Monday, 10 August 2009

  • Groceries: Generic vs. Name Brands

    Groceries: Generic vs Name Brands

    I confess. I'm a macaroni and cheese snob. If it's not Kraft, I'm not interested.

    I'm also a Cheerios snob - Tasty-O's or Oat Rings just don't do it for me. My peanut butter has to be Jif or Skippy, and my cheese slices better be Kraft American.

    But those are about the only areas I have brand loyalty. Frozen pizza? Whatever's cheapest. Crackers? Same deal. Most of my non-perishables are a mix of brands. My pantry is a hodge-podge of whatever was on sale that week.

    My mother has always told me brands don't matter, and its all probably the same stuff anyway. This was recently confirmed when a relative of mine started working at a sugar factory. What went into the expensive-brand sugar bags was the same stuff that went into store brand sugar bags. Theoretically, then, what the name-brands charge more for is advertising and name recognition. Since I'm a bit of a cheapskate, I refuse to take the bait. I'll buy my Midwest Country Fare gallon of milk, my Great Value dryer sheets and supermarket-brand pasta and rice.  

    (Total side-note: I'm also convinced this will someday pay off. My grocery store, the midwest chain HyVee, has an annual "Brands for Grands" drawing. Register, and if you win, the store manager will come to your house and count your HyVee branded items. You get $100 per item up to $3500. Since I ususally have around 50 or so HyVee brand items in my house, I'm just sure I'll win one of these days!)

    I've never actually added it up, but I'm sure buying store brands has saved me a ton of money in the years I've been in college and on my own. Sometimes, the store brand is $1 or more cheaper! That's a lot of extra cash for essentially the same thing.

    What are your thoughts on store brand groceries? Can you tell the difference? Do you have any brands you have to have?

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Comments (50)

  • Shinbi_Belldandy@xanga

    Sorry moms of the world but I disagree. Brands do matter, but on somethings. Cereals I can skate on. $4+ fruit loops vs. the $2 fruity Os or whatever the cheap brand is, I can go for the cheap brand. Kraft Mac n' Cheese & Velveeta are hard to beat. I'll buy brands on those. Ice creams I rarely buy generic brands. It will NOT taste the same & some use artificial flavors & things to cut costs.


    If I'm hurting for money, I'll go generic with no problem. One of my mottos is "you gotta do what you gotta do until you can do what you want". If I got the change to spare or I get good deals, I'll buy it. If anyone has Albertsons (a grocery store) near them, hit them up. They have NAME BRAND specials alot. I'm not sure how often because it's a good 20+ minute drive from my house so I only go if I get the circular. But they have things 10 for $10. I think the author of this post will love it because Kraft Mac n' Cheese is most often under that. 10 boxes for $10 will feed you for a while! I should know! ;)


    I hate the Walmart by me because the customer service is horrible & the store is a mess but I go because the prices are good. The Mac n' Cheese there is on sale alot too!
  • cutesycharm@xanga

    Kraft is a disgusting excuse for mac & cheese. Its cheap and gross. How can you call yourself a mac and cheese snob for liking KRAFT? Not to mention, great value stuff is so gross and in some cases its not even that much cheaper. I buy the brands I like, not stuff that tastes nasty. (Spaghettio's with franks from walmart is some nasty shit) 
  • cutesycharm@xanga

    @Shinbi_Belldandy@xanga - Albertson's has good store brand stuff too. But $1 for mac & cheese? Its only like 50 cents at walmart. 
  • Shinbi_Belldandy@xanga

    @cutesycharm@xanga - REALLY?! I never seen it at mine? I'll check when I go back, it's usually $1 something. The velveeta there is a great deal. Ususally like $1.12 or so a box but they have $1 sales on those so I pick it up then. Plus I like that they have broccoli & bacon in theirs.

  • twentyfivecents

    @cutesycharm@xanga - LOL - it's boxed Mac'n Cheese. I'm not expecting gourmet. But if you're buying powdered cheese, Kraft is the place to go. And I don't really buy Great Value foods - I buy a lot of great value paper items. Paper towels, dryer sheets, bleach, etc. Things no one can really screw up, not even Wal-mart. For $1+ less, I'll take the Great Value!
  • nineteen80sixx@xanga

    I buy store brands all the time. For the most part, they taste just as good as the more expensive brands, imo. Although, sometimes I have to tweak the cooking process with certain store brand products; for instance, if I'm using Kroger brand mac n' cheese instead of Kraft, I don't pour all the cheesy powder in or it'll taste weird.


    I do love Kraft mac n' cheese, though. :)

  • averyswife@xanga

    I buy brand name products IF it's close in price to the generic, I have coupons making it a better deal, OR if it's just that much better than the generic.  Store brand paper towels = FAIL, store brand cheese = WIN, etc.
  • cutesycharm@xanga

    @Shinbi_Belldandy@xanga - Really really?! What the heck. My boyfriends mom buys mac and cheese in large quantities because its usually really really cheap. Kraft too.

    Velveeta is actually tasty....

    and I like the Knorr Pasta Sides w/ Veggies. Good stuff, but not enough for a whole family.

