One very enjoyable stop when we're in Vermont is Goodies Snack Bar in Addison, VT. For a buck we can get a freakin' huge creemee (that's Vermont for soft-serve ice cream). One time I made the mistake of getting a medium hard-pack ice cream cone. The thing had well over a pint of ice cream on it. Almost too much, even for me.
In contrast, you've heard of the Grocery Shrink Ray, right? That sneaky profit-seeking weapon that deftly pulls a fast one on unsuspecting grocery shoppers by reducing the standard package size of everything from ice cream to orange juice to peanut butter to salad?
The standard “half-gallon” of ice cream is now actually a quart and a half — fully 25% less than a real half-gallon. I even saw one ice cream manufacturer — **COUGH-COUGH** Breyer's **CAAOOOUUGH!!** — boldly advertising on their packing that their “half-gallon” contained two extra scoops which brought their “half-gallon” of ice cream up to 1.75 quarts. Woo. Hoo.
But, to be fair, we still bought Breyer's ice cream because the ingredient list was among the shortest, and most natural, out there. That, and most of the ice cream manufacturers had already shot their packages with the Grocery Shrink Ray not once, but twice — first to bring their half-gallons down to 1.75 quarts, and then again to bring it to a tiny 1.5 quarts.
Recently, though, we've had to switch to another brand — the Walmart Great Value brand, actually! — because Breyer's changed the ingredient list on their lactose-free vanilla ice cream. It was no longer ice cream, but a “frozen dairy dessert” with a number of not-so-natural stuff that gives my wife a massive headache when she eats them.
Food manufacturers play with not only the sizes and packaging of their products. They also play with the ingredients. It's best to assume that the ingredients of your favorite foods can change at any time.
Reading labels is second nature for my wife (because she did the bulk of the work when our daughter had a long list of food allergies) but not for me. I'll check if something has eggs in it, which is our daughter's only remaining big allergy, but that's noted at the end of the ingredient list. I generally don't check the rest of the label, but after getting surprised a few times, I'll have to start doing this too.
If your wife is lactose intolerant I suggest she try using Digestive Advantage Lactose Defense Formula. It’s a once a day supplement(pill) that allows you to eat regular dairy products all day long. Using it has totally changed life for my husband and our daughter. Now they don’t have to worry about what is in every food they consume, which is especially nice when dining out or eating other peoples food. I buy it at Amazon, using Subscribe and Save, but you can also buy it at Wal-Mart, Safeway, drug stores, etc.
Thanks KD; that’s good to know. I’ve also heard about breaking up a pill of Lactaid in milk, but obviously that only works for milk, not ice cream.
Unfortunately, I have heard that it only works for a percentage of those affected, so it is hardly a miracle pill. Worth checking out nonetheless if you or your friends have such problems!