How Grocery Inflation Is Being Covered Up

hidden-grocery-inflation

Lets hear your examples of what you have seen in the grocery stores – the things that they are doing to effectively increase the cost of your foods and supplies while doing their best to disguise it…

Here are a few examples:


 
I first saw this on zerohedge which was sourced from consumerist.com (under the umbrella of ‘Consumer Reports’), and it is a perfect example of one technique being used today:

As part of a redesign of its proprietary line of flavoring syrups (SodaStream), the bottles are now smaller.

How much smaller? The old version made 50 servings of flavored drink, and the new versions make only 29. Why 29? Why not 30? Such are the mysteries of the Grocery Shrink Ray.

In grand Shrink Ray tradition, the new bottles (right) are taller even though they’re smaller.
new-sodastream-bottles

What you’ll notice, though, is that while the number of servings is down to 2/3 of the original amount, the bottle size isn’t that much smaller. That’s because the measuring cap is now bigger, and each serving uses more syrup. “The worst part is that they just diluted it with more water so the ‘new improved’ ones LOOK like they are the same size,”

Maybe SodaStream made this change because they know that the product still looks reasonably priced next to its new competitor, the Keurig Kold. Maybe. We don’t know: The ‘Consumerist’ has called SodaStream’s media relations team repeatedly, and they haven’t responded to messages.

And according to zerohedge (and I’m sure you’re own opinion), “actually, why SodaStream did this is irrelevant: we are confident the decision to shrink and dilute the product was the result of simple concerns about maximizing profit margins”.

“What is far more troubling is that for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, both the “old” and the “new” product costs the same, or $5.99, hence there is no inflation… until one does the actual math.”

Re-read that last sentence. There’s no inflation right? The .gov is so twisted with their ‘numbers’ that they are effectively telling us (lying to us) (e.g. food portion of CPI, consumer price index) that inflation is low – all the while your weekly grocery bill continues to creep higher because you have to buy more of the ‘stuff’ because of ‘hidden’ inflation (smaller sizes, dilution, etc..).

The math:

Cost per serving “old” style: $0.1198
Cost per serving “new” style: $0.2066

Nominal inflation: 72.4%

Worse, there is not even an attempt to make the “new” product “hedonically” better, or for that matter different in any way – it is just smaller, and massively diluted.

And it just so happens that nobody in the Bureau of Labor Statistics noticed this oldest trick in the book, and why month after month the BLS reports core CPI that is negligible, and why said “lack of inflation” allows the Fed to continue its zero-interest rate policy for 7 consecutive years in a row.

~zerohedge.com

 
A few comments that I read:

“That’s like the old 24 pack of sliced cheese is now 20 for for the same price.”

“Food like bacon… prices are still the same but now the packages are all 1/3rd smaller.”

“I particularly love convex bottom round containers. It looks big….but it’s not.”

“Don’t forget the ever vanishing pound. If you do a bunch of cooking, they always reference the pound as sort of like the standard. Well good luck finding a pound of sausage, bacon, or butter anymore. It’s more like 14.5 Oz, 12 Oz. Etc. Don’t even get me started on coffee…”

“Bag of sugar is now 4 pounds instead of 5.”

“A half gallon of ice cream is now down to 1.5 quarts.”

“It’s gluten free, because they replaced the flour with sawdust.”

“Wait till you get the 24 pack of cheese that is sliced so thin its weight is the same as a 12 slices. Now go study Square Inches… I swear they are shrinking the cheese in area (or the bread is getting larger).”

“The local supermarket dry-walled over the windows looking into the meat processing room. I don’t want to know what they’re putting in the hamburger or doing to the meat now.”

“Cereal boxes are thinner so they look the same size from the front but contain much less cereal.”

“Anybody remember when a case of beer was 24 cans? Now they are all 20 or 18.”

“It’s nuts, sometime over the summer the cans of tomatoes we buy went from 14.75 oz to 14.0. Are they going to start making the cans thicker? Will the cans shrink to G.I. Joe size?”

“Some ice cream – If there was anymore air it would be whipped cream.”

 

Conclusion

While the food industry and .gov continues to hide ‘real’ food inflation, you and I the consumer will continue to effectively pay more. Therefore, it seems wise to build food storage while taking advantage of sales (the effective price will only go higher in the future) – not only for preparedness sake, but to save a few bucks over the longer term.

Additionally, we all know that many foods are not only diluted compared to yester-year, but they’re stuffed with additives too (many of which are not good for us), so why not supplement one’s food by growing their own?

 
Lets hear your own examples and stories of hidden inflation in your grocery stores…

102 Comments

  1. Plastic bottles of water are extremely thin now, as well as aluminum cans. You barely squeeze the bottle/can – and you crush it. Those are just two things off the top of my head that I can recall.

    1. You are so very correct! I notice that too. I had a few cans of soda just literally explode from being cold or dropping. That never use to happen before. And yes, the plastic water bottles dent in and no longer even hold their shape.

      Also, these are the things that no longer taste the same to me: bananas, ritz crackers, eggs…all old brand coffee (Folgers, Maxwell house, etc.) Tuna except for expensive albacore (not Starkist or Chicken of the sea), but the off brands taste better. In fact, most brand names I grew up with do not taste the same at all though more expensive. And that is just a few! They are charging us more to poison us faster!!!!

