I’ve been eating a two-pack of Nature Valley oats and honey granola bars for breakfast for quite a while now.
You know the ones - hard as a brick, able to shatter teeth and serve as a patch anywhere a small piece of particle board would work.
And now - I go to buy a new box, and they’re “easier to bite” with a ‘better crunch’. Hard to bite was a selling point, damn it! And I’m assuming that I’m actually getting less granola now, since it isn’t packed in as tightly.
I seldom eat those, but the Oats & Honey are the ones that I like. And I like them the way they were. Just right for dunking into tea. Haven’t tried the new ones yet.
Maybe start a campaign to bring the old ones back? Like New Coke?
I agree wholeheartedly. I buy the dark chocolate and granola, and dip them in yogurt as a snack. If I scoop up too much it breaks now. And there’s crumbs freakin everywhere on my desk, looking like a slob afterwards.
It’s always a safe bet that any product that was OK to begin with is never “new and improved” despite declarative exclamations on the package. I hope they DIAF.
My DH always makes fun of me because I stock up on things but when they discontinued his favorite toothpaste he was happy that I had four tubes stashed. Hah. And I too loved those bars for their very hardness and expect the new ones to be less of everything. Leave stuff ALONE, people!
Hah, I actually like that they’re easier to bite because they were so.goddamn.messy with crumbs and granola shards flying everywhere.
On the other hand, though, “easier to bite” == “less dense” == “less actual granola per bar” == “paying the same amount for less granola”. And THAT I most definitely do NOT like.
I wanted to but my contractor friend got upset when I borrowed his. I guess I didn’t get all the honey and oats off the business end and he had some 'splaining to do the next time he did concrete demolition work…
Actually, I prefer chewy to crunchy, but to each their own.
And if ya’ll think that compression tool looks scary you should check YouTube for the homemade “grain puffers” some folks have come up with.
Most things I like are discontinued within six months of my discovering them, or just not stocked in my local supermarket anymore. I would say it happens for me at least once or twice a year.