Would you mind if your favourite foods slimmed down like those of you who have been exercising regularly? I mean, it would save you several calories, right! Manufacturers do not care about your size. However, they do care about the size of their products, removing 4fl oz from Gatorade and 3fl oz from Kraft Real Mayo, giving both slimmer waists.

Why are these items shrinking? Shrinkflation affects what we buy. Generally, the size of a particular product is decreased, while the price stays the same or is increased slightly. Sometimes it’s not the size that changes, rather the quality of the product or its ingredients. This is done to hide inflation.

One foreign company advertises their chips: “Bigger bag, more to share”, while, in fact, this bigger bag weighs the same 500g as the previous smaller bag. Some cereal boxes contain less cereal than before, even though the height remains the same. How? The boxes are slimmer.

Local products are being affected too. One brand doubled the size of their bag of chips, only increased the weight by 40 per cent, but increased the price by 42 per cent. While it seems sneakily deceiving, it is not illegal because the packaging itself does declare the correct weight. That said, I discovered something truly nutty! There are grocery items whose weights have decreased, yet manufacturers have failed to change the corresponding barcodes. So, a pack of a certain snack that used to cost $146.09 (before GCT) for 35g still costs the same, only now it weighs 28g.

The good news is there is no need to give up chocolate in order for you to slim down, because the chocolate has done it for you… so has butter. Some butter brands have either reduced their quarter-pound packets by 13.5g to 100g, or their quarter-kilogram packets by 50g to 200g. Even toilet paper is in on the act, subtly shrinking by 20 sheets. Manufacturers recognise that consumers are price-sensitive, but very few are volume-sensitive, so most people cannot easily detect these changes.

In Jamaica, we are also dealing with an ever-declining currency. Our food suppliers, including supermarkets and restaurants, have their hands tied. If a 250g chocolate bar cost US$1 a year or so ago, but the bar has now slimmed to 180g, costing the same US$1, then the price was J$147 for 250g, but is now J$153 for 180g. To boot, they need to factor in transportation, labour, electricity, etcetera, in order to run their businesses.

While there is an element of convenience in grabbing packet groceries, or dining out, we cannot ignore shrinkflation and the burden it is putting on us. In fact, I am sure many of you are angry, but what can you do?

Work. I don’t mean get a job, though that technically is a must if you want to make a living! I mean, many people labour to produce and transport these conveniences to places where you can buy them. Let me say this again — it takes the work of thousands of people to afford you the convenience of not having to prepare the food yourself. Either you pay for someone else to do the hard work so you can continue to buy packet foods and regularly eat out at restaurants, or you buy fresh local ingredients and cook your own food from scratch, which is less expensive (and healthier) in the long run. Remember, there is no easy way out… suck up shrinkflation or do the work yourself!