How your favourite supermarket treats have shrunk or changed but prices has soared

SHOPPERS are being hit by sneaky supermarket price increases.

Our favourite products are shrinking or reducing in quality while deals are getting worse.

Here, Harriet Cooke looks at all the tricks to watch out for and explains how you can still save money.

SHRINKFLATION

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SHRINKFLATION is a common hidden price rise where products shrink in size while the price is kept the same or even increases.

For example, last month Felix As Good As It Looks pouches shrunk by 15 per cent, from 100g to 85g, while the standard price stayed the same at around £5 for a box of 12.

Meanwhile, boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes went down from 720g to 670g, and 500g to 450g, last year, and some bottles of Herbal Essences conditioner shrunk by almost a third, from 400ml to 275ml, but stayed at around £2.

Another trick brands use is to reduce the number of items in a multipack.

The Sun recently revealed how the number of Creme Eggs shrunk from ten to eight in a pack this year, but the cost at Tesco with a Clubcard rose from £3 to £4.75.

BEAT IT: Look at the small print underneath the price, which will tell you the cost per 100g, known as the “unit price”. The lower this is, the better the deal.

SKIMPFLATION

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THIS is a subtle trick where the quality of ingredients change, but the price remains the same.

For example, the proportion of a pricey ingredient is reduced or they are simply swapped to cheaper ones.

Consumer group Which? previously uncovered how Morrisons guacamole went from 80 per cent avocado to 77 per cent, Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference lasagne ready meal went from 28 per cent beef to 26 per cent, and Tesco Tex Mex chicken enchiladas fell from 27 per cent chicken to 20 per cent.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s clotted cream rice pudding had the clotted cream replaced with whipping cream and was renamed.

BEAT IT: Read items’ labels to be aware of any subtle change or, even better, swap to cooking raw ingredients.

Look out for “new recipes” advertised on product labels, as this indicates that the ingredients have changed.

DRINKFLATION

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MANY alcoholic drinks have been reduced in strength over the past year, mostly due to booze duty hikes introduced in August 2023.

This month, Heineken is slashing the alcohol level of its Sol lager from 4.2 per cent to 3.4 per cent, while Asahi UK’s Grolsch beer is down from 4 per cent to 3.4 per cent.

Many wines have also been reduced to 11 per cent or less, including McGuigan Black Label Red and Hardys Stamp Shiraz Cabernet.

Meanwhile, Taparoo Valley Australian Shiraz, sold at Tesco, was 14 per cent in July 2022 and cost £3.99 for a 75cl bottle, but it has fallen to 11 per cent, with the same bottle costing £4.15.

Manufacturers say that the reductions are due to Brits preferring weaker drinks, but they also incur less tax. Retailers blame rising inflation for pushing up costs.

BEAT IT: Price comparison sites such as trolley.co.uk help find the best deals on booze as you can search by type and sort the results by price across major supermarkets.

DEALFLATION

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MEAL deals are also becoming more expensive. Last year, Tesco hiked the cost of its offer on Finest ready meals from two for £7.50 to two for £8.

Ready-made dinners such as macaroni cheese, chicken and bacon pasta bake, and bangers and mash, also rose from three for £7.50 to three for £8.

And M&S sparked anger for hiking its Gastropub dine-in deal from £12 to £15.

BEAT IT: Although it may seem like a saving, you’re still better off making the food yourself, especially for lunches like sandwiches, and bringing a drink in a reusable bottle.

Richard Price, owner of Britsuperstore, said: “A Tesco meal deal, for example, is £4 (£3.60 with a Clubcard), but for that same price, you could make your own sandwiches for a week.

“A loaf of bread costs just 74p, and four tins of tuna are £2.75, meaning you could have enough for five lunches and still save money.”

DWP forced to pay out

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AROUND 1.2million low-income workers face a delay to a wage boost that was meant to come in from this year worth up to £100 a year.

HM Revenue & Customs was set to start paying a top-up for low earners designed to fix an inequality in our pension tax system from this year.

But the taxman confirmed to Sun Money that it has delayed introducing this until 2026 to avoid issues with people’s benefit entitlements or National Insurance.

The issue involves complex rules around pension tax relief.

More than one million of the lowest earners do not receive tax relief on their pension contributions because of the way their employers administer them.

There are two ways to manage pensions, either via “relief at source”, where they are taken after tax, or “net pay”, where they are taken before tax.

The idea with net pay is that your contributions are paid before your marginal rate of tax is taken, so they are tax-free.

But for anyone earning below £12,570 – the tax-free allowance – their marginal rate is zero per cent, so they don’t receive any relief.

The Government is fixing this by boosting affected workers’ annual pay. The average payout is around £70, but over 200,000 workers could get £100.

A spokesperson for HMRC said: “The delivery timetable has been extended to ensure these payments won’t impact benefit entitlement or National Insurance.”

By Laura Purkess