      1. The taste is sometimes because the companies have changed recipes–whether to make them healthier, to save pennies, or whatever. You can notice this when you eat one certain item regularly and it suddenly changes.

        You have to remember, though, that our taste buds change over time, too. As we age, our tastes change. This is part of why what you like at age six isn’t as great at age twenty, and what you like at twenty just doesn’t cut it at age fifty.

      2. you are so right I am getting old ( I always enjoyed eating a Nabisco saltine cracker and the Old COKE) it was the best snack (NO MORE)

    2. Is a reduction in packaging waste such a bad thing though? I personally would prefer not to pay for garbage I know I’m going to throw away – recyclable or not. I will admit though, that I have an older friend who intentionally buys rigid containers, just because he has a harder time handling the new flimsy ones.

  2. the wagon wheel snacks with the marshmallow in them are so tiny now , not sure when they changed but they are less than half the size now, same as oreo’s

  3. Look at the OLD rolls of tp, then the NEW ones. The cardboard tube is now larger (fits very loosely on the holder, so you get less tp than you used to. Also, they make a big deal out of “fluffy”, which, again gives you less tp than used to.

    Look at the NEW graham crackers! they are 30 % smaller…..

    Sams club sells bleach in three packs. bottles used to hold 1 1/2 gallons….now the same three bottles hold less than one gallon….they claim it is because it is concentrated and you use less….BS

    These are but a few immediate examples that are so obvious it is nauseating. No inflation in America? who do they think they are kidding????

    1. TP concern

      They’re not “Double” rolls anymore

      they’re “big” rolls

      like we’re stupid or something.

  4. Ziploc bags! They used to be much thicker than they are today. I have always bought the heaviest duty but for awhile now they have been very noticeably thinner, and some of them leak and they puncture easy. I use these bags for lots of things but am very disappointed with their apparent inferior quality compared to several years ago.

    1. Ken,
      I recently had puncture problems with dehydrated corn in vacuum seal bags,
      Am having to double bag and double seal the dehydrated corn because it pokes holes in the bags, and i mean pretty much all the bags, is sort of a bummer, but stuck them all in mylar bags anyway and all had oxy absorbers so hopefully will still be good,

  5. Squares of toilet paper are substantially smaller than they were a few years ago.

    1. I compared 2 brands. One – Scott against Sustainable Earth. Scott is about 1/4 inch shorter. No wonder it didn’t seem right. Guess that 1/4 of in saves them lots of money

      1. 1/4″ X 10 million = 208,000 extra feet and 10 million rolls is probably a conservative #….Just looked it up. Over 7 Billion rolls per year are purchased in America alone. Sooooo…..approx 140 Million extra feet from 1/4 “! That’s a lot of TP Lucy! BTW, no mathematician….just raw # crunching and approx’s

  6. Our bathroom has a toilet paper holder with spring loaded hubs that hold up the roll. It does not work anymore. The width of a toilet paper roll has been cut down. And now the dispenser is obsolete until sometime in the future when I use one of those packages I bought in the past.
    Sad
    They are even “getting” to me while I sit & ponder.

    1. I have saved my postage stamp dispenser, looking for a way to mount in bathroom when they get down to stamp size.

  7. There is a brand of coffee that is in a blue plastic container that has hand grips molded inwards, effectively making it look larger.

    Medium size eggs are now smaller than what used to be called small.

    There is a brand of chicken that will not display the price per pound of their chicken wings. There is only the package price and the weight is given in ounces so that you’d have to have a calculator to figure out price per pound.

    Subway was sued because their ‘foot-long’ isn’t.

    Unless specified otherwise, Saltine crackers do not have salt.

    1. And how did I forget this? Honey is often watered down, buy local. Honey that comes from China is diluted with high fructose corn syrup.

  8. Food: The Producers and our Govt agencies have conspired a muti pronged attack against us the consumers!!

    Its not just greed by disguising the smaller volume by packaging! The introduction of the use of the Microwave oven depletes the nutritional value. In prepared foods the packaging of the food in plastic narrows the choice of preparing it to only using a MicroWave oven, and the temperature of the steam generated on the plastic breaks down the plastic and releases the TOXIC chemicals that form plastic into the food. An Arkansas medical student about ten years ago did research on this and proved this to be a fact!! This is same reason WHY Microwave ovens are not sold or used in Russia!!!

    When GMO foods are packaged and sold globally most Govts have required a minimum of labeling it as such or out right banded its import. That’s most countries except the USA and Canada!!! I suspect that some of all of the global trade treaties that may go into effect soon will eliminate this labeling. That’s one of the reasons why the contents of the treaties have been kept secret not just in the USA but Europe as well. Ironically our Congress recently passed what they referred to as THE SAFE FOOD ACT!! This evil act outlawed the use of GMO Labeling of food!! They basically over rode some state laws that required the labeling of GMO FOODS!!!!!!!

    Lets not forget Water!! The the fluoride contamination!!!

