The ongoing cost-of-living crisis has forced many households to be more cautious with their grocery spending. One practice that has quietly affected consumers is shrinkflation—the reduction of product sizes while prices stay the same or even increase. This trend has extended across various supermarket staples, including toothpaste, coffee, chocolate, and medicine.
In October, the UK’s independent consumer group Which? highlighted numerous shrinkflation cases where both quantity and quality were compromised to manage costs. Inspired by this, I decided to investigate just how many crisps are packed inside popular brands like Walkers, Hula Hoops, Monster Munch, and more.
Though not a hardcore crisp enthusiast, I often enjoy a packet of Hula Hoops or Quavers with my lunch. For this experiment, I focused on “grab bags” rather than the smaller multipack sizes, aiming to count each individual crisp and weigh the contents to verify whether the advertised net weight was accurate.
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I purchased various crisp packets from Sainsbury’s, selecting one flavour per brand, including Walkers, Quavers, Hula Hoops, Skips, NikNaks, Wotsits, Monster Munch, and others. In counting, I treated whole crisps as one and pieced broken ones together to form a full crisp for fairness. Crumbs and dust settled at the bottom were not counted as crisps but were included in the weight measurements.
UK law, enforced by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), requires pre-packed foods to display net quantity clearly and accurately. This net weight must exclude packaging but include all edible product parts. While minor discrepancies may arise from digital scale precision, the net weights should be reliable.
Here’s what I found:
- Monster Munch (pickled onion): 17 crisps, 40g net weight (matches packet)
- Doritos (sour cream and guacamole): 21 crisps, 50g net weight (+2g)
- Quavers (ready salted): 43 crisps, 34g net weight (matches packet)
- Walkers (ready salted): 28 crisps, 44g net weight (-1g)
- Cheetos: 14 crisps, 37g net weight (-1g)
- Wotsits (salt and vinegar): 35 crisps, 40g net weight (matches packet)
- Pipers (lightweight crisps): 63 crisps, 34g net weight (-2g)
- Skips: 106 crisps (could not weigh due to lightness)
- Mini Cheddars: 23 crisps, 45g net weight (matches packet)
- Walkers Max Paprika: 24 crisps, 50g net weight (matches packet)
- Walkers Oven-Baked: 19 crisps, 38g net weight (+0.5g)
- Hula Hoops (ready salted): 32 crisps, 45g net weight (matches packet)
- NikNaks: 91 crisps, 44g net weight (-1g)
Some packets, like Cheetos and Monster Munch, had fewer crisps but larger pieces, while others, such as Skips and NikNaks, contained many more smaller pieces. On average, the net weights mostly matched the labels, with a few packets weighing slightly less, possibly due to the ‘dust’ or seasoning settling at the bottom.
It’s essential to remember that crisp packets are filled with air to protect fragile crisps during transit, which explains the apparent puffiness and the presence of empty space inside.
While there were some surprises—such as fewer crisps than expected in Walkers Oven-Baked and Doritos packets—the overall accuracy of weight labels was reassuring. I certainly won’t give up my crisps anytime soon. However, going forward, I might just keep my kitchen scales handy to make sure I’m getting my money’s worth.