Food items-store brand vs name brand

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

Yesterday I picked up store-brand instant oatmeal rather than Quaker.




I am not going to waste it, so I will have to eat the stuff.

I also do not find store brand "cheerios" as good as Cheerios.

Saltines are another that I think the store brand is just gross compared to Premium.

What foods do you get that are better store brand vs name brand and vice versa?

[wackyaunt]

I make my own oatmeal packets to save money versus name brand...so that was an easy "frugal fix" for my grocery budget.

Some things are better name brand than others. My theory is you don't know until you try; so I always am willing to try it. If we don't like, I don't repeat the purchase and/or try other alternatives (how I began making my own "instant" oatmeal, which DS believes to be THE BEST EVER!).

Usually the store brands are cheaper only because they don't spend the $$ on the advertisng and labeling. A lot, and I mean A LOT of store brands are the same exact manufacturers as the name brands just a different label on the end product. So if you don't like some brands it stands to reason that you won't like the store brand if it is the same manufacturer and/or recipe.

[azucena]

Feb 11, 2011 7:50:17 GMT -5 wackyaunt said:

I make my own oatmeal packets to save money versus name brand...so that was an easy "frugal fix" for my grocery budget.

Some things are better name brand than others. My theory is you don't know until you try; so I always am willing to try it. If we don't like, I don't repeat the purchase and/or try other alternatives (how I began making my own "instant" oatmeal, which DS believes to be THE BEST EVER!).

Usually the store brands are cheaper only because they don't spend the $$ on the advertisng and labeling. A lot, and I mean A LOT of store brands are the same exact manufacturers as the name brands just a different label on the end product. So if you don't like some brands it stands to reason that you won't like the store brand if it is the same manufacturer and/or recipe.

Mind sharing the recipe for your instant oatmeal? I can't seem to get the ratios right from recipes I've found online.

[franticwoman]

I like the offbrand instant oatmeal just fine. I cannot believe how much Quaker is, no thanks. ($2.99 is the sale price).

Wegman's "Oreo" like cookies are better than the name brand. I'm not the only one that says so. And they are at least $1 cheaper normal price. Their papertowels are Brawny-esque also.

Overall I think Wegman's and Safeway's store brands are very very good for most everything. I never think I am getting an inferior product when I buy it.

I don't compromise on Heinz ketchup though. There is a huge difference with ketchup.

[franticwoman]

Oh - and Aldi's cereal is very good IMO - and $1.69 a box! woot!

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

Feb 11, 2011 8:26:43 GMT -5 @daphne87 said:

We do store brands on almost everything over here. Except poptarts -- when we got married DH and I agreed to never, ever, ever switch to store brand poptarts!

Poptarts have never crossed my threshold!

[alabamagal]

We buy plenty of store brands. The less "processed" the food is, the more likely it is that the store brand is not as good.

On the oatmeal, do you mean the packets? We but the large container of "quick" oats, find any store brand to be about the same.

We buy store brand pasta, corn oil, sugar, canned tomatoes, butter, cheese (unless name brand on sale), milk, eggs, rice (uncooked), peanut butter, jelly

Name brand only - mayo, ketchup, canned vegetables, Pop Tarts (when the kids where pop tart age), most cereals (not a big item in our house), mac and cheese.

[NancysSummerSip]

I buy both store brands on most dairy items, because a very good national dairy is actually making most of the milk, cottage cheese, sour cream and butter for them.

Cheese is another matter. I go for the best I can get, because I find there is a difference, and I eat so little of it, that I want the best when I do.

I totally agree on the cereal issue....never did find a store brand I liked.

For deli meats, it's either Boar's Head or Hebrew National for me. DH doesn't know the difference.

[wackyaunt]

This is based off of a recipe from The Simple Dollar.com and I have seen similar on a couple of other sites:
For each Zippy bag:
1/4 cup Quick Oats (I buy in bulk at the Amish store and they need to be the QUICK variety, regular oats texture is not our fav) (a 4 pound bag of quick oats made 56 double pkgs last week it is DS's Valentine--he is away at college)
1 Teaspoon Carnation Instant Coffee Creamer (I haven't found a cheaper substitute yet with this flavor/texture, with coupons and sales, this isn't as bad as it sounds expense wise.)
1/8 teaspoon salt (don't opt out on this...it is vital to flavor, since I use creamer I reduce to a healthy size pinch)
2 teaspoons Brown Sugar packed, not loose (again I buy in bulk, so not as pricey)
1/4 teaspoon ground Cinnamon (huge container of it from restaurant supply and/or bulk food stores)

Put all ingredients into a zip sandwich bag and you have just put the "instant oatmeal" cereal makers out of business.

