Plan B Forum

75 years ago the one pound coffee can and the one quart mason jar were versatile and ubiquitous storage containers. The can had an air-tight lid and the jar let you see what was inside. Small parts, screws, bolts, nails all kinds of stuff accumulated in taking things apart for other uses or repair. The mason jar has disappeared (who does any home canning any more?) and coffee comes in paper or plastic, not nearly so durable or useful.
Right there on the can it says steel is better. Also why the brand name, even without any nuts. Once upon a time, the one pound can held a real pound of coffee. Packed under vacuum so it probably held more. Then it became twelve ounces, no vacuum. So there was some air but the can still looked full. I usually grind my own beans, and mix in a little grocery store ground coffee to make the expensive beans go a little longer. I bought a can of C F o'Nuts at the grocery store yesterday. The can said 10.3 ounces. I looked at an older can on my stove stop where I put used cooking grease. It said 11.5 ounces. Cans were all the same size.

Starbuck still sells coffee by the pound. I wonder how long before the square block of butter is less than 16 ounces. The half-gallon of ice cream is only a fond memory.

snailgate.

That has been a marketing strategy since the 60s--using the same packages with less contents; I recall seeing a legend like "This is packaged by weight, not volume. Settling may occur." It's a way to dupe the people, since the assumption is you're getting the same amount as before (eventually this will be noticed when the can or bag is only half full).

With coffee, it may not be as big of a problem, as the modern coffee makers are usually more efficient; I recall in the 60s using "one scoop per cup and one for the pot" for the percolator, but the modern drip makers use less (I like strong coffee, so I use one per cup, but delete the scoop for the pot)--it' also good if you use fresher coffee and grind right before using. And I recommend suing chicory as an extender rather than canned coffee; personally I use it because I enjoy the taste (the problem is finding it fresh--many of the coffee places I have used closed during covid, but there are still a few by me. For me, there are few things as enjoyable as a good, fresh brewed cup of coffee.