    The time to start detoxifying our bodies of this intentional poisoning is NOW!! Consider including antioxidants and organically grown foods into your diets. Starting your own veg gardens now don’t wait until the collapse!!

    I doubt any GMO seeds are in the seed bank in NORWAY!!!

  9. A few months ago while standing in line at the register I saw they had Reese’s peanut butter cups on sale. I don’t remember how much, but it was a good sale. So I bought a few. I opened one when we got home and the peanut butter cup looked about 25% smaller, but they used the same original size packaging. Now I actually look at the ounce weight before buying.

  10. There is another way to see the real inflation. Over the last 2-3 years I have purchased a lot of #10 cans of food for long term storage. Now when I compare the weight of the contents, the weight is the same. However, when I compare the cost of #10 cans for the same item the cost is radically increased. I am sure the profit margin is about the same but the company that cans the food has to cover their raw material costs(can and food).

    The price of meat is sold by the pound, here in Texas the farmer gets about $2 a pound for the calf but the supermarket gets about $9-12 a pound for steaks. Three years ago the supermarket price for steaks was about $4-7 a pound. I butcher a large calf ever year for about 83 cents a pound(butchering cost) of edible meat and give it to the kids.

    The cost of meat is about to increase $3 a pound for those steaks because Argentina ranches are being driven out of business by the political unrest down there. This also applies to ground meat. Who in the U.S. anticipates this type of reason for the cost in consumer goods?

    Let me suggest to all readers, not only grow a garden but raise some cows also.

  11. @ Being watched….

    RIGHT ON!!!! This is all so very true. The America food chain is a total mess. We removed the microwave in 2005. We disconnected from cable/satellite in 2008. We grow/raise our own food, for the most part, and buy very carefully. No artificial anything if we can help it. We are healthy! And, we have great fun and adventures in the kitchen…the grand-kids all love it.

  12. Greetings,
    Yes , inflation has been with us for quite some time in the form of package design (smaller) but designed to appear the same or even a little larger in some cases . We would normally purchase Nalley’s chili when it went on sale at 89 cents a can . The old can was 15 ounces and the new can is 14 ounces and goes on sale at $ 1.18 per can . That is a tremendous increase (percentage wise) in price per ounce from 5 cents to 8 cents per ounce .
    We try to beat or reduce the effect of inflation by purchasing bulk foods as often as we can.We also grow a good sized garden and do a lot of canning and drying .

  13. My wife has told me over and over how food cost’s have gone up. I have to admit this was not my area of expertise. Great article Ken and great posts everyone. To say I’m flabbergasted is an understatement. Another example of a false reality being perpetrated on the American citizen. Thank’s again everyone.what an eye opener.

  14. Monthly payments on social security checks are to increase based on increased inflation. NO inflation, no increases, savings of millions of $$$ for the government to waste on other things. No need to tell me about inflation, I have some down filled pillows at home, recently purchased some new down and even down is up! Hang in there everyone.

    1. And if you get a SS check your cost forminimal insurance goes up by 50+ dollars in JAN!

  15. My toilet paper discovery. Not all, but most.
    I stock lots of tp; I did have 6 years worth at one time.
    Needless to say when first starting storing things, one finds a better way or a better system–hence, things get moved.
    While moving the packages of tp, I noticed as they were side by side on the floor some tp was more narrow. Not the cardboard, the tp itself.
    Obvious as all heck–they narrowed the roll, but not the cardboard.

  16. @jj…. yes, the roll itself is shorter, but also fatter! They must really think we are stupid and can not see what is up!
    This is a sore spot for me, as I don’t like being deceived. Always told my kids, and grandkids…tell the truth…hahaha pretty hard lesson when the children see our own government lying every day.

  17. The weight goes down, the volume goes down, the price goes up.
    This has been going on for years. Nothing new here, EXCEPT, it is increasing more rapidly now!
    We, the SHEEPLE, bleat and bleat, but the bleat goes on.
    We are a nation of talkers; no longer a nation of doers.
    We accept what we are given.
    The demise of a nation.

    1. Don’t put me in that catagory of talkers!! I have signed petitions, called and faxed Law Makers in DC, and have labeled certain politicians cowards for their lack of action in direct emails to them!!

      It is NOW TIME to replace these worthlass SOBs with ones that wont be bought off!! Period!!!

      1. BeingWatched; I dont want to seem jaded about the political system, but good luck finding a (ANY) politician who is not “bought” lock, stock, and barrel. They are all as crooked, self-serving, and power hungry as the day is long. A VERY sad situation in the land of the free.

  18. Want to know the REAL cost of that ground beef you believed was “a good deal”??

    Buy 1 pound (16 ounces) of ground beef.
    Cook the ground beef thoroughly, then drain off all of the fat and water added in.
    Now use a good kitchen scale to weigh your cooked beef. Use a scale that measures in grams or ounces to the hundreds-place.

    The beef that you thought was “a good deal” for $3.99/pound has somehow shrunk to a mere 10 ounces….That makes the $3.99/pound ground beef $6.40 for the actual 10 ounces of meat. OMG!!

    We learned of this when we began making dog food. We bought some supermarket beef for the dog food and after seeing such a high fat/water amount, we weighed a few of them. We soon learned it was better to get the ground beef at the local butcher w/ a 90%-95% meat, or just use more poultry.

