Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Ritz Crackers



Today I was chatting with my buddy Nick on IM and told him I had a lunch meeting at Five Guys and would blog about my experience this evening to tell everyone how things went. I fully planned to do so, but quite honestly, I am so tired I can hardly hold my eyes open. However, I just experienced something that made me have to write tonight even in my beaten state.

Do you remember when you were a kid playing with your brothers and sisters in the yard at your grand parents house? You may have been playing football, wiffle ball or just throwing around a Frisbee. Do you remember how huge that yard seemed to you? Then when you went back twenty or thirty years later that damn yard seems so small that you cannot imagine how you ever played and had so much fun in that yard? Well, that is what I experienced tonight in a gastrinomical way.

I went to the store yesterday and was cruising the aisle to pick-up my daughter some snacks and noticed they had Ritz Crackers on sale. It has been a while since we had any Ritz Crackers in the house, so I decided to pick up a box. As I stated previously, I went to Five Guys and had a great burger and fries today with my friend Kelly, so I wasn't that hungry tonight. However, after sitting here reading the newspaper and taking care of some work things on the computer, I felt I needed a snack.

I decided to have a couple of cheese and crackers to tide me over until morning. When I opened the sleeve of crackers, I swear those damn crackers have gotten smaller. Has anyone had Ritz Crackers recently and noticed this change? I very well may be wrong, but swear they are smaller than they used to be. Surely, you have all heard that ice cream packaging has gotten smaller recently, but the price has stayed the same. I think this is an inside conspiracy by these food companies to increase their revenues without us noticing.

Let me know your thoughts on what I am now calling the "Ritz Reduction Conspiracy" and let me know if you think I am off my rocker.

Look for those promised blog posts tomorrow night for Five Guys and other local restaurants I have visited lately. I am out!

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry

15 comments:

Begs said...

I can't speak to the crackers, but this funny business has hit a ton of different items in the grocery store. It's a big practice in the coffee and laundry detergent segments

Stiff Competition said...

Yeah, it is a legal way for companies to steal from us. Julynn asked me last night if the half a bag of air is needed to keep the chips fresh in shipping. The bags are huge, but only half filled.

Unknown said...

Just about all of the major food products manufacturers are remodeling their product to cut the sizes of the portions. When you go to the grocery store, Walmart et cetera, look at the packaging, they are ripping the consumers off by reshaping the bottles, cartons, boxes, et cetera, to make them appear as if they are as large as they ever were, except for theae NEW weird shapes, which conceal their marketing strategies, of "make it appear as if the consumer is getting what they use to get, for the same amount of money"; when in reality we are getting our clocks cleaned.
Ice Cream use to be sold by the 1/2 gallon, but now, pretty much nation wide, they are down to 1.5 quarts. Yes, you are being ripped off!
Some of the containers are so void of meaningful product content, that when you grab a box of something, anything, it collapses inwards up to 1/2" and more. Potato chip manufacturers are using plastics that can be sealed with air actually in the bag to make it appear as if the bag is filled with chips, but when you open the bag, it "poofs," down to a small couple of handfulls, nothing even remotely resembling the size of the bag.
Juices are the biggest ripoffs. Nearly every manufacturer states in HUGE LETTERS, that their products are "100% JUICE," or "100% NATURAL"; but when you read the reverse label of nearly every flavor sold, you will see that what is claimed to be "SOME TYPE OF BERRY JUICE," actually has more APPLE juice as its foundation than the claimed flavor it is being marketed as.
America is a crack whore, that is pimped by the Investment Class. You are but slaves, and you eat what they set before you.

glegakis said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
glegakis said...

Just said it to my wife about the Ritz crackers. She thinks I'm crazy but I agree with you.

P.S Go back too your elementary school for the "Alice in Wonderland effect.

Paul Goodridge said...

It's not only the diminished portion of Ritz crackers in the box, but the taste is very different from older versions...almost tasteless, somewhat cheesy and not enough salt. These wonderful crackers of old are now blah, and my wife and I are not imagining this change, either. They're all doing it and the manufacturers of all of many of these affected foodstuffs aren't even honest enough to let us otherwise loyal customers know about the changes. That seems very unfair to us the customers, and we will certainly think twice before buying these products in the future!

