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?

Kipling Lemon Slices. Used to get 6 in a pack. Now they've reduced it to 5 and took the icing off. Ruined.

THEY'VE DONE WHAT?????????!!!!!!!!!!!

😧

Say it's not true, @RiderOfTheBlue !

My favourite cappuccino sachets went from 10 to 8 in a pack. Then they had a "new recipe" which was a front for putting 5g less in each pack. Yes, I complained but unbelievable they didn't change it back just for me. I swapped to a freeze dried coffee instead. That one has literally just changed the glass bottle it comes in now and surprise, surprise there is less coffee in the new shape. I'm fuming. I've now changed to a different brand that I don't like as much but who haven't changed secretly. They just openly raise prices pissing me off to my face rather than by stealth. Fuckers. The lot of them.

@Emotionalsupportviper Sadly its true...

A Mars a day used to help you work, rest and play. Don't do anything of the sort now. They used to be so big! I remember when they were 14p in the sweet shop.

Weetabix.....bet you can't eat three! Well I can now they are pumped full of air and so small!

I find there's very little joy to be had buying myself a 'treat' these days because I automatically start assessing the content/packaging/void ratio.

All that deceptive engineering to make tuppence ha'penny's worth of content look like you're getting more.

I remember when the plastic trays in a box of chocolates were there to hold the contents in place, all nestled neatly together. Now they seem designed to give each chocolate separation anxiety...

We truly live in the End Times!

😫

This totally explains my lack of energy and complete lack of interest in anything these days. Tiny chocolate - the curse of our age.

SHAME ON YOU, MARS BARS!

Was I the only one who was disappointed by the title thinking they were being tricked into a blind date! 😂

Ahh I miss the old style Matchmakers in the long thin box - IIRC they had 5 compatments and the MMs were matchstick sized
And alongside the orange and mint , there was a coffee one that was bloody lush ! (Not like the travesty that is the Gingerbread one or the Honeycomb . Even my Mum wouldn't eat the Gingerbread ones !)

DoubleDeckers used to have a crispier base and the nougaty bit was fluffier not as chewy .

And Starbust were Nutch (again softer peanutty bit ....and bigger )

@MrsFezziwig (I am old too 🤣) and now you've posted that I do remember!!! I was imagining big full Father Christmas chocolates but now remember the discs.

You've made me feel quite depressed that I've got hollow ones now!!

We’ve given up on buying tubs of Christmas chocolates for all the reasons given above. Instead we get a big cake tin and fill it with broken up squares of chocolate we like, mini Daim bars, chocolate Brazils etc. This year I’ve added the Aldi Lindor rip offs which are lovely and cinnamon covered almonds from Lidl.

@raspberryrippleicecream you just triggered an early childhood memory of caramel bells, my nanan used to put them on the tree for us.

I noticed recently that Cadburys tastes awful, it's far too sweet and not at all creamy, even Bournville. Didn't think to check for artificial sweeteners.

I buy a tin of Roses every year and use it to store my Christmas tree decorations!

Added bonus is it’s twice the size of those plastic tubs ☺️

I've just had a flashback to those fondant filled chocolate decorations- they were 🔔 shaped and hung on the white, plastic 70s Xmas tree covered in angel hair (fire hazard alert!). Ahhhh...the 70s!

Great idea for next year.

In the interests of research I’ve just checked my John Lewis Pick and Mix Quality Street tin. It says 1.162kg or 1.2 kg including wraps. There’s a mix of old style and new waxy wrappers. The strawberry creams do seem creamy not ruffle-esque!

This thread is so depressing. No longer looking forward to the quality street tub getting opened Christmas Eve 😞 or the after eights after dinner 😩

I've been reading this thread avidly . I'm now diabetic and craving the old days of Christmas chocolate bingeing. This has made me feel slightly better. My main gripe is that Tescos no longer sell the rather nice sugar free chocologic milk chocote that satisfied my chocolate fix without giving me the squits

I can always tell when companies are about to fuck about with their product as it'll be unavailable on my favourites list for ages, then eventually it'll come up as a "try this instead". Usually same product, same (or higher price) and less of it.

I hate the trend to make boxes of 6 into 5, because I have 3 kids and it's now impossible to give them each an even number of said treat without buying 3 boxes!

Yes yes to the Cadbury tree chocolates, been buying them for about 11 years. The little present wrapped ones. Last year they changed to the hollow balls and were vile so no more tree chocolates.

Is it me, or is there more space between them too?

Can't believe people still buy nestle anything

Sorry, just RTFT.
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.
I just read a question on Quora from someone (presumably American) asking what they could use for cooking instead of high fructose corn syrup!

I tell you what else really annoyed me. Remember Cadburys dairy milk chocolate lovely thick chunks. And then they changed the shape so it was oval, I can't remember what excuse they gave but I realised it was all just to save on chocolate in the bar.

I wish Cadburys would bring out a nostalgia range. Even if they only did it once a year at Christmas. Proper original recipe Dairy Milk in the old paper wrapper. Original recipe Wispa bars. They could charge 5 times what they charge for the vile American shit that they sell as Cadbury chocolate now and I’m sure people would still buy it.

I agree completely; but they'd never do it in a million years, as that would be basically admitting that their 'standard' recipe has indeed changed - which they keep adamantly insisting - contrary to the beliefs of millions of people who have apparently noticed a very significant difference between 'old Cadbury's' and 'new Cadbury's'.

They tried that 'Dark Milk' - as advertised by Jason Donovan, targeted at people who remember him in his heyday - but that was always sold as 'a more grown-up taste' and never 'proper normal Cadbury's like we used to make before the Americans wrecked it'.