  19. I recently bought a package of tp that said on the outside “60% more sheets” but the sheets are thinner so that you have to use twice as many. The cardboard roll is much bigger around, so you are buying air.

    Pasta is 12 oz instead of a pound; bacon is 12 oz instead of a pound; cheese has 60 calories per slice instead of 70 (in fact the Velveeta I just bought only has 45 calories per slice.)

  20. No one wants to hear this any more than I enjoy saying it, but what you are seeing is ‘American Christianity’ in action. Money, money, and more money, with less and less service or product. The Almighty doesn’t exist anymore unless it is the Almighty Dollar. What a mess.

  21. Just came from the store. Everything has changed when it comes to food. I was trying to by a can of pears for my granddaughter. All made in China. (I buy as little as possible if sourced in China & absolutely NO food products) She didn’t get pears. Ended up with peaches I had canned. I remember when my sons were small their favorite snack was Cheezit crackers. They came in a 1 pound box, not anymore. The box shrank price went up. Between corporations and their need for profits and the increase in the ingredients we get squeezed. People do not pay attention in the store. I check price per unit. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy a smaller unit and get two than to get the family size. Unfortunately nothing will change until there is a major event to rattle peoples cages. It will be to late but it seems like most people are asleep at the wheel. SNAFU

  22. True christianity teaches honesty socialist christanity teaches to take, steal and hid behind the name of christianity.

  23. haven’t read all the comments, but for sure I have noticed this too.

    Another thing I have noticed..

    it used to be automatic that if you bought a larger sized container of something, it was cheaper/gm than buying two or three small sized containers of same.

    Not so anymore. Quite often I find that it is cheaper to buy the two or three smaller containers to make up the size of the big one. Often quite a bit cheaper.

    seems to me that is another sleight of hand.

  24. I am so glad to see this article, Ken! I have been telling my dh that my hunt for decently priced food is a battle. He finally went shopping with me. LOL!!! Thought the man was going to pass out! One thing I do know has gone up is the canned frosting. In less than 1 year, it went from $1.19 to over $2 a container. It’s not used often, but wow!

    In reference to the cooked meat comment, I weighed 1 lb of raw burger, cooked it, weighed it. I had less than a half lb of 85% lean from a national store. Then, I started buying meat in a parking lot….93% lean comes out between 90% and 95% when cooked.

  25. Well, Ok, I’m probably going to get blasted for saying this. But…….

    As much as I dislike, distrust, disown and just all out HATE the Government, I don’t think we can honestly blame this particular article topic on them/it (and yes I choked when I typed that). Yes slightly higher tax on food can be part of the problem (Food here does not get taxed BTW) also the regulations put on food, but who is it that demands those regulations? And yes I know other things in the “food chain” get taxed, but not proportionally to the increases of food costs.

    I blame the fact that some high-school drop-out gang-banger is making $15+ an hour for flipping a burger or an automobile worker that gets $45 and hour and benefits for installing lug-nuts. I blame the suppliers that want their 50% cut of what that sell in order to pay their workers. I blame the people that want higher and higher wages for doing nothing more in their jobs, and actually want a cut in the amount of their productivity and want more money. I blame the Unions for higher and higher and higher wages and lifetime benefits/retirement. I almost agree with taxdn2poverty, it’s about money money money AKA profits. Christianity or religion has nothing to do with it, nor does the government.

    Please remember there is NO inflation in the US or the world, well if you believe that one I have some wonderful swamp land in Florida for sale. As long as people want more and more and are willing to pay for it (even with Credit) then there will be inflation, period.

    As Ken said; “While the food industry and .gov continues to hide ‘real’ food inflation”. Well actually it’s not hidden its right there on the label and price tag. If people are too stupid to figure this out for themselves, well ………. My friends we cannot save the world, so save yourselves. Storing/growing food is a smart investment.

    One last point, does anyone remember a few years back when the Government was proposing a “tax” on Gardens? I wonder when that’s coming back? Can anyone say Nov. 2016?

    NRP

    PS; I also remember when Gas, at 90 octane, was $0.23 a gallon. Of course we also had the Cubin Missile Crises. Nothing really changes.

    1. NRP

      Well stated. We still largely have a free market. Two sides to a sale… The offer and the purchase. If you don’t like the offer, don’t buy. Vote with your pocketbook.
      Mack

    2. Government spending causes inflation. QE caused inflation. Printing money and giving it to DOW JONES causes inflation. Money is pointed and has no real valse.

  26. @ NRP…well, friend at .23 per gallon…you just dated yourself! I remember the same, and when I went off to college (around that same time) Campbell’s tomato soup was 6 cents per can! and it was actually made with tomatoes and not canned in a BPA liner!

    Shame to see so much damage in the changes in the world. When I graduated college I lived on $460 per month…covered my mustang payment, rent of 2 bedroom place shared with my sister, food, clothes and we STILL had money to play on. Amazing what 50 years will do! This is why old people (not me) choose to let go and die….My grandmother was 106 and said she just didn’t want to miss anything….not sure I actually want to live that long.

