Matchmakers - did they think we wouldn't notice!

[GeorgeA12]

Can't believe it....just opened the traditional mint Matchmakers for Christmas. They have only gone and stuck them inside a plastic tray inside the cardboard box in a disguised effort so they are now smaller in length! The matchmakers don't even touch the sides inside the plastic tray.

Over 40 years now I've had these and they always go the width of the box with a black cover over them.

Feel like there should be some law to say that they must put some warning sign on the packaging for three months or so if they make things smaller or change the recipe. I bought this box in good faith as it's the same size as previous years but they didn't tell me they were smaller! I wouldn't have bought them.

Anyone else noticed changes to their favourite Christmas treats or food?

It is people like you who discovered the Americas and invented X-ray machines!

You are a true innovator!

Chapeau!

<chef's kiss>

The reason many things taste worse now is because they have artificial sweeteners to reduce the sugar content.

I used to love Schloer, now it tastes horrific. Terry’s Chocolate Orange the same.

And the irony is that eventually people will realise that artificial sweeteners are WORSE FOR YOU THAN SUGAR and the whole thing will have been a pointless (and dangerous) experiment 😡

Absolutely!

What else are you going to keep all your sewing stuff in?

I blame the decline of this once great nation on the lack of tins for buttons, thread, zips, needles stuck through a piece of kit-at wrapper, and tiny, pointy scissors.

*kit-kat

Sorry about that - they haven't reduced the name by stealing the second "k" . . . yet . . .

Yes - artificial sweeteners, palm oil, and corn oil in food are ruining not just taste but digestion and health.

We will end up with American palates and never know the true taste of real food unadulterated by chemical, oily filth.

And the Cadbury Chocolate Fingers are clearly based on the Borrowers nowadays.
They ought to be sacked.

Here for you through this tough time ❤️

Strangely enough, this thread has made me want to go and buy more Christmas chocolate. Low carb might be going out the window...

I store my plethora of medications in an old Quality Street tin. It says the weight is 1.315kg (with wrappers). It was probably around a fiver back in the early 2010s when we bought it.

The Quality Street tin we’ve bought this year says the weight is 871g (and the cost had risen from last year by about a quid) for £8.

Bastards.

Can't get Matchmakers here & haven't seen them in years.

Are they actually match size now?

Proper matchmakers have always been match sized and in a plastic tray, with cellophane around, insideva box. Long ones came out much later. I'll have to buy some today, to check the crispy bits.

Am sick of all my favourite chocolate treats being ruined. Am boycotting Quality Street/Roses etc this year as I'm peed off with the teensy tubs and just going for a big box of decent chocolatey biscuits instead. Have also been to the local deli and bought a Stollen the size of a newborn 😋

I know what you mean.

Have you tried Morrisons or Tesco's own brand mint thins.. lively crackle of dark chocolate and a creamy filling. Like After Eights used to be.

It was a Marathon you had !!!!

I don’t understand why we aren’t allowed to choose sugar if we want to. Give us the choice, people have choice in other areas of life, why not this !

I agree.
I avoid artificial sweeteners wherever possible and I'm well within the healthy weight range, only eat butter too. Give us the choice than this crap!!!

Remember “If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit join our club!”?

Snickers are really Marathons!

Starburst are really Opal Fruits!

I will die on this hill!!!!!

Yes - you can still get (palm-oil ridden, no doubt) clubs. But not the fruit one - they stopped making that and broke the heart of my elderly neighbour who lived on them.

I'd forgotten that!

Are both sizes still made?

Agree!

If people can still choose to smoke, drink, or go Morris Dancing, why shouldn't we have real sugar?

Cadbury's definitely did flat solid tree decorations that had foil wrappers to look like parcels. They also did caramel filled bells for a bit.

I am properly peed off over the Cadbury tree chocolates.

It's normal these days... Toblerone famously tried it by increasing the gaps between the chocolate, Mars is half the size, Cadbury eggs are too! Don't get me started on the bags if air that are Walkers crisps now!

Shrinkflation is real! They try to cover it up by saying its healthier, you don't NEED those calories, they're not getting smaller, you're just getting bigger...

They're very sly about decreasing sizes and maintaining prices. If they sell £100 million and reduce size by 5%, that's a nice tidy sum in their pocket if they can get away with it.

@primeoflife I am old (thank you for mentioning it) but here’s a photo from 2020 depicting said solid chocolate. Can’t find last year’s but I’m pretty sure I had them, hence my outrage this year. You’re welcome.

Yes I remember them! There was one Santa one in the pack too that my daughter always hid around the back of the tree and had it Christmas Eve.