Shrinkflation Is Real: 20 Grocery Items That Have Shrunk Most In Size
Paying More For Less?
Have you noticed your bag of chips being less full or your bottles and cans looking slimmer? You're not imagining it. Companies opt for quietly shrinking products to account for inflation as opposed to increasing the price to avoid customer backlash, with some products seeing an up to 25 percent reduction in size. Here are the 20 products that have been the biggest victims of shrinkflation.
Afonso Viana da Costa on Wikimedia
1. Toilet Paper
Household paper products like toilet paper have seen the highest rate of change. Some brands have reduced their roll size by 100 sheets, but the price has stayed roughly the same.
2. Cereal
Cereal is another item that has been heavily affected by shrinkflation. Some family-sized boxes have gone from 24 ounces to 21, but the price has increased by over a dollar.
3. Candy
Candy and chocolate have seen a high rate of change, for good and bad, given the sugar content. Cadbury, for example, reduced their chocolate bar size by 10 percent, the price staying the same.
4. Chips
Does your bag of Lay's seem more airy lately? It's not just you. Family-sized bags have decreased by around two ounces, but the price has risen by over a dollar.
5. Granola Bars
If you've felt your afternoon granola bar snack no longer satisfying you, it's not your appetite. Granola bars have gotten smaller, with some brands not even bothering to change the package size, so it's even more noticeable.
6. Cleaning Products
Have you noticed your dish soap or laundry detergent disappearing before your eyes way faster? Some brands have decreased in size by 10 percent, but the price has stayed consistent.
soumya parthasarathy on Unsplash
7. Pasta
Cooking a bag of pasta isn't what it used to be. Packages have reduced in weight by 10 to 13 percent, so now the bag that used to contain exactly one pound is about three ounces short of a pound.
8. Bread
Loaves of bread have decreased in size by roughly 10 percent. Slices have become noticeably smaller, making it harder to hold all your sandwich ingredients.
9. Frozen Vegetables
Bags of frozen vegetables have experienced a whopping 20 percent reduction in size. Brands have quietly changed the weight of things like corn or peas from 16 ounces to 12.
10. Canned Beans
Have you noticed your recipe that calls for beans just not adding up anymore? That's because some brands have changed the standard size of their cans from 16 ounces to 15 or 14.5.
11. Canned Fish
Do you find you're not getting as many sandwiches out of your can of tuna? It has shrunk to match the new size of bread. While it used to be common to find seven-ounce cans of fish, now five is the standard.
12. Baking Soda
Even baking soda isn't safe from the effects of shrinkflation, giving you far fewer tablespoons per bag. The 3.5-pound package of Arm and Hammer you used to buy has been changed to 3 pounds, but the price hasn't changed.
13. Canned Soup
What used to be a hearty and cheap meal in a can is now slightly less filling and not that cheap. For example, Campbell's Chunky Soup has reduced in size by almost five percent.
14. Spices
Spices and seasonings have seen a dramatic decrease in size. For example, a large package of black pepper that used to be eight ounces is now 6, a 25 percent decrease.
15. Salad Dressing
Next time you buy salad dressing, turn the bottle to its side and check out how much thinner it looks. Brands haven't just changed the design for aesthetics; they've decreased the standard bottle size by 11 percent.
16. Yogurt
The standard size of yogurt cups used to be eight ounces. That was reduced to 6 in the early 2000s, and by 2022, it went down all the way to 4.5, almost half of what it used to be.
17. Pasta Sauce
To match your smaller bags of pasta, sauces have also seen a reduction. Some brands have reduced their jars by 10 percent, but the price remains the same.
18. Coffee
Specialty roasters and big brands alike have been reducing the size of their coffee bags. Folgers, for example, downsized from 48 ounces to 40, and more premium coffee companies have changed their bags from one pound to 12 or even 10 ounces.
19. Packaged Cookies
Shrinkflation has made opening a bag of cookies slightly less exciting when you find there are far fewer cookies in the package. Some brands have reduced their packages by 20 percent.
20. Soda
The slimmer bottle designs aren't just to look more modern and aerodynamic; soda has seen significant shrinkage. For example, Coca-Cola reduced its 20-ounce bottle to 17, a 15 percent reduction.