    1. @ Pioneer Woman
      Ahhhhh Heck PW, I KNOW I’m old, 62 to be honest, and I have to admit life is just starting to get “interesting”. I want to stick around to see what happens next Nov. HAHAHA the Circus should be entertaining that’s for sure.

      I truly have seen a lot of increases lately, not only in food but all across the board. Building materials have sky-rocketed (concrete has doubled in 2 years, $140 a year, are they crazy? It’s rocks for crying out loud!!!!) as have all of the “grid tied” services. Thank God there is no inflation, would HATE to see what that would look like……..
      NRP

      1. Isn’t technology wonderful? My smart phone is really cheap and a lot more powerful than just a couple of years ago. My cell phone plan just doubled the data gigs for “free”.

        Too bad we can’t eat technology!

        Because the cost of food and a lot of other things have gone crazy and the cost of tech has gone down, so we have no inflation on the government average. I am sure it makes sense to somebody, right?

        1. NRP,

          you know why I lost my gov job? Because I ended up with throwing a temper tantrum and not so much of my ladylike behavior cussing everyone to hell. Sit back everyone, here it comes what I questioned down the office line of those higher in the ranks then me: Me: You want me to process a modification and pay three people for four days at eight hours a day to install 24 sheets of sheet rock which retails at 8 bucks a piece in Lowes and HD ( that happend to me, about three and a half years ago btw.) at a cost to the tax payer for 30 grand ( yes, 30 thousand dollars-you are not misreading and it is not a typo. Them a few months later: you are terminated. Needless to say, this was just the “small” stuff…
          Now you know why I lost my job and can’t find a job ( no, tax payers are not footing the bill for me and my kids survival-I had to finally borrow money from couple of good friends ). So, this is part of the greed going on, its not just food, its everything, its always more…oh, I did not invest in the stock market….don’t believe in fiat currency and some cheap paper saying I own something…I prefer my own food, and pay everything in chash…then I know I own it. Good comments everyone, learning every days something new and I hope that new knowledge will come handy.

  27. A while back Robert Atkins from the site “Grandpappy” checked out 15 items by calorie change from Aug. 2014 to April 2015. I will just give you 3 of them. Bumble Bee Tuna in oil…287 cal. to 140 cal. up 33% per cal. Spam 1084 cal. to 840 cal. up 28.5% per cal. DelMonte Spag. Sauce 350 cal. to 240 cal.up 16.7 % per cal. Cans were the same oz. Therefore there must have been more water, sawdust etc to give you less calories. He also weighed Charman TP & in the same time frame a roll had gone from 3.7 to 2.7 oz. Same number of sheets. If you go to his site you can get the full list. Lots of ways to skin us cats.

  28. @ NRP….same age…just as curious as you! we shall see what tomorrow brings!

  29. If I may add one more little thought.

    We all now realize most foods are labeled with the “calorie” count and the “ingredients”. Something to ask yourself is where are the calories they list coming from? If you purchase a can of Tuna, how much of that “food” is actually Tuna? And how many calories are actually from the Tune? And how many calories are from the “oils” (and other junk Tuna parts) they add? So in all reality a can of Tuna 10 years ago may have been 100% of calories from the eatable Tuna, now days??????? Good luck with that one :-)

    NRP

    PS; has anyone actually open a can of Tuna lately? I did, it’s all mush, not a single “chunk” of Tuna in there. I have STOPPED buying that (for lack of a decent word) “yuck”.

    1. NRP, I agree with you on the tuna. It was sometime last year that I really started noticing that. I’d been buying the same brand my whole life, and at first I just thought I had a can that hadn’t aged well, but they all seemed to be that way. Then I bought a brand new can and tried it, and found that it now comes that way. I also bought a couple of other brands, and found that some are still chunky, unlike my former favorite. I buy them now, but I’m still eating my stash of the old stuff.

      1. NRP and Wendy…

        yes , I too have noticed this about canned Tuna…

        both the calories from oil, and the dodgy look of it.

        all I can say is,
        about forty yrs ago, I ate canned Tuna many times a week. It was cheap and easy. Then, it suddenly started looking/tasting/smelling quite different. I just couldn’t eat it anymore. Asked around, others didn’t seem to notice.

        Then, about nine months to yr after I quit eating canned Tuna, a big expose came out, they had been cutting corners to the extent that the canned Tuna folks was buying (and I had quit buying) was not even up to dog food quality grade. bout yr after that it all seemed to improve..but..Wonder if they are “at it again”?

        1. It may be the radiation from Fukushima breaking down the tuna in the can. The Pacific Ocean is now a radiation heat sink. Good luck.

      2. I used to eat canned meats for my work lunch, but rarely do anymore. All water packed foods have increased in ‘slosh’ factor. Shake the can in the store – you can hear the difference. Wal-Mart Chunk Chicken Breast has especially been hard hit – really making that chicken last more per can.

    2. I got sick after eating a can of tuna once and mentioned it to a fellow that use to work on fishing boats all over the oceans and he told me that on foreign boats fish is often left in the sun all day before going into the hatch. Up until that I thought that I had become allergic.

