What do you look at when choosing a packaged product?

Packaged products are not a group to avoid but a group to choose within. The difference between two products on the same shelf is often greater than the difference between packaged and fresh. The place to look is not the claims on the front but the ingredient list on the back.

Below we look at how to read the ingredient list, what the package size does, where ready-made products help, and how the comparison is made.

How the ingredient list narrows the choice

With a packaged product the first elimination is made with the ingredient list. The regulation does not leave the order of that list free; the Türk Gıda Kodeksi Gıda Etiketleme ve Tüketicileri Bilgilendirme Yönetmeliği (the Turkish Food Codex regulation on food labelling and consumer information) requires ingredients to be written in decreasing order of amount. So the first few items are the ones that make up most of the product.

When you are choosing, that removes the need to read the whole list. The first three items are usually enough to tell two products on the same shelf apart; we explained why in this tip.

We covered how to read the list, and what the allergen emphasis and the date phrases say, in detail in the in what order to read a food label guide.

The claims on the front

Some of the phrases on the front have a defined meaning behind them and others only set up an association. The way to tell them apart is always the same: look for the claim on the back.

If it has a counterpart there, the phrase is information. If it does not, it is only an emphasis and carries no weight in the decision.

What the package size does

A large package lowers the unit price but also raises the amount consumed. A large package once opened is finished faster than a small package of the same product.

The distinction is made with a simple question: is this product eaten in portions, or until it is finished once the package is open? For the products in the second group, a small package works better.

For products like dried pulses, grains and tinned goods, a large package is an advantage; those items keep for a long time and are used in portions.

Ready and half-ready products

The greatest contribution of these products is time, and that is why they do not have to be eliminated entirely. On a tired evening a ready option gets ahead of ordering in.

When choosing, comparing two products in the same group is the fastest route. It is hard to decide whether a ready-made product is good or bad on its own; once a second product doing the same job is put next to it, the measure forms by itself.

The salt and sugar lines

In ready soups, tomato paste, pickles and processed products, the salt line is the most informative line. Between two brands on the same shelf that line sometimes differs considerably and can decide the choice on its own.

The sugar line shows all the sugars in the product; it does not separate what was added from what is naturally present. For that distinction you look at the ingredient list again.

We covered what reducing salt looks like in the kitchen in this tip.

Shelf life decides how much to buy

With a packaged product the shelf life directly affects how many you put in the basket. Long-life items can be stocked without being tied to the weekly menu, while short-life ones are bought for the day they will be eaten.

So the question to ask before putting it in the basket is not the price but the time: will this product sit there until it is finished, or will it be finished before its date? We explained what the two different date phrases on a label mean in the in what order to read a food label guide.

Choosing in a house where allergens are watched

If someone in the house has an allergy, the choice is fixed at brand level rather than product level. A brand found safe in one group cannot be swapped for another brand in the same group; the decision was made about that item of that brand.

So the scanning is done not at every shop but when a new item is being tried. We covered how the emphasis is shown on the label and why the cross-contamination warning sits outside the list in the in what order to read a food label guide.

A product’s formula can change

The same brand and the same package can carry a different ingredient list over time. So a decision made once is not open-ended.

Looking at the label again when the packaging design changes is a good habit. That is usually the most visible sign of a change.

The same holds for portion sizes. The package can shrink while the price stays the same, and the portion column on the label is rewritten accordingly.

Storage and stock

One advantage of packaged products is that they keep for a long time; that is useful for stock items. Dried pulses, tinned goods and grains belong in this group.

With packaged stock, timing is a criterion of choice too: adding it to the list when the remaining amount runs low causes fewer problems than waiting for it to run out completely. An item noticed only once it is finished upsets the plan for at least one meal.

The decision is made once

Reading the label of every product at every shop is not realistic. For items bought regularly the decision is made once and not reopened on later trips; that stops shopping from being a job of comparison. Once the products you have decided on become a list, the trip round the shop gets noticeably shorter.

When a new product is being tried, though, the reading is repeated. Even if the brand is the same, the ingredient list changes when the product group changes.

In short: start from the ingredient list, look for the claim on the front on the back, choose the package to suit how the product is used and make the decision once. We covered the whole label in this guide and the table in this guide.