Since DS eats at least 2 packets at once, when I make for him; I double the above recipe in each bag. He began eating 2-3 store bought packages at a time in Junior High and playing football...young boys/men have hollow legs! When I did one of those nerdy cost analysis things, even with using a "new" ziplock (DS draws the line at washing and reusing these!) it came out to well less than half of the cost to buy a box. ($2 per box of 10 single servings unless coupon and sale, and face it with a kid that eats 2-3 at a time, they don't print coupons fast enough to stay ahead of the budget game on that!)

For "Plain Oatmeal" you can leave out the Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and substitute sweetener or white sugar. I have also used French Vanilla Creamer and that tastes really yummy with a handful of frozen blueberries, dried currents or raisins, or a peach in the mornings (again no brown sugar or spices) or add a tablespoon of chopped nuts to the brown sugar cinnamon version.

I now have DH and I trained to make directly in a bowl in the morning and fore go the need for the zippy bag...pretty glass jars containing each of the ingredients stays on the "breakfast tray" next to the microwave. I started out the tray with a "recipe card" on it for DH to be able to "make" each morning. To prepare: add water, nuke a minute, add fruit (if plain) stir, nuke another minute.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

My big peeve was the generic Chex Mix. I don't buy it regularly, but for some reason it had appeal, was on sale and bought a bag. Ate the bag, went back the next week to get another bag but it was no longer on sale so I bought the store brand, which was $1 less. Tasted the same, but about 2/3 the contents were shards/pieces and dust. Hmmmm, maybe I had gotten a bag that had been abused so bought another bag, same thing.

So while they may be the identical items, I suspect that when it's made the Chex Mix was taken off the top of the pile and what was at the bottom was used for the store brand. It does taste the same, but I was paying for broken pieces. So now I bypass it and only buy Chex Mix when it goes on sale.

I never buy the store brand half and half for my coffee. Even though it's supposed to be good, the cream tastes off before the sell by date. However, I have no problems with store brand milk or butter.

Cereal I tend to stick with name brand, never found store brands to be the same. Same with rice, the one time I bought the store brand, it cooked up as mush. That was the one time I couldn't finish up what I bought and wound up tossing it out after the second time I made it and it turned to mush.

[mawmawandlovingit]

I typically don't purchase any store brand items.....I have been couponing for years now and I can usually find coupons for the name brand products coupled with a sale for cheaper than the store brands.

If I EVER tried to purchase a store brand ketchup I would be carted straight to divorce court my DH will not use anything but Heinz!!

[Gardening Grandma]

What foods do you get that are better store brand vs name brand and vice versa?

I haven't found ANY store brands that are better than the name brands. But for some things, (dairy as Nancy noted) that there doesn't seem to be much difference.

Breakfast cereal - DH has experimented and nothing tastes as good to him as his favorite name brand. I manage to buy it pretty much on sale or at Costco.

Recently he came home with some canned soups - the store brand because the price was so good. We tried them and they were tasteless. I refused to eat the rest and added them to the dogs' kibble...

wackyaunt: Thank you for the recipe. I'm going to try it. Instant oatmeal is my "go to" breakfast.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Ketchup. I have never found a store brand ketchup that tastes right. I've found other cheaper name brands, but generic store ketchup is gross.

Same with whole wheat pasta. I tried Hy-Vee's recently because it was on sale and it was horribly grainy, it had a really weird mouthfeel. DH refused to eat it. I've tried several other store versions without success.

Barilla makes the best in terms of taste and mouthfeel.

[Tiny]

What about the store brand oat meal don't you like? If it's a flavor you typically like try adding alittle extra sugar to it (one packet of sugar for instance). You might also want to check if the Store Brand uses an artificial sweetner that's different from the one you are use to (a different aftertaste). If it's the different artificial sweetner - you are kinda out of luck I don't think there's anyway to make it right. If it's just not sweet enough adding alittle more sweetner might make it tastier.

I find the newer sweeter Acesulfame potassium to have a nasty bitter taste that comes about two seconds after the "sweet" taste. The bitter taste lingers for hours in my mouth as well. I generally buy non brand name nonfat/local yogurt cups. I tried a different non-name brand non-fat/low calorie yogurt and thought I was gonna die after the first spoonful... I couldn't believe that "strawberry" yogurt could be so different between two non-name brand products. I checked the ingredient list - after I tried a diet soda with Acesulfame potassium and thought I was gonna die from the nasty lingering bitter taste. The problem with the yogurts was the sweetners they used - one had a sweetner I was ok with the other one had a sweetner that tasted anything but sweet to me.