      1. We also stopped buying tuna shortly after Fukishima. I still have tuna from before that time. We treat it like gold, eating it sparingly.

  30. I work for a food manufacturer (one mentioned in a comment above). There are many instances where, even when the company recognizes that it cannot decrease the package size or openly raise prices, it can certainly buy cheaper ingredients, take out ingredients, or keep the package size the same but make the product smaller.

    It does all come down to the mighty dollar (profits) demanded by shareholders. That and the fact that not being able to get good talent to work for you actually costs more in the longer run, although they haven’t figured that out yet…so the savings have to come from the product. I am only 46 but have noticed a HUGE decrease in work ethic in the “younger” generation. It’s concerning.

  31. I worked in the supermarket refrigeration industry for over 20 years. One thing that I did to keep my sanity, was to compare prices. WalFart started this over 10 years ago. Everyone else was selling products by the pound, WalFart had the same brand product for the same price, but at a reduced size. For instance I used to watch Oscar Meyer bologna as a comparison, it was a common sale item. Other stores would run a sale, on it by the pound. WalFart would be only 14.5 oz packages, for the same as others pound products.
    I asked a manager at another store about this, and his comment was. They new that was going on, but WalFart was the only one that could get custom sized packages.
    After that I learned a lot about WalFart, lowest price my a$$.
    I also just read something on Aldi beef found with horse meat?
    I recommend to educate your self on all these tricks, it gets costly if you don’t. And grow more of your own. It’s almost like having a second job, at the current prices!

  32. Years and years and years of printing Monopoly money by the illegal banking cartel, AKA The Fed, is finally starting to take effect. Just wait until the BRICS and their new global bank really starts to gain traction. Bye-bye the dollar being the world reserve currency. All that Monopoly money will come flooding back into these United States and then hyper-inflation really kicks in. Not a matter of if but when.

    For those interested in finding out more about this unconstitutional cartel, I suggest reading ‘The Creature from Jekyll Island’. A true eye opener.

  33. “newbie”, NRP, et.al……

    NRP: 62? Only 62? You just take the training wheels off yer bicycle? You remember gasoline at 23 cents/gallon? I remember “gas wars” and paying 11 cents/gallon. Note to those that don’t understand…..”gas wars” were because gas stations used to be a mom-n-pop thing not a corporate scam. They had to ‘work’ for a living. They did what it takes to get customer in the driveway , like pumping the gas for you, wash your windshield, they checked your water, oil, and asked if you wanted a “free” coke. (NOTE: You ain’t gonna find that in todays society.)

    Newbie: Put 5% in the “company 401K”, and 5% in the coffee can in the garage. (NOTE: The coffee can will be worth more in the long run.) And you are correct. The shareholders have a higher priority than the customers.

    Let me throw in a wee-bit of information from the prospective of a multi-billion dollar military/government contractor ‘worker-bee’…. The employees want what? We gave them a 1% raise for the last 10 years (READ: 1% AVERAGE IN 10 YEARS)…..what kind of crap do they want now? Working water fountains? How do they expect us to show ‘our’ appreciation of those that run this place (and the shareholders) by anything less than a 50% increase in compensation per year? We only pay them 10,000% more than they’re worth!

    Stepping down from the stump…..

    Indeed, reducing the ‘product’ quantity, and in most cases, quality, but keeping the cost to the consumer the same, is how they keep the ‘elite’ happy. As in the ‘appreciation indicators’ (read: $$$$) high enough to keep their Lamborghini payments current. You, me, and the people down the road are the subjects of the end-game of a rip-off-the-consumer as best we can in as short of time frame possible. (READ: Screw the suckers that make us $$$$$!) So, as has been said multiple times before, GROW YOUR OWN! (OK….Grin you weed smoking hippies!)

    On a more serious note….

    Quit wasting your $$$ on Chinese junk. Quit wasting your $$$ on Argentinian junk. Buy as much as you can from Fred, or George, or Al down the road. It’s grown in the USA. Or what used to be known as the USA. At least it wasn’t picked LAST YEAR and FROZEN until they dropped it off at Slaveway. OBTW….look into a local butcher. I have found beef, etc., costs to be more than attractive with local people.

    Outta here……need to check my FREE tomatoes in the back yard.

    1. So true. A question for everyone: in many stores there is food from China now. Will you buy it? We will not. And what of the new trade deal where we ship animals to China and they are shipped back processed for sale in our stores? I am horrified at what these animals suffer in transit. But here is my question: How do we fight this? Our elected officials do nothing. Personally, our family searches out local sustainable farming methods here. And we grow a lot of our produce and orchard fruits. But it is hard to ignore the bigger picture. What say all of you?

      1. I thought I was the only one that noticed all of the food from China. It is very difficult to find any juice that is domestic. Same with a lot of the canned fruits. The “Polar” brand of canned/jarred vegetables/fruits is Chinese.
        I have been unable to find any canned apricots this year in any store I have been in. Another reader a few days ago said the same thing. I have been looking for several weeks.

      2. I agree DJ5280. When buying canned fruit/veggies we always look at country of origin. If it comes from other countries, we pass. I’ll pay a few pennies more for grown and packaged here in the USA. I read that other countries use pesticides that are banned here in the US. You buy and eat food from other countries, then you wonder why your health is declining. Now all that money that you saved at the grocery store can be spent at your doctors.

