When did crisp packets (and similar packaging) start being made out of plastic?

[Sebastian Cobb]

Speaking about shrinking packets erm crisps. Anyone tried to emulate flavored ones. The only one I've managed is salt and vinegar. Potato slices a la shaved knuckle courtesy of a bendy mandolin, soaked in vinegar before frying. Not bad. Not sure how you do cheese and onion. You can get onion powder. Maybe do a cheese crisp in the oven, then plonk it through a spice grinder.

Onion powder and a bit of salt is pretty nice. I don't fry them though. Just microwave them on a greased plate.

[Replies From View]

You weren't imagining it...

Ah yes - there we are.

[canadagoose]

There was a kid in my school who had one of these pencil cases:



Although it may have been one of the other colours/flavours.  I actually searched this because my memory was that it had a transparent window like the plastic packets, but obviously it didn't.

Some other folk at my primary school had those pencil cases - but aren't you older than me? This would have been mid-to-late '90s.

Edit: Just saw the above. That would make sense.

[Jittlebags]

You do realize that the (and similar packaging) aspect has not yet been addressed.

[Replies From View]

You do realize that the (and similar packaging) aspect has not yet been addressed.

Do you mean the 1960s packet in the bbc article?

I reckon it uses greaseproof paper or something.  That's what it looks like in the photos.

[buzby]

Do you mean the 1960s packet in the bbc article?

I reckon it uses greaseproof paper or something.  That's what it looks like in the photos.

Did you not read my post? Golden Wonder switched tio cellophane packets in 1960. The packet in the BBC article was from 1967- it's pearly made out of cellophane, just with clear widows at the sides. A greaseproof paper packet would have biodegraded away aftercare couple of weeks outdoors.

[Replies From View]

Did you not read my post? Golden Wonder switched tio cellophane packets in 1960. The packet in the BBC article was from 1967- it's pearly made out of cellophane, just with clear widows at the sides. A greaseproof paper packet would have biodegraded away aftercare couple of weeks outdoors.

Ah okay, sorry.

In that case I don't know what Jittlebags is saying wasn't addressed.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Ah okay, sorry.

In that case I don't know what Jittlebags is saying wasn't addressed.

When did similar packaging (as per the thread title) start being made out of plastic, ie. peanuts, Bombay mix, etc? 

I'm going to treat these as analogous to the crisp packet and mark this ticket as closed.

[Replies From View]

I don't even know when Bombay mix first started happening.


Weird to think that one day they will definitely vacuum pack every individual crisp and peanut.

[studpuppet]

If you want a history of UK crisps you can download this for the price of a sharing bag:

A Brief History Of Crisps

(It's actually an extract from The Great British Tuck Shop by the way)

[shiftwork2]

This forum and crisps.  CrispedandBrexited.

[Replies From View]

It's only really the packets I like.  And those packets have to be at least 25 years old to pass my rigorous muster.

[buzby]

It's not even the first time a 1967 Golden Wonder packet has been found on a beach - the BBC published an  article in May 2014 about litter Surfers Against Sewage found washed up on UK beaches, including Golden Wonder packets from 1967 and 1968:


A 1967 packet with the same competition on it was sold on ebay in February this year for £11.50.

When did similar packaging (as per the thread title) start being made out of plastic, ie. peanuts, Bombay mix, etc? 

Cellophane started being used for food packaging after WWII, when the rise of self-service supermarkets required more pre-packaged produce. The biggest producer of cellophane packaging in the UK in the 50s and early 60s was Colodense Ltd, originally created by Robinsons Of Bristol (a packaging company that produced printed paper and waxed baper bags) in 1935 to develop the 'Colodense' process of colour gravure printing onto the cellophane film using technology licenced from the US. Their work was interrupted by the war, but after being taken over by British Cellophane after the war they opened their first full-scale production facility in Bedminster in 1952.

In 1956 they introduced the first laminated wrappers and bags, using aluminium, paper and polythene, and in 1957 introduced the cheaper/more suitable for small batches 'Coloflex' printing process using rubber rollers to transfer the printing onto the films instead of the chrome plated cylinders used in the gravure process.

They were later taken over by Amcor Flexibles and the factory was moved from Bedminster to Whitchurch, but the site was closed in 2006 and production was moved to their other European factories, mostly due to their major customers (such as Mondelēz/Cadburys) moving their production to Eastern Europe.

[Cerys]

So no-one else remembers when they used to arrive through the post every Friday, in plain, unmarked wrappers?  Ah, those were the days.

[Ryan Gosling]

Not sure when they started being made out of plastic. I tell thee what though..most crisp packets these days only have half a bag of crisps in them, total ripoff.

[im barry bethel]

So no-one else remembers when they used to arrive through the post every Friday, in plain, unmarked wrappers?  Ah, those were the days.

We used to have ours delivered by the milkman

[gib]

I'm pretty sure they used to come in standard plastic packets (with see-through windows). Here's an example from 1985:

30 grams then, 32.5g today. And yet i could have sworn they were getting smaller

[Blumf]

30 grams then, 32.5g today. And yet i could have sworn they were getting smaller

Just you, getting larger.

[MuteBanana]

30 grams then, 32.5g today. And yet i could have sworn they were getting smaller

That's air.

[buzby]

That's air Nitrogen.

FTFY - they fill the bags with nitrogen, the oxygen and moisture in air would make the crisps go stale.

[boki]

30 grams then, 32.5g today. And yet i could have sworn they were getting smaller

I think at one point they had leapt up in size in between.

[Delete Delete Delete]

The question is what is the difference in price per gram?

[buzby]

30 grams then, 32.5g today. And yet i could have sworn they were getting smaller

Walkers in the 80s were 28g, then they went up to 30g and now 32.5g. These days multipack bags are normally only 25 grams too.

Tayto NI are an exception - their retail singles packs are still 35g.

[gib]

I think at one point they had leapt up in size in between.

I'm almost certain they were 34g or 35g quite recently.

[Dex Sawash]

You would think they would come up with a way to put crisps inside a packet made of potato peel

[king_tubby]

Tayto NI are an exception - their retail singles packs are still 35g.

Tayto aren't really crisps though, are they? They're some sort of crisp simulacrum, sharted from the devil's ringpiece.

Now then.

[buzby]

I'm almost certain they were 34g or 35g quite recently.

Walkers started reducing the sizes of their standard bags from 34.5g to 32.5g around 2011, as part of a drive by the FSA to reduce portion sizes (which the manufacturers are presumably happy to comply with, as they can sell less product for the same price).
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/385479/Food-packets-shrinking-but-the-price-isn-t

Tayto aren't really crisps though, are they? They're some sort of crisp simulacrum, sharted from the devil's ringpiece.

Now then.

Tayto NI are proper potato crisps - they also own the Golden Wonder brand. It's a different company to Tayto Eire.

[king_tubby]

I know that, but I'm bored, and want to start the traditional 14 page CaB CRISP PAGGA.

[daf]

bendy mandolin

plus . . .
Tubular Bells!

[gilbertharding]

Tayto NI are proper potato crisps - they also own the Golden Wonder brand. It's a different company to Tayto Eire.

I once tweeted something about the best flavour of crisps being Golden Wonder Sausage and Tomato but lamented that since Golden Wonder effectively no longer existed, you couldn't get them anymore.

The person in charge of Golden Wonder's twitter account retweeted me, with a picture of said product, and the word 'awkward'.