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Nature Valley: 10 bars in 5 packs (lemmy.world)
submitted 6 months ago by ABasilPlant@lemmy.world to c/mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world
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I was in a rush and I needed to pick up a quick snack that I could eat during class. I chose these Nature Valley bars which said they had ten bars inside. What I failed to notice is the tiny print at the bottom where it says 5 x 2, i.e., 5 packets with two bars.

Lo and behold when I open a pack during a break, I find two bars inside. I didn't want to eat two bars, just one. You can't even just leave the other fucking bar inside because they create so MANY crumbs. How the fuck are you supposed to seal it???

Stupid-ass deceptive printing got the better of me. It's not the end of the world, just mildly infuriating.

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[-] stembolts@programming.dev 106 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I hate these bars, I have no idea how anyone tolerates eating it anywhere indoors.

[-] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 20 points 6 months ago

Honey Oats & GetTheVacuum

[-] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago

I have a buddy who prefers these over the chewy dipped versions and I can confirm he is a pyschopath

[-] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 6 months ago

The secret is to dip them in coffee or tea.

[-] DudeImMacGyver@sh.itjust.works 22 points 6 months ago

The secret is to not buy them if you ask me.

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

It's easy. Do what the other commenter said and break them before opening. They suggest in half, I prefer in thirds. Then after you eat the solid pieces you dump the crumbs into your mouth. If they made them less crumbly, I don't think they'd be as good.

[-] makyo@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Nah the secret is to push just enough out of the wrapper to have a bite and let the crumbs fall down into the wrapper, and repeat until you only have crumbs. Same with the second bar. Then just pour the crumbs into your mouth.

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Too risky. I'd rather have bite size pieces than try to catch the crumbs in the tiny wrapper

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 months ago

The easiest way to consume them is to wack them a couple times with your palm and then just pour the dust directly into your mouth.

[-] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 months ago

Or better, put the pack in the bottom of your backpack and at lunchtime pour the whole smashed bag of crumbs into a little tub of yogurt and eat it with a spoon 🥄

[-] dmention7@lemm.ee 98 points 6 months ago

Not discounting your mild infuriation, but I am 100% certain that if they switched to being individually wrapped tomorrow, a complaint about excessive packaging would be one of the top posts here.

I'm not sure about Germany, but these have been sold in the US for decades now, and have always been 2 bars per wrapper as long as I can remember.

[-] ABasilPlant@lemmy.world 18 points 6 months ago

... I am 100% certain that if they switched to being individually wrapped tomorrow, a complaint about excessive packaging would be one of the top posts here.

You're undeniably right. The best situation would be to not have any wrapping at all... but with the crumb situation, that'd be another top post here :/

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago

I'm all for reduxcing packaging but...ewww I'm not eating these from an unsealed box. Bugs love the crumbs....I can imagine they'd love the full bars, too. Not to mention rodents.

The box would have to be fully resealable, too, or they'd be gross so they'd need to replace the cardboard with plastic

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 6 months ago

so like just put them in resealable plastic bags, that's a better use of the plastic than 5 small packages and means you don't need the cardboard either!

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

To make them not turn to dust in transit, they'd need to be in a hard shell sleeve wrapped in plastic like Oreos...and they'd still likely get crushed a bit.

I'm not a packaging engineer but that seems like more plastic with little added benefit

[-] lgmjon64@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

They sell it without individual wrappers, it's just müsli.

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[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 28 points 6 months ago

I hate weasel word bs like this

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 25 points 6 months ago

On the bright side, at least it wasn't labeled as "up to 10 bars" like ISPs get away with.

[-] dan@upvote.au 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

The FCC seems to have grown a spine given they've reinstated net neutrality and rolled out the Broadband Labels that require ISPs to be upfront about all fees, so maybe they'll tackle this eventually.

In Australia, ISPs have to advertise the "typical" or average speed during peak times. See the plans here for example: https://www.tpg.com.au/nbn. It's still not a guaranteed speed, but listing an average speed during the most congested time (evenings, since everyone is streaming movies and TV shows) is significantly better than listing a maximum speed.

[-] DudeImMacGyver@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Not yet anyways

[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 7 points 6 months ago

Outsmart them by breaking each bar in half. Now you have 20 bars without spending a penny more!

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 24 points 6 months ago

That's how they've always been sold.

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 14 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Every product that comes with individually wrapped pairs or triplets is like this. They tell you how many individual consumables are in the box in huge font, with clarification that it's 2xX or 3xX in tiny unreadable font.

It's shitty as fuck.

[-] ech@lemm.ee 12 points 6 months ago

For the rest of the box, break the bars in half (while still in the wrapper) and eat the two top halves for the equivalent of one bar. The you can wrap up the remaining halves more securely.

[-] skeptomatic@lemmy.ca 9 points 6 months ago

Your failure was not getting the Sweet and Salty Peanut chewy granola bar. Damn good!

[-] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 7 points 6 months ago

Lol this was one of the earlier nature valley bar, before their single packed one. They were around 15 years ago at least. Always been packed per 2 with the hope that you will just eat 2 at a time

[-] MrJameGumb@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

That's just weird... If they thought one bar wouldn't be enough then why not just make the bars bigger? Is it still even a "healthy snack" if you have to cram them down 2 at a time? It reminds me of the time I was checking the info on the back of a packet of Top Ramen and it said it's supposed to be like 2 or 3 servings. Like was I supposed to share it with someone? Lol

[-] teft@lemmy.world 18 points 6 months ago

it’s supposed to be like 2 or 3 servings.

