Whether you make and bake for a living or enjoy preparing foods as gifts and giveaways, dress up your packaging with a food label. As more people become more interested in what they consume, the first thing they often do is read the packaging to check the ingredients. Design a food label that mimics the Food and Drug Administration's familiar panel using Microsoft Paint, a simple graphics program included with all Windows operating systems. With Paint, you will save time creating fake food labels and have more time in the kitchen.
Step 1
Start Microsoft Paint. Click the small drop-down arrow and select "Properties." Type the dimensions for the food label into the "Width" and "Height" boxes, which will vary depending on the product, such as a small canned item or a large cereal box. Click the "OK" button and Paint resizes the workspace.
Step 2
Click the black square in the "Colors" section of the ribbon, if it is not already showing in the "Color 1" box.
Step 3
Click the "A" icon in the "Tools" section. Click the top of the food label. When the small text box opens, choose "Franklin Gothic Heavy" from the font menu. Choose a type size of at least 13 point. Type "Nutrition Facts" across the top of the label.
Step 4
Click directly below the "Nutrition Facts" text box to open a new text box. Select "Franklin Gothic Book" from the font menu. While the standard food labels use Helvetica, the font is not included with standard Paint installations. If you've installed it separately, click that for your font. Choose a font size of 8.
Step 5
Type "Serving Size" and the size, such as "1 cup." Press the "Enter" key to drop to the next line and type "Serving Per Container" and type the number of servings in the food item, such as "3."
Step 6
Click the cursor below the "Serving Per Container" line, leaving a small amount of space. Reduce the font to 5 and type "Amount Per Serving." Press the "Enter" key. Increase the font to 6. Type the word "Calories." Type the number of calories in the serving size. Press the "Tab" key twice and type "Calories from Fat" and type the number of calories. Highlight the first "Calories" and click the "B" icon on the toolbar to boldface the word.
Step 7
Click the cursor below that section on the label. Press the "Tab" key to get near the right edge of the label and type "% Daily Value." Highlight and boldface the words.
Step 8
Press the "Enter" key. Type lines and the corresponding values for total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, dietary fiber, sugars and protein or your preferred entries.
Step 9
Click the line tool on the "Shapes" section of the ribbon. Click the second from the top line in the "Size" section. Draw a line separating the "Serving Per Container" line from the "Amount Per Serving" line. Draw a line separating the "Calories" line from the "Daily Value" line. Click the "Size" button and choose the top/thinnest line. Draw lines between all the other sections on the label.
Step 10
Click the rectangle tool on the "Shapes" section. Draw an outline around the entire label, giving it a border.
Step 11
Click the Paint button and select "Save As." Type a name for the fake food label line and click the "Save" button.
Tips and Warnings
- There are no requirements that your fake food label has to mimic the real ones of the Food and Drug Administration. You can make funny food labels for jokes, such as replacing the words "Dietary Fiber" with "Dietary Fun" and "Sugars" with "Sweet Love," or choose something more personal and eye-catching. You also can experiment with different fonts, colors and stylings for the label as desired.
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