Generic VS name Brands

[Twofingerlou]

While we all know grocery prices have been going through the roof, this topic is something I’ve been paying more attention to and trying out more of the generic stuff.

On top of this I’ve been trying to shop at Aldi’s more and what’s made me dive into this further. Not everybody is made of money and gotta save some where you can right?

What I’ve discovered is not everything is created equal. For me certain things like Mac and cheese and going the Knick off route isn’t the same as buying the Velveeta.

Canned goods? Depends on what it is. stuff like corn or green beans I’ll go generic. Now chili beans is a different story after trying a house brand recently.

Cheese? I’ll go with the blocks or shredded of the Aldi stuff or other generic brands.

You?

 

[telemnemonics]

Depends on each individual item.
I have a Hannaford, not a cheap grocer but the store brand foods are really good.
Never been to Aldi but one movedin 17 miles from me so I may try them. Friends say it is great.

 

[WRHB]

We have Winco. They’ve got great house brand products. The only thing I notice is generic canned vegetables have more water less veggies than name brand.

 

[Blackmore Fan]

For some things and some situations, "value" is in price. We refer to those as commodities. For other things, "value" is defined by quality. There's room in this world for both.

 

[Monoprice99]

I think they're all playing a pricing strategy & marketing game with consumers. It's an individual item by item basis for which is the better buy, I've found food quality is really a negligible aspect of it far too often. I don't buy Mac & Cheese, but if I did, it's noodles & cheese, it's not gourmet Mac & Cheese for either brand.

 

[gimmeatele]

Shopped in Aldi and Lidl while in UK for years, never had a problem with anything we bought, some things like baked beans, I would always stick with the heinz from elsewhere I'd needed, but was happy with their goods, coffee took a while to pick and some if there wine was excellent.

 

[Cadillac_Mike]

I mostly shop at Aldi and can tell you name brand stuff is mostly overrated 75% of the time depending on what it is. Cereal? The knock-off cereal they sell at Aldi tastes exactly the same as Captain Crunch, Lucky Charms, and all the popular products they're imitating for half the price. Cheese? It's all the same. We get a big block of NY aged cheddar at Aldi for $4 and at Cub or Byerly's it would be at least twice that. Meat? I do all my grilling with meat from Aldi including top sirloin, hamburger, chicken, everything.

Only problem with Aldi is lack of selection for more specific items.

 

[tlsmack]

Heinz Ketchup, Hellmans Mayo, Boars Head franks. Anything else is whatever is on sale.

 

[tomasz]

Sometimes it's the same product, you pay for a branded one more. You pay for an unbranded one less. The reason it's cheaper is not just the brand slapped on it. Supermarket chains are able to negotiate good deals because of the quantity they buy. There are some interesting documentaries on people investigating barcodes and small print on the packaging, to trace products from different brands to the same manufacturer

 

[StoneH]

While we all know grocery prices have been going through the roof, this topic is something I’ve been paying more attention to and trying out more of the generic stuff.

On top of this I’ve been trying to shop at Aldi’s more and what’s made me dive into this further.

You?

Type in "What not to buy a Aldi's" and you will get pages of articles . . . most of them also say what's good to buy at Aldi's.

 

[Killing Floor]

We have HEB / Central Market. Their house branded shelf items are better than the national brands as a rule. Pretty lucky.

 

[SuprHtr]

Aldi has improved greatly in the last 16 years. If I'm going to smoke a rack of ribs, Aldi is the best source for the meat. Their produce selection is small but the quality is high for the price.

 

[burntfrijoles]

Generics are fine for canned goods and many other things. On the other hand I purchased Publix generic pancake mix and it pales compares to Pearl Mining Company (formerly Aunt Jemima). On the other hand Publix has their own creamery and some of their ice creams are very good.

As for pricing, I keep getting the feeling that much of this is just profiteering by the manufacturers.

 

[arlum]

Sometimes it knocks me out when a "store brand" just knocks me off my feet. Maybe 2'3rds of the name brands and it puts them to shame.

