I voiced a peeve on Saturday over gingernuts but it doesn’t stop there.
I really must get a serious grip on the purse strings when I shop. I am usually pretty savvy and on the ball, but more of the little things are passing me un-noticed.
Every Monday, Paula of Light Motifs II invites us to rant or vent on something that gets out goat, so here I am.
Shopping yesterday, I checked the shelves and in both shops, gingernuts were priced at 49p for 300g. I could hardly open all the packets and count the contents, but I bought a pack from each and will be aware of what’s what when they’re opened. Notes will be taken. Hubby can’t be without gingernuts as they are one of the few things he can eat without repercussions.
Yep, I am perhaps a sad individual, but with things the way they are, shops are taking liberties and hoping we won’t notice. The excuse for rationing eggs in some supermarkets is that they are in short supply due to avian flu and the culling of thousands of birds. The shortage of chicken or turkey and subsequent price increases are explained similarly. Let us just hope that one has not supported the other.
BUT, I have noticed something else, in that I have two boxes of the same breakfast cereal in the cupboard and they are different sizes. The weight in both is 750g, but the smaller box is newer than the other because this particular cereal was sold out for over a month.
When I buy my next box, I shall check the weight as methinks they are about to reduce it and the smaller boxes are in readiness for the switch.
Some multi packs of chocolate bars have not only reduced in size but also number, so instead of 6 you only get 5. Some of those have been ‘unavailable’ for a couple of weeks.
All helping the diet you understand, part of the government clampdown on obesity, same as moving the ‘bad stuff’ out of line of sight to the bottom shelves or out of reach completely.
So heading on all shopping lists in future is CHECK THE WEIGHT!
pensitivity101 
What a sneaky way to fleece the customers
It’s not uncommon, but I’m on to them!!
You are good at managing your money
I have to be as there has never been a lot spare.
I get it. We all are tightening our purse strings.
We are luckier than many as we don’t have a mortgage or rent to pay, but rising bills, food prices and everything else is having an effect on everyone.
Yes indeed it is effecting everyone
I love the planned downsize strategy. Seriously do they think we’ll forget in a couple of weeks and just keep coughing out the money for less.
They have already done it with crisp packets, chocolate bars, and a box of 650g cereal I used to buy for £1.12 is now £1.29 but only 350g. I stopped buying it two years ago when it dropped to 450g. I think a lot of us don;t notice in the beginning and because we get through more in a shorted time, think we are eating more. I started checking the weights on things years ago and have noticed now that the larger 750g to 800g blocks of cheese are not so readily available. The 250g, 350g and 400g packs are in abundance but between two and three pounds. Ours is 800g for £5.19 now, yet a few months ago it was £3.59. I still buy it, but I don’t have cheese so often now.
We’re trying to make everything ourselves now. Bread, yogurt, growing fruit and vegetables. We swap with our daughter and the neighbours, but there are some things you have no choice over. It’s so sad that food is becoming a luxery item
We did some swaps with neighbours in the summer which worked quite well.
These days we must be constantly alert for scams and ripoffs. I too have been checking sizes and prices. This winter will be tough for so many 😞
I get so fed up with it Paula and really believed we were eating too much until I checked the weights which had been reduced quite dramatically in some instances.
Prices of some pet foods have risen while the weight of the package has decreased.
We found that with Maggie’s preferred dried ‘Meaty Chunks’. The pack went from 3kg to 2.7kg but the price went up. It was around £5 and is now nearer £7. Maya is on a dried puppy food at £40 for a 12kg sack, but she’s gone off it (after I’d bought several at a discount!!!) so now we are mixing it with adult dried food, including the meaty chunks Maggie liked (which sadly they don’t do in a big sack, only that mixed with vegetables)
Yes, it’s frustrating when we spend money on food that they don’t end up liking. 😕
She will eat this though as I can mix it with chicken, rice, or anything like that.. She’s just being finicky, like all ‘teenagers’ She was a year old last week!
Haha. Happy late birthday!
Thanks!
This gets my goat too. The downsizing of products we have always bought. The price doesn’t change, unless it goes up, but the contents go down. The cat biscuits that used to be a 1kg bag are now only 800g for example. Naomi bought a box of muesli bars the other day only to discover there were only four inside, not the usual six or eight. I’m always annoyed that biscuits usually seem to be sold in odd numbers. There are two of us, what are we supposed to do with a packet of nine Tim Tams? Break the last one in half? As for cereal boxes don’t get me started. I bought a big $10 box of cereal but when I opened it to put it into a container the inner bag wasn’t much more than half full. I know they say it settles but I am sure it doesn’t settle that much.
Shortages, we’ve had a potato shortage for about a month. There has been a lot of rain and they tell us that they can’t get into the fields to harvest them. Every time we go out now we look for spuds and nearly every time there are none to be had. Last Thursday Naomi and I both looked in different shops and found some so we are good for now. “Supply chain issues” is a standard excuse for anything that’s out of stock these days. I think it was easier to get food during the pandemic than it is now.
I agree with you. Same as chocolates, always an odd number and usually a rime number, so not divisible by anything when you have guests!
Supply issues are covering just about everything. Seems our preferred toothpaste which has been out of stock for four months is unavailable indefinitely!
Makes you wonder if ration books will make a comeback.
I wouldn’t be surprised to be honest and I can see it as being instead of cash benefits, which to me would be all wrong and making the class distinctions even more vast.
Yes. I would not want to see that. Our previous government trialled a cashless debit system in some areas for a few years. 80% of their social service payment went on this card which could only be used in certain stores. It was supposed to stop people from buying alcohol or gambling etc. Really it just made it harder to buy things if you bought from small businesses, markets or on the second hand market. They would have liked to put all welfare recipients on it I think. Luckily the new government scrapped it.
Thanks goodness they saw common sense!
Yes, the rise in prices has gone nuts (not just ginger).
haha. Very true Glyn.
We usually buy our carrots in bulk (as they are loose and you pick the size you want). Bulk carrots have been out of stock (79cents/pound) but the packaged carrots are $1.29/pound and of course available! Shopping today, the bulk carrots were available at 99cents/pound – same price as the bagged ones! It is insanity!!
I find that, the packed stuff is more expensive, but chances are at least one is ‘off’ in the bag.
I prefer to pick my veg out myself but these days everything is prepacked.