Honey, Inflation Shrunk the Food!

It’s not just your imagination… groceries are getting way more expensive.

And as much as I hate to rain on the parade with a downer topic this lovely Friday afternoon, you’ve probably already noticed this! You don’t need me to tell you that prices for basic items like eggs, milk, vegetables and meat are higher compared to even one year ago.

But that’s not all. A report published by the Wall Street Journal this week found that many food companies are actually downsizing their products. This is done in an attempt to offset their supply costs and stay in the black, while keeping consumer prices similar.

To use a famous and oft-memed example, the price for a bag of chips hasn’t gone up much in the last few years… but the chip-to-air ratio sure is going down. What used to buy you a nice little bag of Doritos only gets you a few bites these days!

This “shrinkflation” is precisely what’s been going on with our groceries recently.

As the WSJ reports, Oreos are now being offered in single-serving “two-packs,” rather than five or six at a time. This leaves customers paying far more per ounce for the same type of product. Tillamook ice cream used to be sold in 56-ounce containers… now, that’s been reduced down to 48 ounces, but the company is still charging the old price.

The list of other favorites getting the tiny treatment goes on and on.. and this is just one of many *fun* phenomena inflation treats us to. (That’s sarcasm, by the way.)

If you know me, you probably know I get pretty fired up about this stuff. I talk a lot about how the Federal Reserve steals from honest people by watering down their hard-earned money.

And if you get these newsletters, chances are, you share my concerns. You want to teach the next generation to care about the devaluing of our currency and erosion of our freedoms.

Kids may not seem interested in a long talk about monetary policy, but ice cream and Oreos tend to be pretty great conversation starters. Try using these food examples to get them thinking about how changes to our currency’s value might affect them. Maybe even have them try to find products that have gotten smaller or more expensive on your next grocery run.

Our young ones are capable of grasping big concepts, and applying them to the world around them… All we have to do is present the ideas in an exciting, engaging way.

That’s what inspired me to write the Tuttle Twins series… including our third children’s book, The Tuttle Twins and the Creature From Jekyll Island.

This title is one of our best sellers: it’s an engaging and kid-friendly story about how the Federal Reserve harms honest people by manipulating their money. And it’s a great way to take kids deeper into the ideas of inflation, once their curiousity is peaked by chip bags and ice cream.

Buy your children this book, and I bet you’ll never hear the “why can’t we just print more money?” question again.

I’d bet you a dollar on it, but who knows what it’ll even be worth tomorrow…

—Connor