Appetizing Muse

For years I have been trying to find pop tarts without frosting. It might be due to my various locations over time, but grocery stores in my area simply do not carry the unfrosted goodness.

As a child my favorite pop tart flavor was cinnamon, closely followed by blueberry. I never liked the frosted variety, preferring the pastry plain.

Therefore, I was happy to try Pillsbury Toaster Strudels. The frosting packet is separate from the pastry; the packet ends up in the trash in my house. Yesterday I tried the blueberry flavor and was quite content, although I noticed the size of the pastry was smaller than the original pop tart.

But everything is smaller these days, as I'm sure most people are aware. Prices have not gone down – in some cases, they have increased – even though quantities in most consumer products have noticeably reduced. Has anyone bothered to tell the big food companies that gas prices are no longer on the moon, and they can go back to the old prices and quantities? Or do they think no one is wise to the conspiracy?

Most obvious to me is the decreased quantities/sizes in packaged items such as saltine crackers, breakfast cereal, canned dog and cat food, toilet paper and paper towel rolls (also flimsier, along with Kleenex), frozen fish fillets and fish-sticks, Banquet chicken nuggets and pot pies, and much more.

One surprise was the length of Hartz rawhide bones for dogs. Noticeably shortened, the company was still using the larger bags for packaging the last time I bought the product. How low can one go, stealing from a dog?

Getting less for more; isn't it lovely?