During the previous round of shirkflation I warned people about knowing what year a recipe was from because “a can” means something different in 2004 than in 2010. And now it means something different again in 2025.
Now boxes are getting the shrink treatment too.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.bestiver.se/post/618032
The reason for having to add an egg, milk, or some other simple ingredient is because the mix companies found out people were more willing to adopt these mixes if there was a step where they had to do something beyond just adding water. Or at least this is what they told me on the Jiffy Mix factory tour as a child.
They didn’t do a study or anything. There was a prevailing theory at the time those mixes were first created that women have an inherent desire to do cooking stuff and since they figured women would be the main ones shopping for food items, they had to add more cooking actions to trick them into buying their products.
Frozen dinners have similar ploys by adding unnecessary stirring steps to the microwave directions.