Name brand vs store brand

[mossimo12]

How do you feel about the quality and taste of name brand items vs store brand? I try buying store brand things, like tomato sause, and my husband swears he can tell the difference and hates them. I'm trying to get our ridiculous grocery bill under control.

Sarah

[Shenjall]

With some things I find a difference, others I dont, and still some things my family prefers the no-name!

I found sticking to no-name and bulk to be a huge help in bringing down the grocery bill. Maybe you could buy your dh the name brand sauce and replace it with NN to see if he notices an actual difference.

Oh, interesting story.... my ex used to be a long distance truck driver. He came home once with a story about waiting for his load of flour. He said he watched the people fill up no name bags with flour, then turn around and fill up robin hood bags with the same flour!! Weird.......

[Scribe]

Well, now that some grocery stores are carrying store-brand organics, we are doing a lot more store brands, and for most things it hasn't made a lot of difference. For some things, though, it definitely does. For instance, your example of pasta sauce--there are like two kinds of bottled sauces I don't hate. There are HUGE differences between then. So with something like that, I stick the brand I know I like.

[elijah'smom]

we usually don't buy store brand. i am a huge believer in "you get what you pay for". we buy organic stonyfield farm milk, and there is a huge difference in taste, and also i would rather buy organic. we buy organic eggs also, and smart balance organic butter. bread we either buy organic or arnolds 100% whole wheat. i think you can definately taste the difference. its not cheaper because its the same thats for sure! also i would rather spend the extra money and have healthier things to eat than be cheap and fill ourselves with junk and chemicals to save a buck.

[Thalia]

A lot of store brands are actually made by the exact same manufacturers as the name brands (like the flour example above). What you are often paying for in a name brand is advertising and packaging. If neither of those matter to you, then buy the store brand.

Read labels. Most of the time the store brands have the exact same ingredients as the name brands. Yes, in some cases, you might prefer the name brand in a blind taste test, but keep in mind that people also tend to like what tastes familiar. If you have very picky eaters, it might take a couple of tries to get them to open their minds.

[root*children]

elijah's - I don't think she talking about store-brand vs. organic, but store brand vs. name brand. And lots of stores now do have store-brand organics, so they're just as good as quality, probably even from the same factory, you just don't have to pay extra for the pretty label

Pasta sauce is one of those things that some companies make better than others. But there are many items that do taste (and are) the same. Just experiment and find some things that your DH will like. Once he finds at least a couple things that are tasty, maybe he'll be more easily persauded to try more store-brands? Good luck!

[2tadpoles]

I've noticed that, sometimes, name-brands have more additives. Yes, cheaper foods sometimes mean lower quality ingredients....but cheaper foods can also mean fewer unnecessary "extras" in the food.

[JanB]

We are not brand-loyal for most things. This usually means that we wind up buying the store brand, but sometimes a name brand will go on sale for cheaper than the store brand, and then we buy that.

Now, there are a couple of items that I won't buy the store brand of, either because the taste is just genuinely inferior or because there seem to be quality control problems, or whatever. I quit buying Meijer frozen lima beans because we had three bags in a row that had a vaguely moldy/musty odor after I steamed them. And DH really prefers Cheerios to the store-brand "Oaty Os" or whatever they are called. Apart from that, I don't think I have any real brand preferences.

[kijip]

I am not particularly loyal to any brands of food. We don't buy a huge amount of processed food so in most of our shopping it is irrelevant. No brand labels that I notice on the bulk bins. I suppose I buy the same brands a lot for baked items and the few processed foods we do buy but that is in large part due to the fact that there is often only 1 brand at the co-op we go to.

Most things, the only difference for comparable items (say evaporated milk brands and canned pea brands) it is exceedingly likely that they foods come from the same manufacturer. The dog food recall that is going on highlights this- multiple brands from multiple companies all recalled for poisioning pets because the food comes from the same factory, from a company whose name you never read on the package or see ads for.

