the cafeteria line -- from executive chefs working on doctor-recommended menu development to a representative from one of the largest manufacturers of those ubiquitous orange trays.

The classes also take field trips to nearby facilities in the Hudson Valley, where CIA calls home, and a medical center in New York City to actually get face time with potential clientele, from healthy seniors in assisted living condos to cancer patients in large hospitals. At the third-week mark, students take on mentorships at an assigned facility, and at the end of the class, they present a report on the pros and cons of the operation.

It may take a while for that slab of gray meat and soggy vegetables to disappear, but here's to a program that's building a future where food for the sick ... doesn't make us sick.

New Shakes, Slurpees, and Frappes Take a Walk on the Weird Side

 

photos: 7-Eleven; Arby's; Dunkin Donuts

Love the jolt of a good old Mountain Dew? Then you're going to flip for the new very yellow, very slushy Dunkin' Donuts' Mountain Dew Coolatta, coming in May.

But before you plan a summer-long date with a poolside Dew-latta, you might want to check out USA Today's round-up of the other new (and slightly weird) spring and summer frozen drinks, from fruity Slushees to lemonade chillers.

Oreo cookie fans, heads up: The Sonic Double Stuf Oreo Blast (also being introduced in May) is made with ice cream that's made with the cookie's cream filling. No twisting apart your chocolatey outsides anymore to get to the middle. We're in.

Get all the details at USA Toda