this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2025
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During the previous round of shirkflation I warned people about knowing what year a recipe was from because "a can" means something different in 2004 than in 2010. And now it means something different again in 2025.

Now boxes are getting the shrink treatment too.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.bestiver.se/post/618032

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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 15 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Who the fuck is buying those boxes if they still need things like eggs adding?

It's just pre-measured flour, baking soda and sugar. You can do that in under a minute. Shit, the stuff is in the same aisle.

[–] CaptPretentious@lemmy.world 11 points 18 hours ago

Betty Crocker does shrinkflation and you go after the consumer. Way to blame the victim there.

Do you have, in your cupboards, the ingredients to make a German chocolate cake, a pecan cake, and a carrot cake? No? Why not? Swap any of of those for a spice cake, or angel food, or gingerbread... You can't!?!? Why not? A trip to the store and have exactly what I need to make any or all of those. I don't have to pay for extra ingredients that are just going to sit, take up space, and go bad. Do you know how much it would cost to buy all the unique ingredients to make any of those cakes? And you used to get a reliable result too for look, taste, quantity, and quality. But with shrinkflation, that's gone out the door.

Also, ignoring the fact, so many recipes start with a box from Betty Crocker, and then using something they do regularly have at home and use, they add their own little twist on it. Or just use one of those boxes as a base because not everyone has that stuff sitting around or even has the space to store it.

Lastly, flour is one of the most dangerous ingredients to have just sit around in terms of food safety.

But yeah, shame the customer....

[–] Pokey@midwest.social 11 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

The reason for having to add an egg, milk, or some other simple ingredient is because the mix companies found out people were more willing to adopt these mixes if there was a step where they had to do something beyond just adding water. Or at least this is what they told me on the Jiffy Mix factory tour as a child.

[–] JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago

They didn't do a study or anything. There was a prevailing theory at the time those mixes were first created that women have an inherent desire to do cooking stuff and since they figured women would be the main ones shopping for food items, they had to add more cooking actions to trick them into buying their products.

Frozen dinners have similar ploys by adding unnecessary stirring steps to the microwave directions.

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 2 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Boxed baking mixes sell better if they still require eggs to be added. Makes people feel like they're actually baking, as opposed to the just-add-water stuff

[–] dodos@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's brain dead easy cooking and people that do it were probably taught by their parents to.

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 6 points 1 day ago

Restaurants do it all the time. Imagine the cake you really like at that one place. Now imagine that it's literally just Betty Crocker.

I learned this first hand at my very first job at 16 and I've never looked at fast food the same way since. The fast food in question is a well-known regional chain, as large McDonald's. Places like McDonald's have their own dedicated supply chain.