Anyone else notice cost-cutting changes in food products we buy?

[Orchidflower]

I bought some Kentucky Fried Chicken today and was looking at their butter packet, which used to be labeled "butter." Now it's "buttery spread." Lord only knows what's in that.
And KFC's honey--which used to be real honey--is now "honey sauce," which, if you look on the ingredients is really high fructose corn syrup, sugar and then some honey, and more corn syrup. Mmmmm...yummy.....just like the bee's used to make.
So, I'm wondering what other fast food places (and food stuffs) are doing these cost cutting measures surely brought on by this recession, since even KFC must be feeling the impact of the downturn? Hmmm...some food for thought, eh?
I see that KFC hasn't lowered their prices at all, tho....just their quality.

 

[ziggy29]

You mean like trying to use an old pasta recipe calling for a 32 ounce jar of sauce when all the jars are 26 ounces now?

 

[dessert]

It's all around us. I saw a report on CN* where the food companies did a poll and said that the general public "wanted smaller containers of food for the same price".
Oh well, get used to it cause they aren't about to reverse that trend.

 

[billin]

Aww c'mon. The Government has said there is no such thing as inflation....

 

[dessert]

Aww c'mon. The Government has said there is no such thing as inflation....

That's true Billin because those packages are not inflating at all. In fact they're deflating.

 

[ziggy29]

Aww c'mon. The Government has said there is no such thing as inflation....

Yeah, the gummint probably like this sort of thing as it represents of form of "stealth inflation" that won't show up in the CPI.

 

[Westernskies]

I have definitely noticed it. I was at Costco the other day, and they had cut the bales of toilet paper down to 144 rolls... and the cheesecake only weighed 6 lbs...

 

[Babeebloos]

Toilet paper is no longer wide enough to fit in the rollerless springloaded holder! almost 3/4" shorter!

 

[easysurfer]

there's like a 3/4 gallon jug of milk now which as an option over 1 gallon

 

[donheff]

You mean like trying to use an old pasta recipe calling for a 32 ounce jar of sauce when all the jars are 26 ounces now?

That's OK. A lot of pasta packages are down to 12 or 14 ounces from 16.

 

[Walt34]

there's like a 3/4 gallon jug of milk now which as an option over 1 gallon

Ah. That explains the shrinking 1/2 gallon of ice cream....

 

[MichaelB]

Well, there’s Breyer’s Ice Cream, which only puts 1.75 quarts in the ½ Gallon package.
They also managed to introduce a lower fat product without affecting the taste at all – by reducing the serving size.

Back in the day, recently moved to NY, we had bottled water delivered. The bottler changed the bottle size from 6 gal to 5 gal but left the price per bottle unchanged. I called to complain, saying “what's with the giant price increase and no notification”. She said - “what price increase? We left the price unchanged”. I said “the price per gallon just went up 20% and you didn’t say a thing” to which she replied “no, the price is the same but they understood that some people insisted on seeing things in a negative way” to which I said “I’m sorry I’m wasting your time, please cancel”.

What bothers me isn’t so much that companies make these changes on the sly but that they treat us like we are too stupid to understand what’s really happening.

 

[MichaelB]

And KFC's honey--which used to be real honey--is now "honey sauce," which, if you look on the ingredients is really high fructose corn syrup, sugar and then some honey, and more corn syrup. Mmmmm...yummy.....just like the bee's used to make.
So, I'm wondering what other fast food places (and food stuffs) are doing these cost cutting measures surely brought on by this recession, since even KFC must be feeling the impact of the downturn? Hmmm...some food for thought, eh?
I see that KFC hasn't lowered their prices at all, tho....just their quality.

That stuff is pretty nasty. My BIL is a food scientist - used to work for a group that makes that stuff to spec for the food companies. Gave me a class one morning on the chemisty of HFCS and how the body can't break it down. I didn't follow the whole lecture but did walk away with one thought - if the people that make it think it's not good for ya', maybe the rest of us should stay away from it.

 

[Texas Proud]

This is funny since last night my mother and I were talking and she said that the tuna can has been reduced from 6 oz to 5 oz... I had not noticed.. but I have not bought any in awhile...

I do know that candy (this is my weakness) has gone from 16 oz, to 14 oz, to some 12 and some 11.5... to a few with only 10.5 ozs with the same package size...

I am not into coffee, but that has gone down as much...

I would bet that cereal is a big 'loser'....

 

[Rustward]

The other day Kroger put the 40 count Melitta #4 coffee filters on sale 2 for $3.99.
The 100 count box was on the next lower shelf at the regular price of $3.99.

They must think we are stupid.

 

[Animorph]

Ice cream at 1.5 quarts per half gallon is my main annoyance.

Although I see tuna is down to 5 oz in the grocery store, it is up to 7 oz at Costco! I haven't compared the price/oz lately though.

Maple syrup was the earliest thing I remember using substitute ingredients for the real thing, probably 45 years ago or more. Nothing new.

 

[DeborahB]

Ice cream at 1.5 quarts per half gallon is my main annoyance.

Although I see tuna is down to 5 oz in the grocery store, it is up to 7 oz at Costco! I haven't compared the price/oz lately though.

Maple syrup was the earliest thing I remember using substitute ingredients for the real thing, probably 45 years ago or more. Nothing new.

My bottom line: I am grateful for Costco! The toilet paper (their brand) is consistent and big rolls, the pasta sauce is still in 32 oz jars and the coffee is a 3 pound can that weighs 3 pounds.

Yes - I have noticed (the 7 oz. tuna at Costco is still cheaper, I think).

Costco has real maple syrup, very cheap compared to the little bottles.

The other thing is ice cream, jam, and soft drinks with high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar. Stick to sugar, that's my philosophy. And real butter... It just tastes better.

 

[ziggy29]

Stick to sugar, that's my philosophy.

Agreed. Sugar gets a bad rap, perhaps deservedly so when consumed excessively, but it's infinitely better than that high fructose crap that seems to be everywhere today.

 

[Payin-the-Toll]

I'm actually happy that ice-cream went to 1.5 quarts. I don't eat it very much, and it would always get stale & like candle wax after a while, sitting in the cheap containers. Now the container will fit in a one-gallon freezer bag and last 3 times as long. Wife drinks so much milk I wish they'd start supplying it in 5-gallon buckets.

 

[ziggy29]

I'm actually happy that ice-cream went to 1.5 quarts.

That would be fine if they reduced the price by 25% to reflect the 25% loss of content. But as it is, it's a sneaky way to raise prices which tries to make consumers think they aren't being hit with significant price hikes.

 

[Keim]

Just last weekend I noticed that some bottles of beer (I think it was a Bud product) are now 11.5 oz.

My two cents: I'd prefer to see a price increase, and keep the same quantity.

 

[ziggy29]

My two cents: I'd prefer to see a price increase, and keep the same quantity.

Same here. I prefer transparency in inflation.

 

[rescueme]

Toilet paper is no longer wide enough to fit in the rollerless springloaded holder! almost 3/4" shorter!

But now you can use both sides!

 

[FinanceDude]

My sister worked as a researcher for the food industry, and the horror stories she told me would give you chills............

 

[MikeD]

Honey Maid graham crackers (bought on sale at Target on a flashback-to-my-youth whim) were tiny. Each individual cracker is smaller plus there are fewer crackers in each pack. The box seems to be the same size as the packs rattle around in the box. Plus, my wife thinks that they don't taste the same. No more for us, on sale or not.

Mike D.