In the PHB, the equipment list says that a day's ration weighs 2 pounds (p. 150), however, page 185 says that only 1 pound of food is required per day:

A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food.

I can see how one might read this and interpret it to mean that 1 pound of the 2 pound ration is half a ration and all that is required per day. If this is the case, then why is a 2 pound ration even a thing?

What is the general consensus for how this inconsistency is handled?