store brand or name brand?

[Gracefulmom]

What are some store-brand products that you're happy with?


And, what are some products you MUST, MUST, MUST have in a name brand version?


Personally, I've been happy with store brand cereals, pasta sauce, soy milk. Canned soup is ok, macaroni and cheese is hit-and-miss -- but Annie's is thebest!

I will only buy name-brand dish soap, because I have to use too much of the cheaper stuff. And I will never, never buy cheap coffee... only fair trade.

What do you think?

[Amys1st]

I agree with the fair trade coffee 100%. We also buy our beans whole bean unroasted fair trade and roast ourselves.

But, for anything over the counter we buy the house brand such as petroluem jelly,
hand satis,
ibprofin
hand soap,
vinagars, our local grocery- the best canned tomatoes - when on sale we buy the case. Last for months
popcorn in the bag- the kernals and we pop ourselves on the stovetop
Love the Annies mac n cheese but TJ's makes a good one. I usually make my own anyway but keep it in the pantry
butter
cheeses
dryer sheets that I cut in thirds

[EFmom]

I do store brands (or whatever is on sale cheaper) on just about everything. The only exceptions are mayo (need Hellman's or Kraft) and coffee.

[countrymom]

We don't scrimp on coffee either...

and if and when we do creme cheese, I only like Philadelphia..the store brands just don't come close. That's about all I can think of.....oh and for the kids...they like Heinz catsup best--must be all of the sugar in it...I've bought Trader joe's organic...not as good....so I stick to the Heinz....(Go Teresa & John Kerry!--ha-ha--)

[Alkenny]

I'm not a brand "snob" at all.

[wednesday]

We go through a lot of canned peaches and tomatos at our house, and I've never found a store brand that compares to the brand names for those. So I tend to buy whichever brand name is currently on sale.

Definitely always generic for OTC meds.

Oh that reminds me of this dumb argument DH and I had in the middle of Target a couple years ago. He can be kind of a brand snob. He wanted brand name Q-tips and I was insisting on Target brand cotton swabs which were the same amount for a dollar less. I got my way but he was really annoyed about it. And I guess he told everyone in his family because that Christmas everyone gave him big packages of Q-tip swabs! We have like thousands of Q-tips at our house still. I think we'll never use them all up.

Oh and when he was sick a few weeks ago and asked me to go buy Pepto-Bismol I didn't dare bring him the store brand pink bismuth...even though that's what I would have gotten for myself.

[serenetabbie]

that is so funny wednesday! I can only imagine getting boxes of Q Tips

I buy just about everything but coffee off-brand (seems to be a trend here!). I shop a lot at Aldis or stores like save-a-lot where they do not sell many name brand items. There are somethings I found that are not as good, but there are some off brands I like better than name brands! Near here we have a Keebler factory... one of the people who works there told me they make some store brands also. They just stop the machines and switch the outer boxes!

[serenetabbie]

Oh, I also only buy name brand dish soap. I buy Sun and Earth. The store brands just dont seem to work as well. The same goes for saran-wrap. We dont use it too often... but it irritates me when the "cling wrap" does not cling

[afishwithabike]

I (or Dh I should say) HAS to have REAL Oreos, and both of us agree on natural peanut butter. Yeah, it's a pain to stir but tasts better.

[wednesday]

Name brand trash bags. I had enough of the generic bags splitting open halfway to the outside garbage can.

[bendmom]

I do all store brand unless it's on sale for cheaper, it's coffee or Annies. Or something that I really love and am just not willing to switch, like Mint Milanos. I buy milk, bread, laundry detergent, and cheese from Costco and buy it house brand if possible. We get flour, oatmeal and sugar bulk on sale. What really helps me buy the cheapest and not nessasarily the store brand is price per ounce. If the store brand cereal is .31 cents per ounce, and the name brand is on sale for .25, then I buy the name brand.

[BookGoddess]

Originally Posted by afishwithabike

I (or Dh I should say) HAS to have REAL Oreos, and both of us agree on natural peanut butter. Yeah, it's a pain to stir but tasts better.

Maranatha makes a great natural peanut butter that you don't have to stir. DH is not into organic natural foods the way I am but I switched to the Maranatha no-stir natural peanut butter and he didn't even notice the difference!