Three Off the Shelf

Five minutes, a pen, and three packages you already own. Nothing to score. You are reading what the label has been saying all along.

Download the PDFPrints on letter paper, one page.

Up Front: Pull three packaged foods you buy often off your own shelf: everything asked for is printed on them, so you can fill it in standing at the cupboard.

This one works best on paper. The sheet is a write-in: a small table and three finishing lines. Print the PDF above, grab a pen, and open the cupboard.

Where to Look What You Write The Finish

What to Know

Where to look on the package

Serving size: near the top of the panel, in bold. Each number under it describes that one serving.

Servings per container: the line just above it. How many servings the whole package holds.

First ingredient: ingredients are listed by weight, heaviest first. The opening name is most of what is inside.

How many in all: count the names in the ingredient statement, not the allergen line below it.

A paper grocery bag full of colorful food

The activity

What the label says

The sheet gives you one column per package and five short rows: what it is, serving size, servings per container, first ingredient, and ingredients in all. Copy what is printed. Nothing gets added up, and no line is a grade: these are observations, not verdicts.

Put it into practice

Three lines to finish

Pick any one of your three packages and finish these on the sheet:

Copy a phrase from the front of the package, word for word.

Now turn it over: what do the panel and the ingredient list say about that phrase?

The thing I did not know before I looked.

The Bottom Line: Write down what the package already says, once, on purpose.

Where-to-look guidance follows the FDA’s How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label; ingredient order follows 21 CFR 101.4(a)(1).

Wellness education, not medical advice. For questions about your health, medications, or a condition you manage, discuss it with your primary care provider.