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Have you noticed.............

maggs said:
I also had a Kit-Kat that was all choc., and no biscuit.

Maggs
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Read this! https://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/783603/Marketing-Mix-Well-call---Kit-Kat/

Why are things today not as good as we remember? Simple. We are all being conned.
Anything to make the product cheaper, to sell at the same price, increases the profit for the manufacturer.
Cheaper wrapper, filling, coating - and less of them, too.

Just like £1 used to = 240 pennies, from 1971 it's only 100. That conned a lot of people.
 
A few years ago I had reason to visit the Weston factory in South Wales, where Wagon Wheels are made. I watched them being produced, and remarked to my host that they were much smaller than I remember. He denied this; he said they were the same size. I also said that they were much 'jammier' when I was a kid. He denied this too; he said that they were exactly the same and that nothing had changed. He was, to put it bluntly, a b****y liar. At the end of my visit, I asked if there was any chance of a free Wagon Wheel or two, but this was refused 'on the grounds of health & safety'. I never quite understood the logic behind this, but as there were no gratis Wagon Wheels in the offing I left the place wondering why on earth people have to be so dishonest about something that is so obvious. That is, Wagon Wheels are NOT the same as they used to be.

Big Gee
 
Big Gee
Unless this guy was around in the 50's and working at Weston then,I don't know he could say that nothing had changed !!
If you go to Cadbury world you get free chocolate - remind me never to go to Weston factory !!
 
Yes, this is all awful and we know it is going on in just about anything you can mention. Do you remember when we went decimal, potatoes at that time were something like 3d a pound, but they went to 3p, in no time, and this was the case across the board. When we say 30p these days it doesn't sound like a big amount does it, but when you change that to 6/- you realize. Come Christmas when we all send our Christmas card's and stamps cost 32 or 35 pence (I think they have just gone up actually), we must spend a fortune. Now of course, we have this sizing thing on postage, which makes up measure all our envelopes. Oh I'm moaning again, better give it a rest eh? But I do agree with all you have been saying.
 
I don't definitely know if Wagon Wheels have altered -I'm afraid i don't actualy like them (shock-horror), but ehy did used to be produced by Associated British foods, who were a fairly paternalistic employer who tried to maintain th equality of their products. They then sold to an american venture capitalist, who then sold on again, so its very likely the quality has gone down. the company now seems ruthless , as seen when they stopped production of Cdbury biscuits at Moreton,(https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2007-05-22b.1252.0 ) .
mike
 
My husband worked for a company called Chiver's. I am sure you all remember Chiver's marmalade. Later it became Cadbury Schweppes, then Cadbury Typhoo. Chivers Hartley. It is now owned by an American company called Hilsdown Holdings and they manufacture under the name of Premier Brands. They have taken nearly all the food manufacturing from Branston, Campbell, Bisto, Ambrosia, Birds H.P. Lyons .The list is endless. My husband was glad to retire and get away. I sometimes think that ruthlessness is the name of the game now. This is the reason our food has changed so much all in the name of profit.
 
I like Marmalade Extra Thick Marmalade.

The last one I got from Sainsbury's had 4 pieces of Peel in it and it went mouldy after a week.

Maggs I worked for Eskimo Frozen Foods who were taken over by Fropack who were taken over by Findus who had been taken over by Lyons This was the the 1960s
Then Ross who were taken over by Northern Fisheries who were then taken over by Young's what I had been selling at Eskimo.

Then I worked at Smedley's who took over HP or visa versa.

I'm sure it wasn't me because I never got any of the profits.
 
Yes Alf, since when did we have to keep Jam's and marmalade's in the fridge? We used to set jellies without a fridge years ago. I agree about things going mouldy so quickly these day's.

Amazing those companies take over's even in the sixties. Well everything went downhill after the fifties anyway didn't?
 
I know this thread has been inactive for a long time but I remembered references to greengages. I can tell you that I bought greengages in Sainsbury's last week. A container of 250g (8 fruit). Was £1.50 reduced to 99p because the Best Before date was being reached. Actually I don't think they are ready to eat yet.

Correction I have just eaten some. They are very good
 
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On our way back to Devon in the late summer we detour through the Vale of Evesham and the last couple of years have been able to buy greengages, quite expensive. My wife thinks it's coals to Newcastle as we have an extremely productive Victoria plum tree. We do grow a lot of our own Vegetables and salads, this year two courgette plants produced so many, our freezer is now full. However to return to the thread, ýes most things have got smaller, but still in the same pack, but dearer and remember Salt and Sugar have been removed from many foods....have you had the lower salt and Sugar baked beans...YUK. Also I do believe that as we get older our tastes change and our taste buds degenerate slightly.
Bob
 
oldgoose said:
that penguin biscuits don't taste the same as when they were wrapped in a foil wrapper?
that kitkats used to have lovely thick chocolate on them, but now its wafer thin?
that boiled ham from the butcher was much more delicious and flavoursome that it is now?
that a meal of mashed potato, peas and corned beef tasted fantastic and now its awful?
that cling peaches covered with Carnation milk was perfect for Sunday afternoon tea?
that cheese and onion crisps used to have 'bits' over them, which tasted really onioney and delicious?
that 'Vimto', 'tizer' and 'american ice cream soda' tasted much better out of glass bottles?
Click to expand...

