Conned Again

[Hylander]

Having decided this year at the end of the season to completely clear out all cupboards on the boat in readiness to start afresh in the Spring,  one of the items I found at the back of the shower/loo room cupboard was a 4 pack of Andrex Toilet Rolls.   All ok , still in the waterproof packaging but I thought oh well we will still bring them home and use them and get fresh as has been said.

 

To my astonishment when you got to the internal roll part, the empty toilet roll was so much smaller than the fat old devils you get today.   So you obviously get less for your money these days.   They are expensive enough as it is.     

 

 

 

 

[Gracie]

This really makes me mad, the price of things are on the up every day but the items are getting smaller. Packets of crisps are a prime example and don't get me started on the sharing bags, big bags half filled with crisps grrrr and I am sure the Christmas tins of sweets are smaller this year.

 

Grace

[deebee29]

Then they have the nerve to put slogans on the packaging like "Still only £........."

Grr

David

[BroadScot]

Yes Gracie, the £5 sweet tins ARE smaller this year. Yet another rip off! Grrrrrrr!!!!

 

Iain.

[littlesprite]

A couple of years ago the £5 sweet tin was 1kg, it has slowly shrunk to this years 800gm.

[littlesprite]

Correction!

I've just checked a quality street tin and it's 780gm including wrappings.

[Hylander]

Any advance on 780gm.    Reminds me of that saying " before your very eyes".  yes things are definitely getting reduced in size.   Mars bars , half the size for twice as much.    

[Viking23]

" Andrex" on a boat, Wow, that's pushing the boat out, I think for boat toilets you really need the thinner lower quality loo rolls, we tend to use the multipacks from "Home Bargains" . Ok ours is a porta potti type, but we have never had any problems with emptying it, and more importantly, when disposing of the contents using a standard loo.

I know some pump out type toilets especially those with macerators can have a few issues, even if just using a lot more water to clear it, thus bringing the time to empty even closer, so cost and quality are not the overall deciding factor in your loo roll choice.

Next, someone will say they use pink ones!

OK if the loo is on the Port side lol, and green ones for the starboard side.lol.

White for a forward loo...

[grendel]

Coca Cola is another good case in point, a while back it came in 2l bottles, then the 4 packs were suddenly 1.5 litre bottles, then they shelved the 2l and it became 1.75 litres, now the other day I saw they have put out a 2.25 litre bottle, now the individual price is always around the £2 a bottle mark, but then of course they sweeten the deal, 2 bottles for £3, 2 for £2.50, or even 2 for £2, so with all the new sizes and the offers how on earth are you supposed to be able to figure the cheapest way to buy the stuff. (short of taking tha abacus with you to the shops.

(at this point I will explain, the reason I can only drink the real diet coke is due to an intolerance with the sweeteners they have changed to in all the rest of the diet coke brands, aspartame is one of the few sweeteners I can tolerate without getting chronic acid - most of the rest have now transferred to sucralose, which gives me bucket loads of grief).

Grendel

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

Have you also noticed the tins are now plastic, AND they taper in from top to bottom?. I boat a £5 tub of Haribos for Christmas last year but did`nt eat them, so we brought them with us in June for port and starboard to enjoy (as well as a few other BIG kids) Imagine my disappointment when i opened it to find out there quite a few "mini bags" with half a dozen sweets in each. It would have cost me around £3 for plain bags with the same amount.

 

We won`t be buying tubs this year. But i still have Paynes chocolate brazils  :naughty: .  Yummmyyyyyy

[BroadScot]

If you want real value bags of sweets, try Aldis in many varieties. 

 

Iain.

[Hylander]

I have always purchased the 'basic' white (got to be white) Andrex.     Dont like these quilts or other funny stuff, even for indoors.   Never ever had any problems.  Order of the day is ,  dont use too much, you are not at home.   Well if I tell you there is only hubby and myself, you can imagine who that is directed at.         We have a Mansfield loo which is basic but good.

 

I agree about the coke bottles.   They use to be 2ltr and now are 1.75ltr for £1.98 a swing.              

[LizG]

Bags of flour used to be 1.5kg now 1kg, same size packaging initially! The list is continuous.............

[Timbo]

Now call me Scrooge...but I always used to get a kind of perverse pleasure in knowing the cheap Tesco Bog Rolls were made from old Christmas Cards...

 

I try really hard NOT to shop at Tesco as I find that they are the biggest rip off merchants going, dab hands at putting products on a shelf with a special offer only to charge you full skitter when it goes through the checkout! Nine times out of ten fresh fruit & veg are rotten in the poly bag and meat is as tough as old boots...fairly sure last beef joint we bought had 'Doc Martin Air-wear' stamped on it. I'd much rather use the market stalls and proper butchers...but in their 'wisdom' my local council closed down our indoor market hall for a bus station. Then when the market had almost recovered trade in its new location they closed the market square for months while they laid fancy cobbles. Our market is now almost gone baring the odd and occasional stall. Even the Bible bashers don't turn up any more for lack of victims I mean possible converts to harangue.

