Pierce ear and stand in boiling water for 10 minutes.

[RED-DOG]

I was just doing some fish fingers and the instructions said "Cook until golden brown".WTF? They were golden brown when they were frozen.

Also, the serving suggestion on the mushy peas was just a picture of a bowl with some mushy peas in. What's that about, is there a law saying they have to include a serving suggestion?

[GreekStein]

Hi Red,

My dog always gets car sick after driving for more than 5 minutes or so.

Any advice?

[Longines]

Hi Red,

My dog always gets car sick after driving for more than 5 minutes or so.

Any advice?

Get him on Thailands Got Talent?

[atdc21]

Is his car a Rover?

[Karabiner]

I bought some macaroni cheese from Sainsburys and the instructions were to pierce the film lid in a few places, place in a pre-heated oven and stir half-way through cooking.

How did they expect me to do that?

PS It was crap macaroni cheese, Asda's is much better.

[Nakor]

I was just doing some fish fingers and the instructions said "Cook until golden brown".WTF? They were golden brown when they were frozen.

Also, the serving suggestion on the mushy peas was just a picture of a bowl with some mushy peas in. What's that about, is there a law saying they have to include a serving suggestion?

Serving suggestion is all about the pack photography.
If you didn't have Serving Suggestion stated on pack the nice picture on the front of pack would have to be just the item in the pack and nothing more and nobody wants to do that - your Turkey Escalope or whatever you have bought looks much better beside a bowl of pasta or new potatoes and greens then it does on its own.

[RED-DOG]

I was just doing some fish fingers and the instructions said "Cook until golden brown".WTF? They were golden brown when they were frozen.

Also, the serving suggestion on the mushy peas was just a picture of a bowl with some mushy peas in. What's that about, is there a law saying they have to include a serving suggestion?

Serving suggestion is all about the pack photography.
If you didn't have Serving Suggestion stated on pack the nice picture on the front of pack would have to be just the item in the pack and nothing more and nobody wants to do that - your Turkey Escalope or whatever you have bought looks much better beside a bowl of pasta or new potatoes and greens then it does on its own.

The serving suggestion on my mushy peas was like this.

[Doobs]

I bought some tinned tomatoes the other day and this was the serving suggestion

Click to see full-size image.

[RED-DOG]

Lol.

[Nakor]

I was just doing some fish fingers and the instructions said "Cook until golden brown".WTF? They were golden brown when they were frozen.

Also, the serving suggestion on the mushy peas was just a picture of a bowl with some mushy peas in. What's that about, is there a law saying they have to include a serving suggestion?

Serving suggestion is all about the pack photography.
If you didn't have Serving Suggestion stated on pack the nice picture on the front of pack would have to be just the item in the pack and nothing more and nobody wants to do that - your Turkey Escalope or whatever you have bought looks much better beside a bowl of pasta or new potatoes and greens then it does on its own.

The serving suggestion on my mushy peas was like this.

But if it does not say Serving Suggestion the company in question would be inundated with questions like;
Do I have to cook the product in a small ceramic bowl?
Does the bowl have to be white?
There only appears to be half a portion on the picture, can I cook them all at once?
etc etc etc - yes consumer relations departments get questions like this all day, every day - I would love to publish some of the letters/calls we get.

[RED-DOG]

I was just doing some fish fingers and the instructions said "Cook until golden brown".WTF? They were golden brown when they were frozen.

Also, the serving suggestion on the mushy peas was just a picture of a bowl with some mushy peas in. What's that about, is there a law saying they have to include a serving suggestion?

Serving suggestion is all about the pack photography.
If you didn't have Serving Suggestion stated on pack the nice picture on the front of pack would have to be just the item in the pack and nothing more and nobody wants to do that - your Turkey Escalope or whatever you have bought looks much better beside a bowl of pasta or new potatoes and greens then it does on its own.

The serving suggestion on my mushy peas was like this.

But if it does not say Serving Suggestion the company in question would be inundated with questions like;
Do I have to cook the product in a small ceramic bowl?
Does the bowl have to be white?
There only appears to be half a portion on the picture, can I cook them all at once?
etc etc etc - yes consumer relations departments get questions like this all day, every day - I would love to publish some of the letters/calls we get.

Well at least I understand why they do it now.

PS- Publish and be damned.

[Nakor]

A personal favourite was a letter enquiring about the cooking instructions on a fresh breaded poultry product.

The enquiry was along the lines of - bloke added 2 "fresh breaded poultry" products to a flask of hot water (uncooked) everyday to make a "delicious soup", he regaled us with the delights of the home made soup, how he had drunk it everyday for 2 years, never been sick etc etc etc.  But he wanted to know if said product would be safe to consume if he used boiling water and a "frozen breaded poultry" product as this would save him time on his weekly shopping and having to worry about use by dates.

We get regular complaints about Whole Birds having no meat and being all bone (they have been cooked upside down), asking where the peas, pasta, potatoes etc from the pack photo and loads of photo's of our children's range in various food adventures - these usually come from 20 - 40 year old men who obviously have mad skills in crafting mashed potato mountains and broccoli forests and they want a prize.

There are also professional complainers, who just seek out vouchers etc - there is a central database for such people these days but some of these will send 100's of letters a week to all kinds of food producers and their complaints can be quite wacky - I bought a Turkey today and when I tasted it, it was obviously a Duck/goose/pheasant is quite common, please refund my £25 purchase cost and the £754 incurred cost for ruining my Dinner party.  Also I broke my crown/tooth on a bone in your product and would like £500 for my crown replacement/dental work, I don't have receipt for your product, the bone or a bill for the dental work but if you don't pay by Friday I am going to the Daily Mail.

Sometimes they send the bone in and testing will prove its from a Pig, or Cow or a crow in one incident . . . honestly people will do anything for a free buck.

[RED-DOG]

A personal favourite was a letter enquiring about the cooking instructions on a fresh breaded poultry product.

The enquiry was along the lines of - bloke added 2 "fresh breaded poultry" products to a flask of hot water (uncooked) everyday to make a "delicious soup", he regaled us with the delights of the home made soup, how he had drunk it everyday for 2 years, never been sick etc etc etc.  But he wanted to know if said product would be safe to consume if he used boiling water and a "frozen breaded poultry" product as this would save him time on his weekly shopping and having to worry about use by dates.

We get regular complaints about Whole Birds having no meat and being all bone (they have been cooked upside down), asking where the peas, pasta, potatoes etc from the pack photo and loads of photo's of our children's range in various food adventures - these usually come from 20 - 40 year old men who obviously have mad skills in crafting mashed potato mountains and broccoli forests and they want a prize.

There are also professional complainers, who just seek out vouchers etc - there is a central database for such people these days but some of these will send 100's of letters a week to all kinds of food producers and their complaints can be quite wacky - I bought a Turkey today and when I tasted it, it was obviously a Duck/goose/pheasant is quite common, please refund my £25 purchase cost and the £754 incurred cost for ruining my Dinner party.  Also I broke my crown/tooth on a bone in your product and would like £500 for my crown replacement/dental work, I don't have receipt for your product, the bone or a bill for the dental work but if you don't pay by Friday I am going to the Daily Mail.

Sometimes they send the bone in and testing will prove its from a Pig, or Cow or a crow in one incident . . . honestly people will do anything for a free buck.

Great stuff Nak.


Just out out interest, what kind of letter does persuade you to pay out?