I love Aldi's "toasty ohs" or whatever they are called - just like Cheerios to me. The sobital in Aldi Wheat Squares makes them icky compared to Brand Name Shredded Wheat for me.

[azucena]

Thanks wackyaunt. I'm due to make another batch for myself this weekend to bring to work next week.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I like Whole Food's 365 Store Brand. I also love Trader Joe's brand, as well. As to other store brands .... I't been hit-and-miss ... some items are fine, others I don't like. And if I have a coupon for a national brand, and/or the national brand is on sale ... then it's a better deal to buy the national brand.

[dancinmama]

Feb 11, 2011 11:44:04 GMT -5 @mawmawandlovingit said:

I typically don't purchase any store brand items.....I have been couponing for years now and I can usually find coupons for the name brand products coupled with a sale for cheaper than the store brands.

If I EVER tried to purchase a store brand ketchup I would be carted straight to divorce court my DH will not use anything but Heinz!!

mawmaw: I was going to post the exact same thing.

If you watch the sales and use coupons, you can usually get the national brand for cheaper than the store brand.

I do like the idea of home-made instant oatmeal. It is cheaper and there is probably less "junk" in it. The only time I bought instant oatmeal was when it was a MM at CVS; I gave them to DS.

Also when comparing national brand to store brand for canned fruits and veggies, I have read more than once that they are all usually canned at the same cannery at the same time - many times the only difference is the label. I can usually get Del Monte canned veggies one time a year for a lot cheaper than the store brand and stock up for the year at that time; but if I ran out, I would not hesitate to get the store brand.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Heinz does taste different from generics. I've found when I compare the two that generics seem to have way more sugar than Heinz. If you aren't a sweet ketchup person (which I am not) it's totally off putting.

I can't tell the difference between Heinz and Hunts, but I sure can tell the difference between Heinz and generic.

[rubyslippers]

I used to buy store brand items before I started using coupons. Since then, I can get the name brands free or almost free. I absolutely hate anything other than Nabisco saltines. It is like eating cardboard. I have to keep the pantry stocked with ketchup for DH and I get better deals on Hunts, and he likes that so that's what I buy.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

My wonderful DH will ONLY eat Best Foods Mayonnaise. No other brand will do.

[bobbysgirl]

WACKY: I'd like to put that oatmeal recipe on my blog. Would you mind?

[wackyaunt]

@ Dutt: Go for it...please note that I did credit The Simple Dollar for the original idea tho...

[Deleted]

Feb 11, 2011 11:44:04 GMT -5 @mawmawandlovingit said:

If I EVER tried to purchase a store brand ketchup I would be carted straight to divorce court my DH will not use anything but Heinz!!

And who would blame him?!?!?

Cheese has to be Black Diamond.

[museumgal]

I really like Target's store brand, I've never had a problem with any of their staples. They have some particularly good ice cream, and their generic pop tarts are as good as the real thing I think. The one thing I haven't bought generically is ketchup. The generic stuff always tastes too much like plain tomato paste somehow.

[coffeegrl]

I'll do generic on quite a few things, but then there are certain things I HAVE to have name brand on. Have to have: Cheerios, Hunts tomato sauce, Horizon Organic Milk, and Jif peanut butter.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

They make generic Spam. That rather worries me.

[Agatha]

Feb 12, 2011 0:31:28 GMT -5 ❤ mollymouser ❤ said:

They make generic Spam. That rather worries me.

Now that's scary!

I have a tendency to be "brand loyal"; once I find something I like I stick with it. But not all store brands are bad. I recently let go of my Quaker old-fashioned oats and started using Kroger's. It was pretty much the same but time will tell.

Not so good was the Kroger generic creamed corn I bought recently. The guys were looking forward to some Cheesy Corn Chowder and I thought "oh, the brand isn't important. It's just soup." Wrong! Talk about salty! Ugh! Never again. . .never. . . never.

[wackyaunt]

Let's just suffice it to say...my money saving strategy does not include SPAM generic or name brand...YUCKO. Yes, I know there are fans of it out there, so don't flame me. There just are no fans of it living in this house!

[xia]

Creme cheese. Anything other then Philly taste strange and whenever I tried to bake with generic it never came out right.

[Apple]

I've read that the generic cream cheese is mostly oil, so that may be why it doesn't work so well in baking. I don't know for sure though--I haven't checked the label.

Cheesy--what kind of oatmeal? Can you use it up by baking with it?

For me, some store brands are good, some not, but if the price difference is huge I'll give it a shot. I miss Albertsons, they had a lot of store-brand stuff I would eat.

When it comes to cheddar I like Tillamook brand the best (an Oregon brand), especially after I've let it age in the refrigerator about a year before I open it, makes it just a little sharper without making it "sharp".