The Great 'Shrinking Food' Hunt

glider3560

soco1 wrote: »

I noticed a while ago that both Tesco and Sainsbury had reduced the size of their bags of low fat/healthy eating oven chips from 1.81kg to 1kg but kept the same price. When I e-mailed Tesco for an explanation I didn't get a reply. Luckily Asda didn't haven't followed that trend.

Waitrose (shock horror!) still do 1.8kg for around £1.10 - which is pretty cheap, in fact cheaper than Sainsburys and Tesco! Also they have a transparent window on the front of the bag so you can see the quality of the chips before you buy them.

Cymru_Babe

Pringles - they're definitely smaller AND you get less in a tin now - I didn't manage to keep an old one long enough to compare the new ones' size with them - but once you pop you can't stop until they're finished and it's much easier to eat the lot now!

pennybee_2

Can't swear to it but Cadbury's Cream Eggs seem so much smaller.

frangipan

jazzibizznizz wrote: »

Hula Hoops have shrunk too. As a child I used to enjoy wearing them like rings on my fingers. But these days I can't even fit them over my little finger. It's shameful.

I know, it's awful, but look on the bright side. When I was a child I was able to fit a size 1 shoe on my little foot, now the same foot needs a honking size 7. (Move over Cinderella):j

Steel_2

LizzieS wrote: »

Taking away the treats, a typical shopping basket will not cost the same - you will have to buy more products to create the same meals so in effect you will have to pay more.

Yes, but the Index doesn't take account of that.

It's based on the prices of a basket of typical goods. So it just recognises a loaf of bread, not that the bread has shrunk by 50g since last time. Or a jar of pasta sauce and not the fact that the same jar is now 400g and not 500g anymore.

In the real world we end up spending more money. But not according to the world of the Index...

Steel_2

ShakeyStacey wrote: »

The issue of shriking creme eggs actually has a funny story behind it. This is not a recent change, it happened a few years ago (so no blaming it on the current economy!)
When the creme eggs shrunk, people noticed and started writing to cadbury in their hundreds! Cadbury replied by putting a note on their website "Creme Eggs have not shrunk, your hands have gotten bigger". They got away with this for a while, until some guy found an old creme egg in the back of his freezer and compared it to a new one. Sure enough the old egg was bigger. There's a video of it on youtube. Cadbury had to come clean.
I don't mind so much that the eggs shrunk, I'm sure Cadbury had their reasons, but really, LYING about it! That's just plain out of order.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

You see! Manufacturers really do think we are stupid!

radiohelen

Food prices are going up because manufacturing costs are going up. Have you seen the price of oil? Have you seen the cost of wheat and milk? The Chinese are developing a taste for dairy they never had before so they are pushing up the cost of the raw material. Wheat harvests in Australia have been hit by droughts.
This stuff affects us all and the poster below is right - we have a price point we will accept so the manufacturers have to shrink their products to keep within that price point.
We spend less of our income on food than most other European countries and we have been conditioned to think that cheap and convenient is some kind of holy grail - we must have it at all costs.
I hate to say it but a lot of the stuff people are complaining about is processed and pre-packaged. If you are really bothered about the price of your food you'll have to go back to making it from scratch yourself. It costs lots less and is better for you.... even if it is less convenient. Sorry!

elsol wrote: »

I am a food packer and wanted to put the other side of the story accross. We are being hit by the most ridiculous price rises in raw materials that we have ever seen. in some instances we have witnessed an increase of over 200%. our costs are also rising, BUT you lot (aka the customers) want everything to cost less!!! unfortunately, it just can't happen.
Furthermore, the reason why we reduce weights/sizes is because many products have a natural price point. you can't suddenly start charging £1 for a milky way, or £2 for a small bag of nuts, so in reducing the weight, we can keep products at their price point.
Please don't always assume that we are getting greedy, because the truth is in fact the complete opposite! i am part of a trade organisation that represents small independant companies and 7 of them (small companies) have gone bust in the past couple of months due to these price rises.
Remember too, in order to get the best value, shop around, don't just march to your supermarket!!!!!

Steel_2

radiohelen wrote: »

Food prices are going up because manufacturing costs are going up. Have you seen the price of oil? Have you seen the cost of wheat and milk? The Chinese are developing a taste for dairy they never had before so they are pushing up the cost of the raw material. Wheat harvests in Australia have been hit by droughts.
This stuff affects us all and the poster below is right - we have a price point we will accept so the manufacturers have to shrink their products to keep within that price point.
We spend less of our income on food than most other European countries and we have been conditioned to think that cheap and convenient is some kind of holy grail - we must have it at all costs.
I hate to say it but a lot of the stuff people are complaining about is processed and pre-packaged. If you are really bothered about the price of your food you'll have to go back to making it from scratch yourself. It costs lots less and is better for you.... even if it is less convenient. Sorry!

Do you expect people to make their own laundry detergent from scratch? Or bin bags? Washing up liquid?

Manufacturers should educate their consumers about the issues so they don't have to resort to these tactics and can show transparency. The story shakeystacey told about cadburys, while funny, is a deceitful and dishonest tactic.

And as a previous poster said, shaving a few grams here and there off their products is actually having a much greater effect than just people having to go out and buy more every week. It could be affecting the cost of living index which in turn affects the state pension etc.

Personally I'm willing to accept higher prices if it means my parents get state pension that reflects the cost of living.

whistler58

RHYSDAD wrote: »

Have you seen multi-pack crisps?

'Half the saturated fat' say many packs...

Yeah, that's right because there's only half the bloody crisps in there!

The grams per bag have gone down from 32.5 to 25 gms. now. What a swizz

charliechalk_2

I've noticed over the past 18mths that package sizes have been downsized. Last year while helping a nieghbour with her shopping, we brought some Tesco Frozen Breaded Chicken Steaks. There were 6 in a pack when we first bought them, the following week when she asked me to get them again, there were only 4 in a pack.

Tesco cooked ham use to be 6 slices in a pack, now only 5 - even my youngest spotted this one and pointed out to me - he was only 10yrs old at the time. Works out cheaper to buy a small gammon joint and cook it myself sometimes, the boys prefer it too.

Another one is Tesco Frozen Salmon Fillets, use to be a pack of 8, which was ideal for us (family of 4). Now downsized to pack of 6, so have to buy 2 pks to ensure we have 2 lots of meal for the family. AHHHHH

When buying mince meat, I usually make enough bolagnaise for 2 meals for a family of 4 using the 1kg of mince meat, now I'm lucky if I get 800g or 900g in a pack. Just seem to be adding more veg to the sauce to fill out (not a bad thing).

Why do they have to be so sly about it, why can't they be upfront. :eek: