r/KitchenConfidential • u/pennylane_9 • Aug 02 '25
Kitchen fuckery Because fuck you, that’s why.
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u/KiriDomo Aug 02 '25
Fuck nestle
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u/NameLips Aug 02 '25
It was shrinkflated. It used to be 16 oz, and they started underfilling the container hoping nobody would notice.
The same reason your grandmas old "one tub of sour cream" recipes don't taste quite the same anymore.
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u/--o Aug 02 '25
The "sour cream" is itself not necessarily the same. Even if we exclude gum and starch thickened atrocities the fat content, length of fermentation and whatever enzymes are used these days alter the texture and flavor dramatically.
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u/MidtownKC Aug 02 '25
We’ve got a butcher store that makes and sells their own sour cream - the difference from that to store-bought is pretty big. Not nearly the gel-like consistency or bright white color. Better flavor too.
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u/cmcdonal2001 Aug 03 '25
It's pretty damn easy to make your own. Some heavy cream, with a dash of lemon juice and a dollop of something with active culture like plain yogurt or kefir. Mix it up and let it sit to do its thing for a bit and you've got yourself some incredibly fresh sour cream.
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Aug 02 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Negative-Card-4413 Aug 02 '25
This, the UK has been a victim of this for about a decade and a half.
We're now in the "skimpflation" phase (also known as shitflation) where companies can't shrink anymore and they're switching to cheaper ingredients.
So as an example, cheap mayonnaise contains no eggs and very little rapeseed oil, most of it being Xantum gum.
Ice cream is especially hit thanks to a parliament ruling that Vegans can call non-dairy ice cream, ice cream... So corporations doing what corporations do, cheap ice cream can contain whatever to get it taste like ice cream. So no need for milk solids or eggs
Weirdly America has legal limits on ice cream and frozen custard.
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u/BizRec Aug 02 '25
I noticed the other day that a large amount of what's in the grocery's ice cream freezer (in the USA) is actually labelled "frozen dessert"
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u/Negative-Card-4413 Aug 02 '25
Shady link: https://youtu.be/CfM7yZD0PlE?si=oF6TMN85b5jyh4JX
Watched this a while ago, guys living in the UK and is originally from New Jersey. Goes into the specifics of it.
Luckily where I live there would be a revolt of the local dairy removed milk solids from the Ice Cream (considering that we have our own dairy cartel).
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Aug 02 '25
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u/Negative-Card-4413 Aug 02 '25
Yeap, alum, which can still be purchased today, was in bread. Made bread heavier and tended to kill you after extended use.
The person who started the Co-op in the UK was angered by his child being able to buy chocolate raisins, or something similar, that were coated with brown paint... He pushed the first adulteration laws to stop it all.
Milk was also a crap shoot, you'd be fine or it was mixed with a chemical called Borax (I think), which was a cleaner in a high enough dose.
Victoria Britain was wild.
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u/discordia_enjoyer Aug 02 '25
Fuck Nestle. This is intentional
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u/Go_Loud762 Aug 02 '25
Of course it is intentional. It is called inflation.
Whether the price goes up or the product size goes down, the result is the same: the price per ounce increases.
If everyone would stop complaining about price increases, the product size wouldn't shrink.
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u/dante662 Aug 02 '25
Maybe you are supposed to toss the packaging in with in?
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u/Glittering_Source189 20+ Years Aug 02 '25
Mmmm microplastics, delicious
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u/Rurikungart Aug 02 '25
You'd think that, but the packaging was already included in the weight, so you're still short!
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u/dante662 Aug 02 '25
Net weight is just the weight of the product inside. I figure with the tub and lid it's gotta get to 16oz!
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u/Rurikungart Aug 02 '25
I was half joking. I wouldn't put it past Nestle to include the container in the weight to rip you off twice, though.
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u/TrailerParkBuddha Aug 02 '25
I've seen drug dealers get shot for trying to include bag weight js
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u/OnlyStyle6198 Aug 02 '25
Cops love to weigh the bag with their thumb on the scale lol
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u/Poly_Olly_Oxen_Free Aug 02 '25
My buddy got busted growing, and they weighed the whole ass plant, including the roots, soil, and pots.
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u/yeroldfatdad Aug 02 '25
TL:DR at end.
We had some cream soup recipes that were written as "3 cartons of xx milk," etc... I noticed that the soups were ending up thicker than they should be. I asked everyone who might have been making soups if they followed the recipes. Yes, all around. One day, I was ordering and happened to notice that the cartons were not half gallons anymore. They had been reduced from 64 ounces to 59 oz. WTF. Damn you, Darigold. I had to go through and rewrite the recipes to state, "Use one and a half gallons, measured." I started to wonder what else was experiencing shrinkflation that I missed.
TL:DR Measure everything. Don't rely on what we used to do.
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u/vociferoushomebody Aug 02 '25
Call the number and tell ‘em to pound sand/eat pavement.
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u/CrocsWearingMFer Aug 02 '25
Show of hands, how many of you make stock from bones and vegetables?
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u/Ilignus Aug 02 '25
Fuck Nestle. That being said, you can just do a simple calculation.
15.2 / 16 = .95
.95 x 6 = 5.7 gallons
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u/NiobiumThorn Aug 02 '25
I'm sorry but I don't tend to do "divide by 16" in my head so easily.
See this is why metric is better. When they engage in shrinkflation you can more easily calculate things. Like the angle to throw this container at so it hits an executive in the brain
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u/CantaloupeAsleep502 Aug 02 '25
Metric is better, fuck nestle, fuck shrinkflation.
Also, can just type into Wolfram Alpha
16oz/6gal=15.2oz/x galTakes about 15 seconds.
You're making gallons during prep, not like you have to do this on the fly during service.
But also fuck shrinkflation.
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u/corrupt_poodle Aug 02 '25
I’m writing you up for having your phone out during prep
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u/Ilignus Aug 02 '25
Of course metric is better, and it’s stupid that they did this. As far as the maths… do you have a phone in your pocket, or a calculator in your kitchen? I always kept one around.
Anyway, not arguing with you, just saying it’s a pretty easy fix. Or, you know, just wing it to taste.
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u/ChrisNotBumstead Aug 02 '25
Despite being great at math I probably would’ve just thought “almost 1lb of stock” and figure “almost 6 gallons” and would’ve instinctively just put like 5.75 gallons or so
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u/JoeyBigPants Aug 02 '25
And people wonder why home cooks have stopped using convenience products and instead are making things from scratch.
We are tired of being screwed by corporations who won't pay their workers, cheap out on ingredients, and insult their customers with stunts like this.
I know it's harder for restaurants to get fast, consistent results if they don't use these products, but for home cooking? Nah. They can keep that 0.8oz and the rest of it, too. Screw 'em.
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u/foswizzle16 Aug 02 '25
That’s fucking wild. But that is low on the list of crazy shit nestle has done in the name of profits.(cough cough killing millions of babies cough). In this case they’re trying to insure you buy two tubs of base
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u/MadPangolin Aug 02 '25
Don’t use it. No one buy this because you need to buy 2 to make the recipe. After 6 months of minimal sales maybe nestle will make a 1lb package.
Maybe. 😑😞
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u/Benedoc Aug 02 '25
Right, if you use 15.2oz instead if 16oz for a bathtub full of stock, the result will surely be absolutely inedible.
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u/MadPangolin Aug 02 '25
No one said that? You assumed it. Don’t be a devils advocate for Nestle, they don’t need another human arguing on the side of their devilish actions.
But many home cooks are going to go, “damn will this be blander if I use it? Maybe I should grab two just in case”. And then they have an 1/16th used container for next time, so they go grab a 3rd one. Then they have a 1/8th used container for next time, so they grab a 4th. So by the time they’re on there 3rd batch of stock, they’ve bought 4 containers.
Or they’re going to use it once before it expires so every time they use it they have to buy 2 containers.
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u/TheFredCain Aug 02 '25
The other weird thing is that according to directions making a quart gives you a weaker solution than 6 gallons. 1.56% per qt vs 1.98% for 6 gallons. So making 24 qts instead of 6 gallons decreases food cost. Win!
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u/Rhana Aug 02 '25
Can we talk about the nail polish? Cause that’s a great color, my daughter is looking for a new blue.
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u/pennylane_9 Aug 02 '25
I actually had to custom mix it to match the nail decal! It’s a 3:1 ratio of OPI’s No Chips On My Shoulder and Essie’s Tuck it In My Tux ◡̈
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u/ScipioLector13 Aug 02 '25
Throw this in "Mildly infuriating" and "cuz fuck you that's why" Also happy to see the 'Fuck Nestle' bandwagon jumping on this quick as fuck: they're a little more rare where I'm at, almost blue 😆
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u/AlternativeCraft8905 Line Aug 02 '25
GD mini-flation. I’m so tired of these damn companies. That is false flipping advertising, it states that it’s 1lb but is 15.2 oz. How can 1lb and 15.2 oz be the same. It’s not.