That's so the sodium content seems reasonable.

[-] Drusas@kbin.run 3 points 6 months ago

That's so the ~~sodium~~ sugar content seems reasonable.

[-] notnotmike@programming.dev 10 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

The US has a lot of bullshit in their labeling requirements. My wife studied food science in university and some of her biggest complaints are:

  • Serving sizes aren't always the entire package*
  • "Natural" has almost no meaning on a package, it is just a hand-waving word
  • They can hide a lot of things in the ingredients under umbrella terms like "spices" and "flavorings"
  • "Made with real juice" does not mean it was made with the juice on the label. For example, a pineapple fruit juice may be more apple juice than actually pineapple juice
  • They can round down to 0 calories if the actual amount is below 5

The most egregious example I've seen lately was a jar of pickles I bought where the serving size is 1/3 of a pickle (now the website says 1/2). That's just so that the sodium doesn't get out of control and, in all likelihood, because an entire pickle may be more than the 5 Calories allowed to say it's "0 Calories".

*This is changing, slowly. Manufacturers now have to put servings for the entire container if it's small enough

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

“Natural” has almost no meaning on a package, it is just a hand-waving word

That's partially because it's useless in general, of course it's natural, where else would you get it from? Every atom from a particle accelerator colision?!

[-] wjrii@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

“Made with real juice” does not mean it was made with the juice on the label. For example, a pineapple fruit juice may be more apple juice than actually pineapple juice

This gave rise to an amusing misunderstanding in our house. My wife asked for "Cranberry Juice, but 100% juice, not the cocktail; that's too sweet." I dutifully went to our store and found the Cranberry Juice cocktail, and also the juice that was mostly apple and white grape juice, because that's always what they use here when they can. I thought, surely this must be very nearly as sweet, and kept looking. I eventually found the small, expensive bottle of 100% cranberry juice with no other juices and no sugar added.

This was a mistake.

Pure cranberry juice is not popular as a casual beverage for a reason. It is nasty. It tastes like I imagine the least dangerous acid kept behind the counter at the chemistry lab supply company tastes: safe for human consumption, but just barely and definitely deserving to be there behind the counter.

[-] the_artic_one@programming.dev 2 points 6 months ago

Are you sure you didn't get the concentrate?

[-] wjrii@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Pretty sure. It was a 32 oz bottle on the same shelf as all the cocktails and blends.

Now, to be fair, some people do recommend cutting pure cranberry juice with seltzer or water, but it was not specifically a concentrate.

[-] mbfalzar@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 months ago

I actually like the taste of pure cranberry juice, but it's too expensive to buy just for drinking so I mostly end up drinking half the bottle while I cook holiday meals after I've started the cranberry sauce

[-] Carnelian@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Possibly they can’t be made thicker due to the cooking process?

[-] ccunning@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago

They’re pretty hard. I wouldn’t want to try to bite through a double thick one personally.

[-] MrJameGumb@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

It wouldn't necessarily have to be double thick, they could just make it longer or wider across or both

[-] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 6 months ago

I noticed recently (though I doubt it's new) that pop tarts are labeled that way too.

[-] mom@nom.mom 7 points 6 months ago

When the first flavors of Pop-Tarts were released in 1964 (strawberry, blueberry, apple currant, and brown sugar cinnamon), the packaging machines were expensive, resulting in hefty up-front costs. So, to be economical about their investments, the company decided to package the product in twos at the start (explained in the book "Better Than Homemade: Amazing Foods that Changed the Way We Eat" by Carolyn Wyman).

“To package them singly would have required twice as many machines. Kellogg’s didn’t want to invest in a lot of machines until they knew how it would sell," said Bill Post, who managed the first plant to produce Pop-Tarts.

https://www.allrecipes.com/why-are-pop-tarts-packaged-in-twos-8347034

Not a new thing at all
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[-] renrenPDX@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

You’re eating them wrong obviously. Smash it with your fist, pour it out in a neat line, and snort it like you mean business. Bonus points if done in public.

[-] No_Ones_Slick_Like_Gaston@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

What's next count total number of crumbs?

Because these bars are. Always full of crumbs

[-] alucard@sopuli.xyz 4 points 6 months ago

They have always been packaged that way in the US. The peanut butter ones somewhat mitigate the crumb situation.

[-] ChexMax@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

I don't think it's a problem that it's 2 bars in each package, but it should say 5 packages rather than 10 bars. The company knows what they're doing.

[-] Dayroom7485@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

That packaging surely caused Doppel Trouble.

[-] pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 6 months ago

I've had limited problems with nature Valley bars and crumbs.

[-] Saltarello@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Ha I once fell for this same issue with the exact same bars. To be fair they're so darn tasty I've fallen for it again several times since!

[-] fredhampton@sh.itjust.works -1 points 6 months ago

I would tell you to grow a pair BUT the fact that they go stale in like 15 minutes….

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this post was submitted on 15 May 2024
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