Is it time something was done about shrinkflation?

[Frugalityfromnowon]

Please tell me I'm not alone in finding this is now getting really out of hand?

Dairylee dunkers was 4 to a pack and now it’s three….they can’t get much smaller for most things. There has to be a point they just have to charge more?

I would honestly prefer the prices to go up because you just have to buy sooner and the smaller packs of things mean more packaging, with things like toilet roll, olive oil etc

Shrinkflation isn't connected to protion control, not being able to afford to buy the same amount of food might in extreme lead to you eating less but that's not the reason it happens

No one can do anything about it, other than. I suppose switching brand to one that put a up prices instead

You are welcome to not buy the stuff. Or would you prefer a new government department to specify the required dimensions of a Findus Crispy Pancake?

I would rather things were the same size as they have been for years. I got used to using those size packs and it's annoying having to adapt to different quantities.

I was always under the impression that England is cheaper than Ireland. I pay €1.39 for 12 waffles.

Are you buying branded ones? The supermarket own brands ones don't cost anywhere near that

I'd pay a bit more for a proper 80's sized chocolate bar - there could well be a market for those who want a nostalgia hit! Something that isn't gone in two bites and has original ingredients rather than all the palm oil

April will be another killer, wage increase etc etc, it will erode everything as its always passed on to the end of the chain & that is the bottom line

11 quid a litre

Used to be about 5, but to be fair thats not really shrinkflation, its gone up in Europe too although of course much cheaper than here

A quick google shows 10 in Sainsburys for 2.35, Birds Eye, then Tesco own, for 12, 1.59

It annoys me more when you buy cooking ingredients for recipes that are based on pack sizes. I do a Xmas crumble using 300g of cranberries (Waitrose recipe) because cranberries always and forever came in 300g boxes. This last year they've become 250g, so recipe is unbalanced and not right.

I do a gratin with Jarlesberg cheese 200g which has always been a full tesco pack. Now they've reduced the pack to 190g.

Butter has forever been 250g a pack. Now they are sneaking in 200g packs, but same price (Lurpak is one).

Our solution is Costco but then we have to find space for XXXXXL packs. It's shocking going from the Co op to Costco and seeing the better prices for breakfast cereals and in huge boxes.

That's a crazy difference, makes me wonder why people buy the birds eye ones, they are pretty much the same who ever makes them

Lone voice in the wilderness - if only 'cos my fat arse needs crisp packets to shrink a lot further yet.

I wouldn’t say much cheaper - it’s around €11/12 a litre even here (France) for middle of the road stuff. Lots of things are more expensive, but some strange things like dishwasher tablets are cheaper. All in all, supermarket shopping costs me more in France than the UK, excluding wine…. Chicken, fruit, veg are noticeably pricier. Food really is cheap in the UK, even if it has gone up a lot

Buy less processed food. Vegetables in particular have not risen anywhere near as much as packaged foods. To the person complaining about potato waffles, try buying potatoes and making potato wedges instead

Potato waffles are not the same as potato wedges!!!

Why do people always try to change what people eat. If someone wants potato waffles, thats what they're going to buy and eat.

My OH would do this, he only buys branded products, he is almost certainly on the spectrum and has ADHD, not diagnosed, wont be tested but I work in this area with a high level in my client group and have been to lots of assessments with the servce users so am almost certain

So he has two problems, firstly he cant remember and doesnt know how to find good value, its meaningless to him, he will see a stand with 'offers' on them and think its a good offer even though end of aisle offers are nearly always brands and always cost more than the stores own make

Secondly, he cant look properly at things, if you notice in supermarkets the most expensive products and brands are at eye level, your heinz beans are at eye level, your tesco own are right down the bottom, he is not capable of looking around the shelves to see different things, he only sees what is in front of him

He also thinks that the 'offer' stands are where that product is, so if he goes for coffee and the stand in front of him at the end of the aisle has coffee on it, he thinks he is at the 'coffee section' and there it is in front of him, he wont think to go to the hot drinks section and find all the coffees there

We have quite a lot of 'disputes' about shopping, I cant bear it as I cant bear the thought of being swindled and thats what supermarkets do to you.

Supermarkets dont make money on their own brand, they make money on brands.

I was wondering AR Christmas why I bought the tubs of chocolates as they are about 500g now where they used to be 1kg. I think the celebrations was even less. Personally I'm going to skip them in future and get the list chocolates from Costco because price per kilo it's probably cheaper maybe.

Personally I'd rather just skip things like Crisps when you get 6 in a bag.

we need to look at the profit margins of the companies making the products. They claim they have no choice because the cost of the raw ingredients have gone up so much but if they’ve made more money in 2024 than they did in 2023 then they’re talking rubbish. Alas, if we do much to prevent them from making too much profit, they’ll take their factories else where.

I can see brands like Cadbury ceasing to exist if they carry on. They've just lost their royal warrant, no one I know eats it anymore because the taste is all wrong, add the change in shape to shave off weight and increase in price and I give them 10 years maximum.

Had some of those round crispy chocolate mints at Xmas , they were half the width as previous years.

You're joking? 3?!?

What so many people don't understand about Cadbury is that Dairy Milk (and products which state they contain actual Dairy Milk chocolate) is still the same! It's only bars that don't contain Dairy Milk that have changed. Twirl & Wispa for example, they’ve changed and are horrible. Dairy Milk buttons however, they’re still original and beautiful!! 🤤