  • acst2@xanga

    Dreyer's ice cream. Oreo cookies. UFC Banana ketchup. King car. But I try to get store brands when it comes to sugar, oil, pepper... those kinda things. I'm the one cooking now.. & budgeting my boyfriend's money. So it all works out!
  • papermadeflower@xanga

    Usually for me the only that tastes band when it isn't brand name is certain sodas. Other then that they usually taste spot on. From what I can tell anyway..
  • soberheartss@xanga

    store brand groceries - cheaper
    but i heard it's unhealthy because they're trying to make
    the same product and about the same taste so they add more MSG
  • xa06@xanga

    Yeah, sometimes it does. My bum prefers the soft touch of name brand toilet paper than sandpaper disguised as generic.

  • Winter__Raven@xanga

    I don't stinge on certain cereals, like Mini Wheats but for like Captain Crunch...bring on the generics! It just kind of depends on if I've had bad experiences with the generic brands or not. I'll usually buy the generic unless if I've had that bad experience.
  • myrealnameisemo@xanga

    Some things I can tell the difference like mozzarella cheese. I eat kraft mac & cheese and velveeta. The ice cream I wont buy certain brands cuz I don't like them. 
  • crazysogul@xanga

    hate to say but "brand power" 

  • FunnyWiddleBunny@xanga

    Honestly, it depends. When it comes to food, sometimes I am too hungry to tell the difference.
  • Lil_Firefly_25@xanga

    For the most part, I buy brand names....

    For example, last night we ran out of toilet paper, so my boyfriend and I went to Wal Mart. There was the generic brand which my step dad buys, but instead I bought Charmin. I can defiantly feel a difference!
  • believerachel@xanga

    Depends on what you're buying, I guess. I go for generic usually.
  • enterthelabyrinth@xanga

    I would rather eat ramen noodles than Kraft Mac N Cheese.....That is NOT CHEESE! Same goes for Kraft Singles....it's cheaper (unless it's on sale) to buy *real* cheese at the deli than it is to buy sliced up Velveeta. Personally, I cut costs by making my own food. Nothing beats my mom's old recipe for real macaroni and cheese that makes a ton more and tastes/is better for you.

    I will buy store brands of stuff like pastas, snacks, bread products, etc....the only things I really will never buy store brand of is mustard (i am truly addicted to French's), ice cream (Edy's slow churn anyone?), cereal and soap. Everything else is fair game. But I also consider cost vs. size and taste. Like if I really want Cheetos, but I know the store brand cheese curls are cheaper or if I want frozen pizza and I liked Tombstone better than store brand...I consider how badly I want the "real thing" at the time versus how much money I want to spend. Usually, if I need cereal or something simply and extremely variable like that, I'll look at what's marked down the day I'm shopping.

  • sailorsakura9@xanga

    THEY'VE GOT YOU IN THEIR MARKETING TRAP!  Actually this is pretty interesting, since I'm studying about this right now XD  I think the only brand loyalty is more like brand comparison.  If I haven't heard of the brand, I probably won't buy it because I don't know if it's good or not.  If I hear good things about a brand, I will probably get it.  ex:  I bought these Kudos bars from Rite Aid once.  I never heard of the product, but I saw the Snickers' and M&M brand on it so I checked the price.  There was a deal, so I bought it.  Otherwise, I would've stuck with the Quaker chewies (man, I love that stuff).
  • haloed@xanga

    Kraft dinner or go home, however I get president's choice for WHITE CHEESE kraft dinner as I find it tastes better, but that was a trial and error thing.  For shampoo, my mom used to say, "oh it doesn't matter, don't spend a ridiculous amount of money on hair products" however, THEY DO PAY OFF! 

    I used herbal essences for a while, and my hair was dull and dead.  Then I switched to pantene pro-v, and my hair has NEVER been shinier.  I since added into it some Aveda deep conditioning here and there, as well as Marc Anthony "curly" hair lotion and Pantene pro-v curling mousse, and my hair looks absolutely gorgeous.  I will not skimp out on that stuff.

    And for toilet paper, man it has to be good, not 1-ply or total crap, or go home.

    Maybe I just like quality products =/
  • haloed@xanga

    @xa06@xanga - Agreed, that's one huge thing I always notice - cheap toilet paper vs. quality.
  • ManoAngeliukai9902@xanga

    Mac/Cheese, it doesn't matter to me, generic or name brand, I'll eat it.
    There is definitely a huge difference between generic root beer and A&W/Barq's/Dad's/Mug... etc...  Name brand root beer tastes so much better.
    Cola, on the other hand, I prefer generic next to Coca Cola.
    Cereals are fine when they're generic.

    We buy both brand and generic, obviously, but moreso generic.
  • butterflyknives@xanga

    I really like Kroger brand instant oatmeal.
  • liebedavinci@xanga

    Since my boyfriend and I pay for our own groceries now, I have taught him how to shop smart.  There are certain things that we get name brand such as Heinz Catchup and Kraft Mac n Cheese, but when it comes to milk, bread, flour, orange juice, etc, we'll stick with what's on sale or the store brand.  We are basically forced to go to a Schnucks because it's the only grocery store within a half hour drive and there are no Walmarts near us, and we know that Schnucks is notorious for being expensive, so name brand goes far. 

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