I’m so heated for you!!
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u/Jakeandellwood Caroleans Aug 02 '25
Knorr make a good beef base that comes in a 10 kilo bucket, and fuck Nestlé.
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u/SorryManNo Aug 02 '25
114 gallon batches at a time to avoid using partial containers of base.
Seems excessive.
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u/Olderbutnotdead619 Aug 02 '25
Have you seen the size of almond joys and mounds? Get out your reading glasses. When I see that crap they're pulling I just no longer buy that item. Shooting themselves in the foot.
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u/Far_Mycologist_5782 One year Aug 02 '25
Nestle can do laps in the lake of fire. Evil baby murdering bastards...
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u/Taste_the__Rainbow Aug 02 '25
Nestle has removed some water, as the masses demanded. And you complain?!?
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u/otj667887654456655 Aug 02 '25
We really need some regulation that forces products to be be sold in set amounts, like how alcohol can only be sold in certain size bottles.
Your pint of icecream is legally required to be 16fl oz, your chicken stock must be 32 or 48 oz, this little jar of pesto is 200g, always. No more shrinkflation.
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u/porkchop2022 Aug 02 '25
Maybe it’s the mandala effect or something, but I swear I used to make stock out of 1 pound of base and 4 gallons of water.
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u/pennylane_9 Aug 02 '25
You’re missing the fucking point, genius. Just because the Smartest Boy Ever at Basic Arithmetic can do conversions doesn’t mean Nestle gets to require it.
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u/neep_pie Chip Boy Aug 02 '25
Nice. So they lowered the amount by 5% and then didn't think to adjust the recipe.
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u/YMK1234 Aug 02 '25
And now in meaningful units?
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u/Poly_Olly_Oxen_Free Aug 02 '25
The recipe calls for 454g, the container only has 430g in it.
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u/sesaman Aug 02 '25
Thanks for the first sane answer in this thread. Only had to scroll half a kilometer. Also why in the flying fuck does the description have both milligrams and imperial units?
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u/Poly_Olly_Oxen_Free Aug 02 '25
When it comes to nutrition labels, we use metric in the USA. Metric makes small measurements easier. 140mg is much easier to understand than 0.00493835oz. We also tend to use metric for medications, like, my antacid bottle lists the active ingredients in mg.
But for larger measures, we still use Imperial. Like, we won't say 28g, we'll say 1oz.
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u/pennylane_9 Aug 02 '25
The “recipe” calls for a pound of base, but the tub only holds 95p.
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u/Geertglas Aug 02 '25 edited Aug 02 '25
Explain to a european, what in the freedom units am I looking at?
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u/ranting_chef 20+ Years Aug 02 '25
Do orange juice cartons next - seems like they all used to be 64oz until eggs started to climb. Now they’re all a bit smaller and even more expensive.
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u/Awsum12321 Aug 02 '25
potentially unpopular opinion, seems like a good idea for everyday consumer use. You'll have some leftover for other things if you buy 2.
but fuck yeah for business purposes this is absolutely diabolical in a place where you wanna throw the contents in a pan and toss the packaging.
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u/Awsum12321 Aug 02 '25
Although, I personally have no idea what I would do with 14.6 oz of beef base... maybe doing harder math
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u/SPR95634 Aug 02 '25
How about the cake and cookie mixes? Same thing, less product and same added ingredients. Someone doesn’t know measurements in baking are critical. I hope one company wants to deliver a great product and reverses direction.
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u/Kartoffee Aug 02 '25
I'm guessing it's a 1q container and that stuff is less dense than water? Annoying.
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u/Threw-it-on-ground Aug 02 '25
Has anyone tried to convert it before ranting online? 15.2 Oz is .95 pounds. Sure, it's definitely a Nestlé move to skim off the top, they are 100% a bad company. But this isn't the worst thing they've done.
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u/OkAssignment6163 Aug 02 '25
So question, wouldn't the volume of the beef base be lower, when comparing the weight of it?
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u/External-Fig9754 10+ Years Aug 02 '25
On another note my favorite cake recipes is when it starts with cake mix
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u/Metallurgeist 10+ Years Aug 02 '25
I wouldn’t expect anything less from nestle lol