Oldgoose Sweet things and the pops, I cannot comment on as I do not partake by choice. Potatoes and peas , I grow my own and they taste as good as they ever did, the village butcher supplies us with ham off the bone plus corned beef as and when required and it's still as mouthwatering as it was in my youth . Truth is with veg etc the longer it's been on the shelf the taste is diminishing , Crisps I think depends on which make you tend to buy
 
Big Gee said:
A few years ago I had reason to visit the Weston factory in South Wales, where Wagon Wheels are made. I watched them being produced, and remarked to my host that they were much smaller than I remember. He denied this; he said they were the same size. I also said that they were much 'jammier' when I was a kid. He denied this too; he said that they were exactly the same and that nothing had changed. He was, to put it bluntly, a b****y liar. At the end of my visit, I asked if there was any chance of a free Wagon Wheel or two, but this was refused 'on the grounds of health & safety'. I never quite understood the logic behind this, but as there were no gratis Wagon Wheels in the offing I left the place wondering why on earth people have to be so dishonest about something that is so obvious. That is, Wagon Wheels are NOT the same as they used to be.

Big Gee
Click to expand...

Big Gee they try to fob you off with the age old "your hands got bigger ". That said Victory V and Fisherman's Friends have had their recipes changed mainly because our European friends, Found the originals too strong too handle
 
William
I think I have pointed out on another thread that the Victory V and fisherman's Friend recipes were changed to remove chloroform (which very much altered the taste) because of a possible (though very small and uncertain) link to cancer
 
mikejee said:
William
I think I have pointed out on another thread that the Victory V and fisherman's Friend recipes were changed to remove chloroform (which very much altered the taste) because of a possible (though very small and uncertain) link to cancer
Click to expand...

Mike I didn't know they contained that , when I think back at the amount of packets of both I choked down me years ago, probably explains why I always had a good nights sleep. Thanks for that
 
Perfectly sensible, though, as usual the mail trivialises it. Protein and vitamins are necessary for good heath, and should be in the diet, but you still need energy to actually live, so "junk" food is better than nothing
 
Have been buying Sainsbury's reduced salt and sugar baked beans for years. Now find Heinz much too sweet. Tip:Buy Sainsbury's 4pack for £1. I will never buy Heinz again at twice the price
 
DavidGrain said:
Have been buying Sainsbury's reduced salt and sugar baked beans for years. Now find Heinz much too sweet. Tip:Buy Sainsbury's 4pack for £1. I will never buy Heinz again at twice the price
Click to expand...

DG I wouldn't mind betting they are Heinz beans relabelled Sainsburys', you don't think these supermarkets own brands are made by them do you ? Same with every foodstuff canned /packet . That goes for every other supermarket too
 
Williamstreeter said:
Big Gee they try to fob you off with the age old "your hands got bigger ". That said Victory V and Fisherman's Friends have had their recipes changed mainly because our European friends, Found the originals too strong too handle
Click to expand...
Another one that was removed, the old favourite of the street drinkers, Gees Linctus, cured a chest problem swiftly and it tasted good. Current replacement is Corvonia, similar taste but something missing, probably the ingredient that finished good old Gees.
Bob
 
Bob Davis said:
Another one that was removed, the old favourite of the street drinkers, Gees Linctus, cured a chest problem swiftly and it tasted good. Current replacement is Corvonia, similar taste but something missing, probably the ingredient that finished good old Gees.
Bob
Click to expand...
Maybe it was because of opiode content. As mike said two minutes ago!
 
My mother used to use "kaolin et morph" for stomach upsets, it used to make me even worse, was it really morphine?!


I've just "Googled" and it is still available, low dose morhine not a pain killer.
 
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Bob Davis said:
Another one that was removed, the old favourite of the street drinkers, Gees Linctus, cured a chest problem swiftly and it tasted good. Current replacement is Corvonia, similar taste but something missing, probably the ingredient that finished good old Gees.
Bob
Click to expand...

Going back some years ago Bob, that was when I smoked if I ended up with a cold or chest infection . I used to have a snifter of Covonia every night in hot water it used to clear the tubes
 
Kaolin & Morphine mixture is a mainstay of our medical cabinet! It works! After an evening's over-indulgence, two teaspoonfuls of K&M the next morning works wonders. As does Milk Of Magnesia (liquid, not the tablets) if you need to, er, get things moving.

This year has been very bad for me, with severe hay-fever, and 'pollen induced asthma' to follow, and Fisherman's Friends really do help to keep things clear. They don't actually cure anything, but like most patent medicines merely reduce the symptoms for a short period.

Years ago, there was a patent medicine called "J Collis Brown's Mixture", which contained opium to such a level that it could be distilled off if you had the correct apparatus! My old gran used to buy this, and after a tablespoonful went very quiet for a while. I never did figure out what it was supposed to cure.

G
 
My great aunt reckoned it staved off "stomach bugs". She uses to make her daughters take it when they were at school and there was any sickness or diarrhoea bugs about.
 
Alan,

My grandmother used DeWitts pills - I've no idea whether they are still about.

Maurice
 
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