Smart snacking
How Long Does a 500 g Pack of Namkeen Actually Last?
I don’t know whether to buy the 500 g or the 1 kg pack.
We sell in 500 g and 1 kg, and people ask which one they need. The answer depends on one number nobody has thought about: how big your evening bowl actually is.
· Updated · 3 min read
We only sell two sizes, 500 g and 1 kg, and the question we get most is which one somebody needs. It is a better question than it sounds, because the honest answer is about portions rather than about packs.
Start with the bowl, not the pack
Almost nobody knows what they eat in one sitting, because almost nobody has ever weighed it. It is worth doing once. Tip out what you would normally take, put it on a kitchen scale, and look at the number.
For most people the honest answer is somewhere between 30 g and 60 g, and it is usually nearer the top of that range than they expect. A small bowl of around 30–40 g is a snack that will hold you to dinner without doing much to the day.
Why we do not sell single-serve sachets
Two reasons, and one of them is not flattering to the alternative. A big pack you portion yourself costs less per kilo and produces far less packaging than the same weight in twenty little bags. But it only works if you actually portion it — and if you do not, a big pack is simply a bigger thing to eat straight out of.
So the trade is real. Buy the 1 kg if you will decant a week into a small jar on Sunday. Buy the 500 g if you know you will not.
The crispness argument
There is a second reason not to over-buy. Farsan is at its best in the first couple of weeks after it is opened, and it declines from there — faster in the monsoon. A 1 kg pack you take four months over is a 1 kg pack that spends three of them going soft.
If you are going to take your time, keep the bulk sealed and work out of a small jar. That is the whole of the storage guide in one sentence.
Buying for more than yourself
- A household of two eating farsan most evenings → 1 kg is about a month.
- An office drawer → 500 g, and expect it to disappear faster than the arithmetic says.
- Guests or a box to give → mix sizes across two or three things rather than 1 kg of one. A plate with three textures beats a mountain of one.
The minimum on snack orders
One practical note: our snack orders dispatch from a kilo of snacks. A single 500 g pack cannot go out on its own — the cart will tell you how much more to add, and two 500 g packs of different things is the usual way people meet it. Bowls do not count towards it; it is snack weight alone.
How many servings in a 500 g pack?
Around fourteen at a 35 g bowl. Weigh your own portion once and the number becomes yours rather than ours.
Is the 1 kg pack better value?
Per kilo, yes — the 500 g is half the printed price rounded up. Whether it is better value for *you* depends on whether you will finish it while it is still crisp.
Why is there a minimum on snack orders?
A courier parcel costs the same to send whether it holds 200 g or a kilo, so a very small snack order costs more to ship than it is worth. The cart shows exactly how much more is needed and never blocks you without saying why.
See the packs Every pack in 500 g and 1 kg
Sources
- Dietary Guidelines for Indians — ICMR–National Institute of Nutrition (2024)