Inflation hasn't just made grocery prices go up-it's also made many of our favorite products quietly shrink in size. This sneaky trend, called shrinkflation, means you're often paying the same (or even more) for less food. Here are some everyday items that have gotten smaller over the years.
Breakfast Cereal
Cereal boxes are often taller and thinner now, which makes them look big on the shelf. But inside, you'll find fewer bowls of your favorite flakes or puffs than you used to. LendingTree found that 44% of tracked household items now come in smaller portions. For example, Kellogg's family-sized Frosted Flakes shrank from 24 to 21.7 ounces, pushing per-ounce prices up by 40%
Potato Chips
Chip bags look the same, but when you open them, there's more air than crunch. Many brands have shaved off a couple of ounces, leaving you with fewer chips for the same price. A LendingTree survey found that about 27% of snacks saw portion cuts. Party-size Cheetos, for instance, dropped from 17.5 to 15 ounces, while the per-ounce price jumped from 17 cents to 40 cents.
Ice Cream
That pint of ice cream isn't always a full pint anymore. Many companies reduced the size to 14 or even 12 ounces, but kept the carton looking almost identical. Tillamook is among the rare brands that openly acknowledges on its website that it shrank its ice cream tubs without lowering the price. The container went from 56 ounces down to 48.
Toilet Paper & Paper Towels
Household staples like toilet paper and paper towels now have fewer sheets per roll. The packaging still says "jumbo" or "mega," but they don't last as long as they once did. Almost every brand of toilet paper and paper towels in the study showed a steep jump in cost per sheet. Seventh Generation, for example, rose from $1.70 per 100 sheets in 2020 to $2.70 per 100 sheets - nearly a 60% hike.
Chocolate Bars and Candy
Classic chocolate bars have shrunk over the years. They may still taste the same, but they definitely don't feel as generous in your hand. The same report suggested that 38% of candy items are now sold in smaller amounts.
Coffee
Coffee cans and bags often look the same, but the actual weight is less. You're getting fewer cups out of each purchase without realizing it. Coffee prices have climbed more than 30% since January 2024
Yogurt Cups
Yogurt used to come in full 8-ounce cups, but now many brands only give you 6 ounces or lesser. It's a subtle change, but you feel it when breakfast feels less satisfying.
Peanut Butter
Peanut butter jars today often have thicker plastic bottoms, which cut down the real amount inside. They look like they hold the same quantity, but shoppers end up with less product while paying just as much-or more. For example, in 2008, Skippy quietly shrank its peanut butter jars from 18 ounces to 16.3 ounces-without changing the look of the container.
This trick has also spread to condiments and sauces.
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