Saturday, April 30, 2011 - 1:18 PM

Examples Of Sneaky Food Price Inflation

I've been seeing this more in the news lately, but I came across a new example of this today as I was grocery shopping. It's a sneaky price hike in which instead of raising prices, they shrink the container size.

The example is a bottle of Ragu pasta sauce. From the picture, can you tell which is bigger?

Two bottles of Ragu Pasta Sauce

A closeup of the weight labels reveals the reduction.

closeup showing the weights

As you can see, the weight has shrunk from 26oz to 24oz which is a reduction of 7.70%. The price is the same as before. They are still selling the 26oz bottles, but these probably won't last much longer.

If you have other examples of this stealth price increase, please leave a comment. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of this if the recent energy and food inflation continues.

KenBDG5,147 posts since
Nov 29, 2009
Rep Points: 117,067

1. Saturday, April 30, 2011 - 6:18 PM

But food price inflation is not core inflation that the Fed looks at. Food could double in price but as long as flat-panel televisions or laptops decrease in price then there is no inflation according to the Fed. It's all a scheme devised to bankrupt the consumer.

Shorebreak1,302 posts since
Apr 6, 2010
Rep Points: 4,907

2. Saturday, April 30, 2011 - 9:53 PM

I remember when Ragu and Prego had 32 ounces of sauce in the jar and when coffee had 36 ounces in the can. Doesn't seem that long ago.

rosie43183 posts since
Jan 16, 2010
Rep Points: 568

3. Sunday, May 1, 2011 - 9:17 PM

Keep an eye on packs of hot dogs going from 12 oz. to 11 oz. packages.

Shorebreak1,302 posts since
Apr 6, 2010
Rep Points: 4,907

4. Tuesday, May 3, 2011 - 2:46 PM

Tuna cans are now 5 oz. What was 1/2 gallon of ice cream is now 48 oz. H-m-m.

May soon be thinner.

Patty5 posts since
Oct 21, 2010
Rep Points: 12

5. Tuesday, May 3, 2011 - 3:33 PM

Not just food being effected. Bars of soap are getting scoop marks in them to reduce weight same size package though, simple things like toilet paper sheets being more narrow and thinner. WTH.

Ricochet100 posts since
Jan 19, 2010
Rep Points: 277