Is anyone else discombobulated by shrinking product sizes?

[Begonne]

I’ll admit I’m completely scatterbrained and there’s probably a more efficient way to organise a household but I didn’t used to have to actively think about the quantities I buy, and a certain amount of shopping was on automatic pilot. But now things keep changing size, and where one packet did for a week, we fall short. Or I buy two and have some over and either forget to top up or buy another and have to find space to store the extra.

Now I have to constantly stop and check the price and try to guess if the package has shrunk, or rejig a meal plan because you didn’t spot that 1kg has shrunk to 800g, and it all just adds to the mental load, along with totting up the running totals, and the general anxieties about costs.

I know shrinking sizes is keeping things affordable but is anyone else just head wrecked by it?

Didn’t a lot of the shrinkage start to happen when the calories and nutrition traffic lights had to be listed on packs? The crisps for example would have been red all over in the older sizes so now a smaller pack appears more ‘healthy’ hence why I can eat 32 bags and feel no shame

Yes, that was all a bit ridiculous. But most of them just declared the nutrition values 'per portion' instead. Cut a Yorkie into two - all in the same wrapper - and call it a 'share bar', as if that will fool anybody.

Mind, you now get some products where they've shrunk them by as much as they can get away with, so they end up saying "This pack contains approximately 2.647 servings"!

Didn't they used to have some kind of law (still do?) - might have been an EU thing - where loaves of bread can only be sold in 400g or 800g sizes, so you very clearly either have a 'normal loaf' or a 'half/small loaf' and nobody can be fooled?

I'm not generally a fan of government interference in things like this, but if the bog food manufacturers have shown time and time again that they can't be trusted, maybe it's the only way? So with chocolate, if they want to shrink a bar for whatever reason, that's fine - but it then has to be clearly labelled 'mini' or 'snack size' or whatever. No trying to claim that it's a 'full size' one, with gaslighting that 'it's the same size it's always been' - like they blatantly try to do with the ingredients/recipes that they swear blind with their fingers crossed behind their backs have never been changed and are still the original.

Crisp eaters, treat yourself to a pack of M and S crisps. They're cheaper than a bag of walkers (as a one off, not multipack) and there are loads more crisps for your money! 😋

I have a recipe for Rolo brownies from a few years ago. It specifies a pack of Rolos (12) - last time I opened a pack there were 8.

That’s outrageous about Rolos ! Almost 1/2!

It annoys me most when the packs with the new size are "on offer". I buy individual malt loaves when they're on offer, and in my last shop they'd shrunk by about a third.

With regards to twix and mars, I buy the supermarket own multipacks - Aldi or Tesco, much cheaper and DH says they're better. Still small, but much cheaper - less than £1, so you can have two 🤣

Still small, but much cheaper - less than £1, so you can have two

"And that was an official public announcement from the Department of Health"

Can I also join the ranks of the annoyed and discombobulated?

Asda have shrunk their tissue boxes. It feels like I'm finding the box empty almost every day.

And photographic proof of the shrinkage..

I occasionally buy a ready made lasagne from Lidl for nights when we need something really easy that can be left in the oven. It used to be perfect for me and 2 older teens, as it was, somewhat unusually, 3 portions.

Bought one this week, noticed that the packaging had changed a bit (main colour green to red) and that it had gone up (what hasn't), fine. But when I came to put it in the oven I thought it looked smaller, looked at the wrapping....contains 2 portions!!!

Luckily I had plenty of salad and some garlic bread in the freezer to pad it out with, but yes, most discombobulating

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Reading this thread reminds me of a video I saw a few years ago. A chap was talking about the Walkers crisps find-a-£5-note competition. In his beautiful broad Yorkshire accent he said, 'Here's an idea, Walkers: how's about you put some foooking crisps in the packet instead?!'