Before we swiched mostly to organics, I suppose I did prefer Cheerios to other O type cereals. And my totally hypocritical use of diet soda- I drink diet coke, not diet store brand or diet pepsi etc.

[shelbean91]

Most store brand stuff is name brand stuff in a different box and marketed differently. There are some things I have to use in name brand, some things don't matter.

[ShaggyDaddy]

We go on a case-by-case difference... DW is more pickey about name brands than I am, but I grew up in a gray cerial box type of house-hold.

We will buy name brand canned peaches because there is this one kind that is not in sugar water, and that's nice.

Really there is a trade-off and we always evaluate the store brand/name brand price difference vs quality trade off... often times the store brand wins.

There are a few things where we will ONLY buy the store brand because we hate the name brand.

Mustard: can't tell a difference, but the new "no drip" spout on the name brand makes it IMPOSSIBLE to put just a "little" mustard on something it aggrivates me.

"Deluxe" Mac and Cheese (boxed junk food) we rarely get it anymore, but the store brand is the only kind that doesn't taste like soap to us?!?

I remember the first time I went gorcery shopping with some friends when we were in the dorm... My bill was much lower than theirs and I got more stuff, but I got generics and shopped with deals in mind, half of my friends had never even heard of generic/store brands... we are talking college freshman!! They were all shocked that "fake cheez-it" were 99 cents. I was shocked that they would pay 3 bucks for crackers.

[lisalulu]

We buy a lot of whole foods store brand stuff-staples like beans, rice, canned tomatoes. I haven't noticed a difference in anything I've tried so far.

[mchalehm]

The only thing I buy in name-brand (unless it's on sale cheaper than the store brand, that is) is aluminum foil. The Target brand is a total waste of my time and money! Other than that, we buy generics a lot.

[Denvergirlie]

Another vote for a case by case basis.

If I plan for the purchase before I need it I can usually find the brand name cheaper than generic, but if it's a last minute/ needed item then the generic can be the price factor.

However, in the long run it's quaility that makes the final make or break.

[birdie22]

I notice a huge difference in the quality of store brands from one chain to another. We actually started shopping at a different store because the store brands were better quality (therefore we could save over buying name brands at the old store).

[boobybunny]

Originally Posted by mossimo12

How do you feel about the quality and taste of name brand items vs store brand? I try buying store brand things, like tomato sause, and my husband swears he can tell the difference and hates them. I'm trying to get our ridiculous grocery bill under control.

Sarah

My husband is from Italian descent, and I buy the CANNED sauce (.78 a can) and add stuff to it. Guess who I got the idea from? His fully Italian grandma who is a wonderful cook. I always add extra garlic, fresh basil, sometimes meat or cheese.

[lmonter]

We're not particularly brand loyal... But for things like Thomas Kemper root beer and Cheerios, yeah, I'm not fond of the generics (and trust me, we've tried). So I keep my eye out on sales or at Costco for certain things.

Or things like crushed tomatoes that we use for homemade (aka salt isn't the main ingredient) tomato soup - the generic is horrible for this purpose, and the fire roasted Muir Glen ones are awesome. So the generic crushed tomatoes just go into a different recipe.

Things like canned beans (I just can't do dried beans, I think I'm cursed) I go with the cheapest, which tends to be the generic or store brand. Same with pastas.

[Jmo780]

We buy most store brand unless the name brand happens to be cheaper (Canned goods etc...)

We buy good bread (Sunbeam, Butternut etc...)

Miricale whip also. vs off name because Dh thinks it tastes better-

Other than those 2 things. I could care less, give me whatever is cheaper!

[mommajb]

My fil works for a packaging company and he has said that the testing and contaminants allowed vary by brand/store brand. They all have to follow the FDA but that leaves quite a bit of room. His example was cream cheese and that Philadlphia brand's tolerances for contaminants are much lower than the store brands he knew about. I don't really know or go to him for help with food choices.

[ollineeba]

There are certain things that we will only buy name-brands, like cereal, cream cheese, orange juice. There are some others that we prefer store-brand, but it just depends on the item.