    2. @ Look&lern
      HAHAHA, I had a GREAT laugh, thanks, training wheels, ROFLMAO.
      But your exactly right. “grow your own man”, as a little side note, I did hear that Colorado just passed $100,000,000, that’s right $100 million in pot sales since the first of the year. Not that I would ever……. inhale.

      Interesting you mention the “gas wars” I do remember the “gas shortages” of the 70s when sheeple waited inline for 3-5 hours for 10 gallons of gas. also had to buy gas on the “odd-even” days. Calif. is NOT the place to be when (not if) when the SHTF no matter how big or small.
      NRP

  34. Nothing new here! This charade has been going on for a long long time. All above are good examples of the “Bait & Switch”. Here’s one for you…facial tissues or “Kleenix”. You used to buy a box that contained 180-220 tissues. Then it dropped to 150, then to 120, then to 100. Now I notice the same size box for the same price contains only 80 tissues. Only the morons don’t notice the charade and scam fostered on the American consumer.
    I agree, continue to stock up on sale items and pay attention to the posted “cost per unit” price this gives you the real cost. Food and preps are better than money in the bank!

    1. The price of paper products is ridiculous, we stopped buying paper towels, napkins and found a cheap alternative in farm supply stores; brown folded paper towels for dairy cow sanitation.

      1. have to check those out myself.

        on the other hand, I admit I am a softie/suck..Are those brown squares about the same as using sandpaper?

        1. Not like sandpaper, I think they are pretty much the same as in the brown paper towel dispensers.

  35. I’ve got to chime in and say I agree with all of the above observations. My wife is the one who sees it most as she does most of the grocery shopping. Canned salmon looks to be the same amount but the cost is going up a dollar a year. I have no idea how much we have, probably over a 100 cans but the use by date on it is terrific. Okay, just checked and it is now 14.5 ounces and I’m pretty sure it used to be 16. Anyone know why salmon cans are tapered? I’ve always wondered. I presume it is so more empty cans can be shipped in the same size box. Tuna weight is also down from 8 oz. to 7 oz. They do have a new smaller size can that is 5 oz. I’m also very peeved by the sponges they put under meat now. They add a couple of ounces to the weight we’re paying for. Just as bad is the brine injected for increased flavor. Just more cheap weight they can charge for. One of my favorite rip off attempts was the guy in the meat department who sold me a pound of shrimp. It looked so nice sitting on the ice chips. When he tried to sell me half a pound of ice chips along with the shrimp at the same price as the shrimp I chewed him a new one!

    1. use by date on sardines and caned corned beef is amazing too (and considering it is said to be good yrs after that)…five yrs often for the date

  36. my favorite is “contents may have settled during shipping” that’s why everything is only a third full when I open it

  37. I can’t prove it, but I’m convinced that grocery store canned goods have a lot more “liquid” in them than they used to. Especially store-brand veggies. Same sized cans, fewer actual veggies or beans, etc.

    1. Years ago canned fruits and vegetables used to weigh a pound. On the back of the label some companies would give the weight of the food contained, so you could then do the math to be able to tell the amount of liquid added (water to vegetables, juice or sugar syrup to fruits). One company I remember doing this was Del Monte. That information has long since been removed from can labels, but I too am convinced there is much more liquid added to cans today.

    2. Yes,…much more liquid in every canned vegetable, teh serving sizes have been reduced and in some items the number of serving ADA is no where near right… string beans ADA serving, 3/4 cup., 6 oz. now in 14 or 15 oz can it can NOT have 3.5 servings!

  38. I haven’t bought cereal in ages until I noticed a special, I picked up the box and it was letter thin,and put it back down again… and I betcha the box is only half full when they claim “due to settling”. BS! Shake the box up, try to re-arrange the contents and it is still half full!

    1. When we buy cereals, pre-made, I buy the big bags, with ziplock packages. One I buy is 32 oz. 3.29 each. same amount in boxes, are 7-10$ and must buy at least two boxes to get like amount.

  39. About a year ago I needed a pair of jeans and have been wearing Levi’s for 46 years. I don’t believe I ever paid full price. Any way I found them on sale for $50 and I couldn’t believe the price. That was my threshold. The quality of the product has been in decline for some time as the thickness of the material has decreased along with life expectancy. I found a good replacement in Carhart brand blue jeans approximately $12 to $15 savings per pair.

    1. check out second hand/thrift shopes/value village. chances are you will find some nearly new/cheap and all because they might not be current fad.

    2. @ Skill Builder
      As a side note, did I not understand that Levi’s pulled all of their manufacturing out of the US? Now made in Mex, and China.
      NRP

  40. Great article. All I can say is… it’s a great time to be alive. Just think of the history/ stories we will be able to tell. We will be the grand-parents we use to listen to when we were younger. Keep a journal.

  41. today in grocery stores, I made a point of checking…

    yes, on at least half of the things I checked, they had new versions (as compared to mine at home), similar colors on pack / jar, but
    smaller quantity and raised prices..S.O.B.s

  42. oh, yes..for sure on water content of hamburger..

    however

    anyone noticed, pretty much all meat grocery store purchased is similar?

