shrinkflation

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Stonecarver
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shrinkflation

Post by Stonecarver »

Okay stuff has been getting less and less over time in products. It has been a gradual thing but recently they have gone crazy. Anyone know why?
Not worried about powering the whole house,just eating hot food,getting a brew,seeing through the dark,and staying warm.
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grenfell
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Re: shrinkflation

Post by grenfell »

From what I've gleaned from radio and tv there seems to be the feeling amongst producers that a drop in size , say from 500g to 450g , is far less noticeable to consumers than say an equilivent rise in price . Of course it sometimes doesn't always work that way , the toblerone bar is a good example of that.
jansman
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Re: shrinkflation

Post by jansman »

It is a bit of that.I am in the food industry,and I can tell you this much: Over the last decade or so, consumers( I hate that term) have come to
expect cheap food.When outside influences cause inflation,the producers do as grenfell mentioned.Size decrease,not price increase,as they know there will be consumer resistance.Resistance to price increase has become ingrained in UK culture,although we expect higher wages!

I cannot stress how strong customer resistance is to ( food) price increases,and nobody is making money.Two beef plants we dealt with have moved to Poland this year because they can't make money,and labour is cheaper there.This will lead to more imports,for sure,and its certainly happening in the meat industry.One reason that English lamb is so expensive is because the French love it and are prepared to pay proper money.They are currently buying everything in sight.That makes what is still here even more expensive!

I am not saying the 'B' word- but get used to higher food prices.
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Arwen Thebard
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Re: shrinkflation

Post by Arwen Thebard »

jansman;

Can I ask what percentage of your own veg / meat / dairy etc do you expect to grow each year?
Do you save your own seeds?

Always a good hedge against rising food prices
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"What did you learn today?"
jansman
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Re: shrinkflation

Post by jansman »

Arwen Thebard wrote:jansman;

Can I ask what percentage of your own veg / meat / dairy etc do you expect to grow each year?
Do you save your own seeds?

Always a good hedge against rising food prices
Yes you may ask.We buy no eggs.We buy no salads,as that is taken care of by using the polytunnel and seasonal plants.Brassicas are covered and Alliums too.Although ' normal' onions we buy in.Spuds I can grow for half the year,and right now Jerusalem Artichokes are coming in to supplement them.Tomatoes are frozen and dried for use in cooking and last a good half year.I will only eat fresh tomatoes in season.We have stored apples from the little orchard ( five trees) and the plums I dehydrate or brew.Dried chillies from the greenhouse and enough root veg to last until fed up with them.Perpetual spinach is always there and provides a picking at least once a week,( used some tonight in a pasta dish).

Then we have the rabbits.I sell most of them on,but during Winter we eat one or two a week.I wish we still had the goats,but I lost the land to keep those, and I do miss the milk.And the meat for the best ever curry.However,I do shoot,and there is no shortage of game and pigeons.I fish too,and that is my real passion.My wife is not a fan of fish to eat,but now and again I will take a Perch ( the river here is teeming with them), or a Zander.The Environment Agency electro fish them as they are a pest species,so no guilt there! :D

I wish I had more room to grow more beans.I could take another allotment, but that is valuable fishing time! And yes,I save seeds- big time.Although there are one or two here who save seeds to the nth degree,don't they Brambles? :lol:
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

Robert Frost.

Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

Me.
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Brambles
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Re: shrinkflation

Post by Brambles »

jansman wrote:
Arwen Thebard wrote:jansman;

Can I ask what percentage of your own veg / meat / dairy etc do you expect to grow each year?
Do you save your own seeds?

Always a good hedge against rising food prices
Yes you may ask.We buy no eggs.We buy no salads,as that is taken care of by using the polytunnel and seasonal plants.Brassicas are covered and Alliums too.Although ' normal' onions we buy in.Spuds I can grow for half the year,and right now Jerusalem Artichokes are coming in to supplement them.Tomatoes are frozen and dried for use in cooking and last a good half year.I will only eat fresh tomatoes in season.We have stored apples from the little orchard ( five trees) and the plums I dehydrate or brew.Dried chillies from the greenhouse and enough root veg to last until fed up with them.Perpetual spinach is always there and provides a picking at least once a week,( used some tonight in a pasta dish).

