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FYI Less ounces in Betty Crocker cake mix

12 years ago

When looking for a yellow cake mix I noticed that Betty Crocker cake mixes have reduced their amounts to 15. ounces. The other brands were still at around 18.3. This is going to make a very small 13 x 9 cake and layers cakes will be small too. It won't be very long before the other brands change theirs also. I remember when they used to be over 21 ounces per box.

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Comments (8)

Nancy
12 years ago
I hate it when manufacturers reduce amounts in their packages. It really messes with my recipes, I'd much rather they raise the price.
Jasdip
12 years ago
I noticed that this week as well. Our boxes started out at 550 grams, then 500, now I noticed the ones I bought on sale are 432 grams.
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foodonastump, I didnt mean it to sound like they are being dishonest, or trying to gouge the consumer.Its just a matter of running a business. I stated:" Prices of groceries as with everything else but jobs and wages are going up. These companies are going to raise their prices one way or the other." Gasoline to truck these groceries, and all the other expenses that go along with getting things to the shelves have gone up dramatically. If they didnt raise prices, then that would seriously chip away at any profits they are making.And we know EVERY business is in it for a profit or they wouldnt be in business.(Exceptions are non profits.) I do believe they hope the customer isnt going to notice the increase by making things smaller, or otherwise they would just increase the price and be done with it. But the fact is, prices are going up on everything.Its just "cause and effect". There is not a whole lot that can be done with it. Tammy
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Comments (18)
Scratch baking isn't inconsistent when done by the same baker with the same ingredients, tools and oven. When someone who really doesn't know how to bake well has inconsistent results it's usually because the ingredients weren't handled correctly or measured properly, and the baker doesn't know the oven well enough to know the correct settings for that particular oven. I don't get the mix "doctoring" part if it's more than throw in a few raspberries or a box of pudding mix. The basics, the flour, sugar and baking powder, are the easy part! At least once you've mastered measuring. ryseryse_2004, I read once that cake mixes require the addition of milk and eggs so that the person making it will feel like it's really baking rather than magic box factory stuff. I haven't made a mix since I was old enough to measure, however, so this is just a guess: There have been a lot of changes in how fats are handled for factory made foods. It'll be the fats that create the "chemical" taste that Annie mentioned, and which are most likely to vary. They're also the first things to get rancid and therefore are what most require stabilizers and preservatives, which also have gone through changes. That may very well be your difference. They'll also have an effect on texture, and potentially even dryness. Annie and Maddielee bring up a good point. Plain old frosted cake is kind of out of style. It could be they're engineering the cake mixes to be dryer than they used to be in order to stand up to the very wet fillings, soaks, ganaches, cremes and toppings that are so in.
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cooksnsews
12 years ago
Some manufacturers are justifying this downsizing on so-called "health" reasons. Like, the calories/serving are reduced, so the product is now "healthier". And you should always expect to pay more for healthier foods....
annie1992
12 years ago
Another pet peeve of mine. Ice cream is no longer a half gallon, sugar is 4 pounds instead of 5, potatoes now come in 8 pound bags instead of 10. Manufacturers think we're so dumb we won't notice? Pah.

Thankfully I don't like cakes from mix, I bake mine from scratch, so they stays the same. Except, of course, large eggs are smaller than they used to be. Ugh. Soon a dozen will be eleven...

Annie
cynic
12 years ago
Annie, a couple years ago I was commenting on how much smaller eggs seemed than a few years ago. But in looking it up, the standard is:
30 oz per dozen eggs = jumbo
27 oz per dozen eggs = extra large
24 oz per dozen eggs = large
21 oz per dozen eggs = medium
18 oz per dozen eggs = small
I was still skeptical so I took out a carton of eggs. Didn't have a dozen so I weighed 6 and they were just over 12 oz. I was surprised. But they still look smaller on the plate.

And just the other day I started wondering about if they'd go to 11 (or 10) eggs per carton!
Jasdip
12 years ago
I haven't seen the potatoes in 8 lb bags here yet.
I certainly haven't thought of the possibility of 10 eggs in a "dozen" either. Wow, I have to wonder if the cost of making the die to re-design the carton would be worth the savings.

I still get mad when I open a new can of Maxwell House. The new smaller size. We go through a can so much faster now.
It went from 926 grams to 631. 1/3 less, and not 1/3 cheaper in price either!
tami_ohio
11 years ago
I just came home from our local Giant Eagle grocey store. Betty Crocker was 15.2 ounces and Duncan Hines was 16.5, so even Duncan Hines is reducing the size of their mixes.
:( Guess I will be making my own mixes. Problem is, I hardly ever make a cake. We don't eat enough of it to make it worth it. It would mold first.

Tami
cooksnsews
11 years ago
"I certainly haven't thought of the possibility of 10 eggs in a "dozen" either."

Ah, you must mean the metric dozen! Wait for it. I'm sure it's on its way.

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