# How many packets of duck sauce are wasted each year? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918 "2004-05-01T01:06:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/1 "2004-05-01T01:06:39Z")
As I eat my Chinese food, I wonder just how many packets are wasted each year? I normally get 2 packets of duck sauce per ~$5.00 meal. I may or may not use 1 packet depending on how many fortune cookies I get. Any way to tell how much? ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/2 "2004-05-01T01:55:26Z")
Yeah, and what about those yellow mustard packets that only about 1 person in 10 uses? I bet if we mixed it all together with the mustard and catsup packets that are never opened, we could feed all the hungry people of the world! šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/3 "2004-05-01T02:24:29Z")
> [@NoCoolUserName](#): > > Yeah, and what about those yellow mustard packets that only about 1 person in 10 uses? I bet if we mixed it all together with the mustard and catsup packets that are never opened, we could feed all the hungry people of the world! šŸ™‚ Iā€™m suddenly very glad I have enough Ramen noodles to stay me from the fate of living off of duck sauce and hot mustard. ::Shudder:: ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/4 "2004-05-01T02:26:18Z")
Wonā€™t someone think of the ducklings? I, for one, never use any packetized condiment with my asian-style cuisine. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/5 "2004-05-01T03:12:32Z")
What is duck sauce? I get soy sauce and hot mustard in my Chinese take out. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/6 "2004-05-01T03:17:09Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > What is duck sauce? I get soy sauce and hot mustard in my Chinese take out. Duck sauce is made from peaches, apricots and corn syrup (or sugar) with some spices. Itā€™s good on chicken, as well as duck. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/7 "2004-05-01T06:08:29Z")
I also only get the soy sauce and hot mustard. But if you want to broaden your inquiry to all those packets of ingredients, I guess we could back-of-the-envelope a guess. Letā€™s estimate that maybe half the people in the country will eat Chinese food at all, and that of those who do, the average person will do take-out Chinese food five times a year. Way too low for some people, and way too high for others. And letā€™s also assume that 80% of those people throw away at least one packet of sauce. That gives us maybe 500 million take-out dinners per year, and 400,000,000 thrown out packets of sauce. (Duck sauce is nasty, in my opinion, so Iā€™d be willing to guess that 200,000,000 of those packets are duck sauce.) I canā€™t find out how much each packet holds, but Iā€™ll assume itā€™s around a teaspoonful. There are 768 teaspoons/gallon, which yields 520,000 gallons or so of various sauces thrown to the curb, of which maybe 260,000 gallons are duck sauce. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/8 "2004-05-01T09:56:47Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Duck sauce is made from peaches, apricots and corn syrup (or sugar) with some spices. Itā€™s good on chicken, as well as duck. I like it on pork fried rice. ---
**Author:** ![county](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@county](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/county)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/9 "2004-05-01T15:27:53Z")
> [@caveman](#): > > Wonā€™t someone think of the ducklings? > > I, for one, never use any packetized condiment with my asian-style cuisine. ā€œpacketizedā€ ??? ---
**Author:** ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/10 "2004-05-01T16:20:41Z")
Duck sauce isnā€™t actually made of duck. Itā€™s named so because it tastes good on duck. šŸ™‚ Duck sauce tastes really good on those skinny fried chips they have. Thanks for the estimate, **Finagle**. Now we should figure out how many packets people store in their fridges for all eternity. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![GopherGod72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/11 "2004-05-01T18:28:27Z")
> [@xvxdarkknightxvx](#): > > I may or may not use 1 packet depending on how many fortune cookies I get. :dubious: You put duck sauce on fortune cookies? Yuck. theyā€™re best on crab rangoon my friend. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/12 "2004-05-01T18:31:07Z")
\<\< Enters the thread just to make sure you folks have your correct ducks in a row \>\> šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/13 "2004-05-01T19:19:20Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I guess we could back-of-the-envelope a guess. Letā€™s estimate that maybe half the people in the country You might want to cut that estimate down a bit, since I suspect that duck sauce is primarily an East Coast thing. I havenā€™t seen duck sauce in Seattle or Vancouver BC. (Can any other posters speak to the presence of duck sauce in other West Coast areas?) ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/14 "2004-05-01T19:43:05Z")
> [@Hunter Hawk](#): > > You might want to cut that estimate down a bit, since I suspect that duck sauce is primarily an East Coast thing. I havenā€™t seen duck sauce in Seattle or Vancouver BC. (Can any other posters speak to the presence of duck sauce in other West Coast areas?) Feel free to get your own envelope šŸ™‚ If Iā€™m correct to within an order of magnitude, Iā€™d be pretty happy. (And I did say that I was expanding my guess to all condiments.) ---
**Author:** ![county](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@county](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/county)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/15 "2004-05-01T20:13:53Z")
The ā€œpacketsā€ of sauce at Taco Bell actually say ā€œHow many of these packets are in your glove compartmentā€ ---
**Author:** ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/16 "2004-05-01T22:17:07Z")
> [@Hunter Hawk](#): > > You might want to cut that estimate down a bit, since I suspect that duck sauce is primarily an East Coast thing. I havenā€™t seen duck sauce in Seattle or Vancouver BC. (Can any other posters speak to the presence of duck sauce in other West Coast areas?) Hmmmā€¦now that you mention it, I did notice that no duck sauce came with our Chinese food when I was visiting relatives in Oregon. I guess it is just an East Coast thing. And to **Gopher** : It tastes really good on fortune cookies! Just try it out. You ever have those thin, fried chips with duck sauce? Itā€™s the same taste. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/17 "2004-05-01T23:50:17Z")
**Duckster** , ducks in a row, duck sauce, sitting ducks, Peking duckā€¦ Watch out! Here comes flying packetized sauce! ā€¦ **Duck!** ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/18 "2004-05-02T00:00:31Z")
I donā€™t remember if duck sauce was involved, but, when Christopher and Paulie were lost in the Pine Barrens, chasing that Russian guy, they survived by eating packets left in an abandoned car. Yeahā€¦they did! ā€˜The Sopranosā€™ā€¦in case youā€™re wondering WTF is he talking about. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/19 "2004-05-02T00:13:03Z")
Iā€™ve never seen duck sauce in my take-out. I wonder if here in the mid-west duck sauce is the same as sweet-and-sour sauce. THAT comes with take-out by the giant handful and is, in my opinion, extremely nasty. ZJ ---
**Author:** ![Enix\_Dark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@Enix\_Dark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enix_Dark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918/20 "2004-05-02T00:20:45Z")
Wow, I always put duck sauce on my egg rolls. I never thought about putting it on anything else, especially fortune cookies. So, what are we supposed to duck sauce on, anyway? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-packets-of-duck-sauce-are-wasted-each-year/242918.md?page=2)