Then we have the rabbits.I sell most of them on,but during Winter we eat one or two a week.I wish we still had the goats,but I lost the land to keep those, and I do miss the milk.And the meat for the best ever curry.However,I do shoot,and there is no shortage of game and pigeons.I fish too,and that is my real passion.My wife is not a fan of fish to eat,but now and again I will take a Perch ( the river here is teeming with them), or a Zander.The Environment Agency electro fish them as they are a pest species,so no guilt there! :D

I wish I had more room to grow more beans.I could take another allotment, but that is valuable fishing time! And yes,I save seeds- big time.Although there are one or two here who save seeds to the nth degree,don't they Brambles? :lol:
What? me? :D What can I say,I like to keep a good strain going and I'm a tightwad and we like to share! don't we Jansman? :lol:

The Brambling was on about keeping a few Bantams once he's brought his house, he misses homegrown eggs. If I can't find a livestock auction locally, we might have to nip over to Melton.
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Arwen Thebard
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Re: shrinkflation

Post by Arwen Thebard »

"I fish too,and that is my real passion"

Any crayfish issues / available in your part of the country?
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Arzosah
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Re: shrinkflation

Post by Arzosah »

jansman wrote:We buy no eggs.We buy no salads,as that is taken care of by using the polytunnel and seasonal plants.Brassicas are covered and Alliums too.Although ' normal' onions we buy in.Spuds I can grow for half the year,and right now Jerusalem Artichokes are coming in to supplement them.Tomatoes are frozen and dried for use in cooking and last a good half year.I will only eat fresh tomatoes in season.We have stored apples from the little orchard ( five trees) and the plums I dehydrate or brew.Dried chillies from the greenhouse and enough root veg to last until fed up with them.Perpetual spinach is always there and provides a picking at least once a week,( used some tonight in a pasta dish).

Then we have the rabbits.I sell most of them on,but during Winter we eat one or two a week.I wish we still had the goats,but I lost the land to keep those, and I do miss the milk.And the meat for the best ever curry.However,I do shoot,and there is no shortage of game and pigeons.I fish too,and that is my real passion.My wife is not a fan of fish to eat,but now and again I will take a Perch ( the river here is teeming with them), or a Zander.The Environment Agency electro fish them as they are a pest species,so no guilt there! :D

I wish I had more room to grow more beans.I could take another allotment, but that is valuable fishing time! And yes,I save seeds- big time.Although there are one or two here who save seeds to the nth degree,don't they Brambles? :lol:
Good grief! I'm seriously impressed jansman, and humbled too. That's amazing, and congratulations. I'm planning, finally, to actually plant and harvest properly next year, now that the bulk of the building works and all the family disruptions are done. Fruit, perennials and perpetuals, thats my game, and that will help with food prices.

Back to the thread topic: I used to buy frozen veg from Iceland, but I've stopped - the Waitrose is as close, even though its in the other direction, and its more or less the same price: 800g at Iceland for £1, 1kg at Waitrose for £1.35. And the tipping point was that the stalks in the Iceland stuff were rotting inside, after 4 days in my freezer, I kept retching :( sorry for TMI.
It's really not worth buying food like that :(
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Arwen Thebard
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Re: shrinkflation

Post by Arwen Thebard »

"Okay stuff has been getting less and less over time in products. It has been a gradual thing but recently they have gone crazy. Anyone know why?"

Today's unsustainable economic model demands businesses achieve ever increasing profits and if they can't sell more product they drive down supplier costs and cut back on what they actually provide to the end user.

Some call it sensible business practice, I call it simple greed.
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jansman
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Re: shrinkflation

Post by jansman »

Arwen Thebard wrote:"I fish too,and that is my real passion"

Any crayfish issues / available in your part of the country?
They are creeping in gradually.However,when I catch the few I come across...I eat them! :lol:
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

Robert Frost.

Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

Me.