 

[Blrfl]

One place there's a huge difference: saltine crackers.

Nabisco has reduced the amount of dough in their saltines that the finished product has just enough structural integrity to look like a cracker. Don't try to spread butter or cream cheese on one, because they'll shatter in your hand.

The house brand at our grocery store has generally been better, but they've started to slip in the general direction of the national brands.

These, on the other hand, are high-quality, awesome crackers. But they're expensive.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

I gotta have JIF!

( that's all I can think of now, but we've had a bond since 1975)

 

[MTPoteet]

Some store brands are exactly the same if you read the ingredients.

Things like Advil Vs Ibuprofin, store brand mouth wash, the same as Listerene. There is a considerable difference in price with a lot of items that are exactly the same.

Vitamins/supplements etc.

As stated previously, there are also a lot of things I wouldn't buy store brand.

 

[telemnemonics]

For some things and some situations, "value" is in price. We refer to those as commodities. For other things, "value" is defined by quality. There's room in this world for both.

Outside of the corporate boardroom coming up with marketing strategies, I do not see any room for NOT BOTH.

IOW, value must be based on the ratio between prica and quality.

Marketing strategies try to con consumers into viewing cheap stuff as "value brands", implying the lower price is a better value, more for your money.
When in reality it may be less for your money in terms of diluted or watered down or more chaff or shorter usable life span coming out to a 50% reduction in what you get, while the price is only 20% less than the non-value brand.

Likewise marketing will create the long con to try to make consumers believe they are getting more laundry cleaning for more money when they buy Tide instead of Arm & Hammer or less heavily marketed brands etc.
The problem is that marketing costs money and we pay for that when buying heavily marketed products.

Or when we buy MIM instead of USA Fender.
Or when we buy Squier Affinity instead of Ali Baba Chender.
Guitars are a terrible arguing point since we cannot quantify like comparing watered down laundry soap to full strength.
Or opening a can of vegetables and finding mostly water.
But marketing execs may tell us that all laundry soap other than Tide, is watered down, and that may not be true. Etc.

So value needs to include both highest quality AND lowest price.
Which has room for Subaru and Mercededs to both present very different prices yet "the same" value if the added features are sold at a fair price for what we get.

I just find the pricing alone is the worst road to finding value.
Maybe that makes me a cork sniffer?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Ali Baba trolls think so!

 

[schmee]

Yes, it's item specific.
-Corn flakes: Gotta be Kelloggs, generic are just not the same. I can't figure out why but... Other dry cereals also are bad in generic.
-Cheddar Cheese: Generic store brand is fine
-Some of the Premium and Organic store brands are excellent. Like "Private Selection" brand bacon, hamburger patties and other goods.
-Potato chips, corn chips etc.: Store brand are great and half the price.
-I hate Velveeta Mac n Cheese. Velveeta is sticky gooey like glue and not cheese. Some of the cheap Mac N Cheese boxes are great.
-I don't know what it is with canned peaches, but they are all lousy now. However, the store brand seems a bit better than Del Monte quality. I used to get nice Freestone Peach halves, now they are unavailable so can only get slices which have a lot of soft or odd small chunks.

 

[telemnemonics]

Some store brands are exactly the same if you read the ingredients.

Things like Advil Vs Ibuprofin, store brand mouth wash, the same as Listerene. There is a considerable difference in price with a lot of items that are exactly the same.

Vitamins/supplements etc.

As stated previously, there are also a lot of things I wouldn't buy store brand.

When I started reading cases where prescription drugs made in China got tested in US labs and were in some cases found to be literally compressed sawdust, I stopped buying generic Advil and Tylenol.

May be isolated incidents, but Chinese manufacturing is cheaper partially because they have no OSHA, no FDA, and no EPA.
So what prevents toxic stuff from getting into our generic meds from China?
Their goodwill?

As the GMO, uh, lawyers pushed to prevent ingredients being disclosed on labels, which they have done pretty well with, that opened the door to grocers stocking meats from China without being required to disclose the origins on the packages.

Not for me thanks...