    I have made a point of checking, and it does not even matter what
    chicken breasts/roast/beef/pork, it all shrinks a lot, and a lot of water in pan…Guess they are injecting water for weight, and we pay for water.

    in fact, last turkey we bought, actually had on the label/wrap…..this turkey is x per cent content water. this is due to…(cant recall what they said).

  43. Try Costco, the price goes up but the quality seems to hold.

    Cheers

    1. Costco is the hamburger I ended up with less than 1/2 lb of cooked meat….

  44. Ken Thanks for the timely article, the food inflation is quietly or quickly hitting the the fast food arena also as an example I have watched Mickie’ds Mac double which was at 99 cents last winter, go to 1.19 in the spring of this year then by summer 1.39 today it is at 1.50. So much for the dollar menu. Wally world, as an example may not be a food item but coleman fuel is now 12.95 a gallon OMG eggs and butter are neck and neck at or above the $4 level here in Nv. The hyper-inflation monster has arrived and most people are trying to ignore or even dismiss their reality of it. We are a nation that is existing on borrowed time. So one popular radio talk shows prediction (in 2012)of $25 for a can of beans is beginning to become the new reality.

  45. Take a block of chocolate. It’s $4.00
    Put it on special for $2.50
    Off special for $4.50.
    Put it back on special for $3.50 announce you save one dollar.
    Put price back off special to $4.50
    Back on special for $4.00
    Off special again for $5.00.
    Put on permanent special for $4.50 announce you are saving one dollar.
    Then on special for only two weeks a month. Then one week a month.

    Move specials to sugar candy and no more chocolate specials – leave price at $5.00 or more.

  46. Lets look at the root cause , the added taxes that they now pay due to the affordable care bill is being passed on ( no surprise ) Not only do they cut the amount packaged but the prices are also up . When low income people are told it wont affect them only a fool believes that . I would suggest everyone start growing and putting up JMO

  47. Sunday, I was at a W*mart grocery looking for frozen chicken. I am out and my Zaycon delivery isn’t for another 2 weeks. I find 2 bags that look exactly alike and are the same price. One is in he end of he freezer bin with a lot of bags, 2.5 lbs. The other bag was tucked away in the corner of a different freezer unit, 3 lb. I don’t think the 3 lb bags will be there next time I go there.

    1. Defrosted a chicken yesterday. Large block of ice (added weight)in the body cavity. I guess I should probably do a weight comparison on frozen versus thawed to find out just how much water we are buying with the chicken.

  48. my quart of home grown green beans is still a quart.

    just like last year, and the year before, and the year before that, and the year before that, and ……………….

    just like grandma mable’s quart of green beens back in the depression.

    Cool huh.

    1. come now…

      (grin)

      you are obviously using “old math”..

      big stores these days use “new math”..

  49. What people don’t realize is that raising prices without raising income makes corporations poorer too. Make sense? Corporations cannot possible make more money if we have less money to give them. They are shooting themselves in the foot. :)

  50. In my area in 10 years; rent up 20%, electricity up 38%.
    Food more than 10% per year, meat over 20% per year.
    Yet the inflation is around 1%. WHAT!
    When living becomes survival.
    I’m sure glad I’ve got some food storage.

  51. Ok. Just moved to a new state and got a new health care policy (same company we had but they do things differently here). Anyway, they used to cover my insulin, strips and lancets that I need to stay alive. For an entire year I used to pay around $100 for the three items since it is a preventative type of medication and keeps a lot of costly complications away.

    So I just got the new policy figured out and here they list the insulin, strips and lancets as preventative but require that you use the brands that they consider generic. Ok. So that means they will pay for the strips and lancets completely but, well, there just isn’t a generic insulin. So since they only pay a percentage, my cost for a year would now be $6000. AND since it is considered a preventative medication, it does not go toward any deductible. ( And I haven’t had a chance to find out how much I will pay for my insulin pump supplies… dreading this…)

    Ok. Insulin was discovered back in the 1920’s… over 90 years ago! I have been taking it for almost 2 decades. WHY is there no generic? I do not need any more updates to the insulin. Just keep it the same and allow generic manufacturers to exist!

    And why has the cost been skyrocketing for years? What about the families with kids and adults just trying to survive with this extra cost on top of an already exhausting disease… why? If you google the rising cost of insulin you will find all the medical journals and conversation outposts talking about this at length and end up with… yes we need a cheaper generic insulin but what can they really do about it? So far, nothing.

    Oh, and I need to calm down about this before the holidays… will probably see a relative (in-law) who is high up in a drug company that profits from this very situation… Oh the frustration.

    So if you know of any insulin dependent diabetics or their families, give them an extra smile or two. We need it.

  52. Check out orange juice. 1/2 gal(64 oz)is now 59 oz. Did they forget how to make 64 oz containers?

  53. way around the bacon one, we buy the ‘bacon ends and pieces” which is a larger package full of odds and ends but its usually only nominally more than the regular bacon, and the one we buy has no nitrites in it, as we all suffer from migraines.

Comments are closed.