Unknown said...

I just spread some peanut butter on my Ritz Crackers and thought the same thing! Either my hands have grown... or these crackers are smaller. You are RIGHT!!

bongpacks said...

Not only is the cracker itself a bit smaller, but the box it comes in and as a result the individual sleeves of crackers are shorter as well. I estimate that each sleeve has been reduced in height by at least 5 crackers. I also believe I remember these crackers coming 5 sleeves to a box but they now only contain 4 per box, I can't be sure of that though since I mean really who pays attention to these things after so many years purchasing the same products. I bet that's what they banked on when they decided to make the change, that no one would really notice.

Unknown said...

The boxes of "regular" Ritz always had 4 sleeves, but were 16-oz -- a couple of months ago they started coming in 15.1-oz boxes (shorter stacks).
We are boycotting them!!!
Those boxes have been 16-oz since my Mom fed them to me -- 50 years!
The only reason to change them after 50 YEARS is to cheat consumers!

Unknown said...

Markaustin ~ Ritz crackers, introduced by Nabisco in 1934, have continued to be a reliable and valued product, consistent in cracker size, and since day one a "ONE POUND BOX. Millions of people worldwide made recipes that called for "one sleeve (or more) of Ritz crackers" mixed with.......whatever. But alas, Nabisco has gone the deceitful and greedy way of so many companies today ~ change the package size a little, raise the price a little, and hope that most people would not notice. Well Nabisco thiefs, people have noticed, and are pitussrbed off! Woudn't it have been more honest and "the right thing to do" to keep the long expected box size and weight, and just raise the price to account for inflation and all of the other half baked ideas to rip off the consumer? Unfortunately, there's "diddly schicht" a consumer can do, but realize that corporate America has fleeced us once again. Will we stop buying Ritz crackers? Not I, but every time I use the product, for a snack, or a recipe, I will always have a very negative feeling about Nabisco. And after all, it isn't the cracker's fault. It's the greedy money counters in the upper offices at Nabisco. How do they sleep at night one wonders........
Anyone for a Keebler Town House one pound box of crackers? The Keebler folks and their elves sleep soundly at night.....at least for now. And, I think these crackers actually tas te fresher and better than the once reliable Ritz!

Anonymous said...

I found this blog by "searching" about smaller Ritz crackers. I noticed the smaller box, the shorter stacks and now the smaller in diameter crackers themselves. Shame on the company. Up the price if you must, but leave them alone!! And yes, they DO have a more bland taste. Why ruin a good thing? Bad marketing!!

Unknown said...

We buy our ritz crackers at Costco in the huge box. Costco's crackers are the same as always. We ran out of ritz crackers this week, before our scheduled trip to Costco. Sooo... I went to Safeway and bought a box of ritz crackers. When I opened the box, I KNEW that the crackers were smaller and that there were fewer crackers n the sleeve. Later in the week we bought a box of ritz crackers at Costco, and sure enough! the crackers from Safeway ARE smaller and the sleeves from Safeway DO contain fewer crackers. 32 From Safeway, and 35 from Costco. And the Safeway crackers DO taste different! Is the manufacturer testing the market? Do they have 2 product lines bearing the same name? Do the retailers have the option of selling the inferior product in order to fatten their bottom line? I for one am tired of being flim flammed and F'd around by these thieves!

Unknown said...

This is totally unacceptable us as consumers being literally by these and many other companies, shame on them we should all stop buying their product and see how their company go bankrupt!

Unknown said...

For the past couple of years I've always noticed the smaller sized packaging, but never bought a box. I remember Ritz being a dark golden brown with just a hint of salt. Now it's a light blonde color, crumbles easily and is coated in salt like a saltine cracker. It tastes bland, too. I'm never buying Ritz or Nabisco again.

Freedomlover said...

Ritz crackers taste has gone to the dogs. i'll be buying Keebler TownHouse crackers from now on.