Oh No! Shrinking Cans!!!

[Deanna]

Today I'm making up a pot of Potato Soup--all that talk of leek and potato soup got me in the mood for a nice hot bowl of creamy potato soup!

One of the ingredients on a new recipe I'm trying is chicken stock/broth. So I go to the pantry and pull out five cans; four cans of Butterball 99% fat free that I bought at the grocery store within the last six weeks, and one can of Swanson's 99% fat free that I purchased in an eight-pack from Costco last weekend.

GUESS WHAT?? The Butterball from the grocery store is 14.5 oz. per can, the Swanson's from Costco is 14 oz. per can!

Now tell me that these 14 oz. cans aren't just packaged for Costco...and tell me that all the canned broths aren't going to 14 oz!

I also noticed when I took a pkg of bacon from the freezer that it is no longer a 16 oz. (1 pound) package; instead it is 12 oz. (Jimmy Dean brand). I don't use bacon very often so always thought a package of bacon was 16 oz.!

The world is shrinking...and I'm getting bigger...oh NO!

[Missi]

LOL!!!!!!!

Your post reminds me of that oreo commerical where the little boy is given a mini oreo and he runs home to see if he grew any taller!

On a serious note... this is really annoying. Same price but you get less product. Not to mention having to adjust recipes because of the shrunken size. Let's hope it's not a trend!

[funnybone]

They do this all the time. I remember when my kids were in diapers and they used to make them "new and improved". I didn't notice a big change in them, except for less in a package.

[Svadhisthana]

Companies often shrink their products so that they don't have to increase the price. A few years back the jar pasta sauces were much larger than they are now. It's a shame that there are all these recipes out there calling for "one jar" or "one can" that is affected by inflation. Annoying.

[Deanna]

My point exactly, Svadhisthana!

Soon our recipes will be outdated, because they will ask for one can or one jar and the quantities will be all wrong!

Darn it!

Thanks for taking the time to comment on my post.

d

[Julie O]

I think the changes are sometimes based on customer need. The bacon is a great example. I can't begin to count the number of times I bought a package of bacon when I only needed a few slices. Sizes also vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. I have noticed that some places (Sam's Club, Trader Joe's occassionally) use odd sizes to make you think you're more of a bargain than you actually are. Still, downsizing of products is very real. I remember a few years ago that they changed the Kit Kat (Is it safe for me to mention candy bars here?!) from four bars to three bars in a pack. That didn't last long. I've also noticed that some products are changed so they'll have the same calorie count as a larger-sized competitor. Check the calorie count on several different bags of chips or candy bars, and you'll see what I mean.