 

This is why I enjoy shopping on the Broads so much...Roys food hall not an own brand in sight, local butchers, grocers, bakers...perfect!

[ExSurveyor]

I remember an article recently that the size of the inner for loo rolls was being reduced. Sainsbury claim it will need 500 less lorry deliveries a year as a result. We will still get the Same number of sheets. Treehuggers rejoice.

[grendel]

when we get the religious doorstep visitors, I pointedly go to the bookshelf beside the front door, and grab the handful of books specially left there, there is a bible, the book of mormon, the jehovahs witnesses book, one that was given out by the ones in orange robes, and a copy of chariots of the gods, and ezekiels spaceship, I then make a point of going through to find the right book, plus further down the doorstep experience will grab a relevant book, and compare the point they are trying to make in the different religions, or if they provide the opening I will catch them with chariots, or ezekiels spaceship, apart from one jehovahs witness (who is a really nice guy and always asks if you have time to talk, and if you are busy will excuse himself and leave) I dont ever get the same lot around twice (having a tame JW is also a good way to turn away other JW's, just say oh x was just here last week and they retreat, not wanting to poach on anothers territory.)

Grendel

[BroadAmbition]

aspartame - Avoid this stuff like the plague - google the effects of aspartame in the body - I beleive it is banned in some countries and should be so in those that haven't

 

 

Griff

[grendel]

Griff - I have, its just that the alternatives have a physically worse effect on me, and I dont want to drink the full sugar alternatives.

Grendel

[BroadAmbition]

Beleive me Grendel - full sugar alternative is far far safer than aspertame

 

 

Griff

[Happy]

Griff.  Googled this and now worried!  Because I am type 2 diabetic (But still enjoy a drink, mostly in moderation) I drink diet coke with my vodka to avoid the sugar.  I assume all 'diet' types of drinks contain this lethal stuff?  Apart from the obvious-Give Up Drinking-what do you suggest I use as an alternative?  Don't tell me they use this stuff in Bitter as well!?   Reagards Alan  

[grendel]

Alan, most diet cokes (non coca cola brand or pepsi) use sucralose, this is supposed to be a substance made from sugar, but without the calories as the body doesn't absorb it, for most people this is a better choice, but for me anything with sucralose causes me to get acid reflux (I am currently on a medicine to reduce this anyway) with sucralose I would need to double the daily dose of the medicine I take, just to reduce the acid reflux to a tolerable level (I am a miserable git when my acid reflux is playing up). aspartame doesn't have this effect on me.

It may not be the sucralose as such, it may be a by product remaining in trace amounts from the process they use to get sucralose from sugar, and while I agree that sugar would be a better choice, I don't need those extra calories (how many teaspoons of sugar in a can of coke???)

if you look online you can see similar stories saying that aspartame is bad for you, sucralose is bad for you, in fact all of these things are artificially manufactured using chemical processes, you just have to weigh up the balance for what is going to kill you first, I am a non smoker so hopefully should be safer from that aspect.

The fact is that when Britain was on rationing during the war, the country as a whole was far healthier than it is nowadays.

Grendel

[LondonRascal]

I think we have to be aware that your buggered if you do, and buggered if you don’t.

 

If I stopped having sugar free drinks – then that may help in some way, but I’d have to worry about all the other things I should also then stop – drinking as much (what about all the unlisted sulphates going into bottles of wine) then there is the different fats, E numbers in foods the plastics leaching into products, our water systems not to mention our the small traces of plastics now in our lungs through the increased used of manmade fibres in clothes!

 

You need to draw a line at some point and accept that there are a lot of nasty things we are eating or drinking knowingly or not – I’ve just found the fish oil supplements I have been taking can cause a greater risk of cancer – and yet can aid lower cholesterol r and blood pressure levels – do you go for short term improvements, or long term risks!

[BroadScot]

Bring back the daily dose of Castor Oil and Syrup of Figs.... I say 

 

Iain.

[Happy]

Robin, point taken!  Just have to give this more thought whilst having a vodka and diet coke tonight!   Regards Alan   

[Hylander]

If you can live to be a ripe old age and be healthy in mind and body then fine but if not and you end up like my old Mum of 95 who has Alzheimers Dementia, has no idea of time, day,   her past, or recognises any of the family,   then sorry but I will take the early train please.     Enjoy life it is so blessed short.   

 

What do they say a little of what you like does you good.    I went to Greggs today on this miserable cold rainy Monday and bought two of the stickiest gooiest Caramel Doughnuts I have ever seen.     Yes we thoroughly enjoyed them, washed down with a good cup of Rosie Lea.  

 

Wouldnt eat them every day but the odd occasion - yep guilty.

 

I personally have never heard of aspartame.    Thank you for the warning.