Brand name vs. Store Brand

[funnygarcia]

I've done demos at Super Target, many of them Archer Farm products-- I have to say, I've yet to find a dud among Archer Farms.

Market Pantry is ok for the basics.. I like their shredded cheese and string cheese more than name brand. They have some REALLY good bagels that are whole wheat without tasting like cardboard. Milk price was good-- not as much now.

But I would not buy Market Pantry again for : snack crackers (fake cheeze Its-- bad taste and oily) , cheap white/wheat bread (gummy pasty ewww), pasta (gluey).

I had to laugh when I noticed the supplier (in the Twin Cities -- Minnesota) for their fancy artisan style bread was the same place where I bought them for 50¢ a loaf. They charge $2 - $4 for the same bread wrapped all pretty.

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Walmart branded is decent too-- but again.. their version of Cheeze Its tasted BAD.. enough that my teenagber boys wouldn't eat it (and they are not picky!)
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I've tried a few store branded from Ralph's, Albertson's and Vons-- all decent. I prefer shopping at Winco, they use Flavorite as store brand which I am familiar with from my childhood in MN .. I believe it's a SuperValu supplier? Flavorite skim milk is the cheapest and tastes just fine-- but the off brand at other chains has an off taste to me.

 

[callaghan0416]

I almost always buy store brands...but my favorite store brand is Wegman's. Their brand is very high quality. Sometimes it even costs more than the name brand (so I'll buy the name brand instead!). The only item I didn't like in Wegman's brand is their hot cocoa mix. It's not sweet or creamy enough for me. I prefer Swiss Miss!

OOOHHHHHH, teh Wegman's Reduced Calorie is MY favorite.... and I second the Wegman's Brand. There stuff is usually better than name brand. The only thing I don't like is their sour cream, too grainy. But I love Wegman's


callie

 

[I loveStitchnippyjon]

Generally, Wegmans brand is just as good as name brands. Actually, I have noticed that they are dropping more and more name brands and replacing them with the store brands! I don't like that...I prefer to have a choice.

 

[Tine731]

Jenny,
I find that by couponing, I save more on the name brand products than I ever would buting store brands.
Check out

www.thegrocerygame.com
or
www.hotcouponworld.com

I prefer The Grocery game. For a small membership fee. I get a spreadsheet every week of sales and coupons. I have cut my grocery bill by 50%. Easily I pay for the $15 every 12 weeks I pay to belong.

Hot Couon World is all free and basically a discussion board. SOme people do spreadsheets. It is a little more work if you can scan the info.

Good Luck!
pm me if I can help more.
Nancy

I 2nd Princess Nancy....The Grocery Game Rocks! I learned about it from the dis board and am sooooo happy I did. In fact Nancy may have told me about it.

I am able to fill up my pantry with brand name products cheaper then if I can get store brand.

 

[LoveTwoTravel]

We were surprised to find that Kroger makes an in store brand of almost EVERYTHING. Most are really good. We're all picky eaters, but find we like the Kroger brand (they have "Kroger" and "Private Selection" as their two in store brands) really well. Really, the only store brand thing of theirs I don't care for is their coffee creamer (cold). Their pastas are great and their desserts are REALLY good (try the Molton Lava Cakes and the ice creams)! I also like their garlic stuffed olives.

We like Costco TP as well.

We've done the GroceryGame before but find that if we shop Kroger's 10 for 10 and sometimes other stores' BOGO then we do pretty well.

BUT, we also use the Kroger Plus Card which saves us a lot. AND they have licensed Disney products so the kids love getting "Mickey" apples or "Buzz & Woody" cheese.

Good luck!

 

[crissichef]

I noticed you are from CA. I know there are a lot of Trader Joe's out there. I have purchased many of their brand products such as rice vinegar, rice, pasta, bruchetta, pesto sauce, bread, bagels, and pizza sauce. Everything I have tried is great! I am not sure if you have an Aldi nearby but they sell mostly their own brand products and most are just as good if not better. I found that their paper towels for 59 cents are cheaper and better quality than most of the store brands or even marcal. I also use their Mac and cheese, soups, chicken nuggets, fries, canned veggies and frozen veggies,etc.

Crissi

 

[disneysteve]

I used to buy a lot more store brand grocery items. I found the taste was just fine and even found a few that I liked better than the brand name version. Then I started paying more attention to the nutritional labels and discovered that the store brands were often made with inferior ingredients, trans fat, more sodium, etc. and I went back to the brand names in many cases. Saving money is important but my health is more important.

Just the other day we were looking at soy milk comparing Vitasoy to Shop-Rite brand. The store brand had fillers and extras that the brand didn't have. The brand was better quality and more nutritious. I've found the same to be true with quite a few products at Shop-Rite and Wegman's once I started looking more closely.

 

[chisnpeke]

Kroger has a good brand. I don't like Meijer's brand. I also don't care for Target's Archer Farms. I think you are in California...Kroger's stores that they own out there is Ralph's.

 

[KKB]

That being said...you have to try things for yourself. I have seen things mentioned here that are the opposite of how I feel. It really is about your family's tastes.

Cleaning products--have gone to vinegar, baking soda, so no issues there.

Laundry--whatever I can get for $3/jug! (Era, All, Purex)

Charmin is DH's only brand....

Food--snack proucts are fine (chips, crackers, pretzels, tortilla chips; we are really watching transfat, and remarkably Target/Hyvee tortilla chips are best (organic ones; cheaper than name brand regular chips); nearly all canned foods are fine; bread (again...searching for high fiber has lead me to other brands); dairy products; my fav salsas are Hyvee & Target brands! (I agree w/ spaghetti sauce...Prego fan here!) HATE store brand cereals--but again we are going healthier here w/ cheerios, frosted mini-wheats & wheat chex.

Toiletries--I think this is a TOTALLY personal thing; I buy fairly inexpensive items at Target for the most part. Pantene hair products. Neutrogena moisturizer (AHAs in AM/retinol in PM--this per my dermo!); makeup is combo of drugstore brands/estee lauder (my mom gets the Xmas thing for me each year--the colors of shadlows/blush are so much more intense than drugstore brand, but I have found L'Oreal to be a close substitute) Toiletry products are mostly packaging/advertising expenses w/ very little differentiation between high priced v. lower priced items. That being said there is a lot of innovation in skin care these days, so do your homework. I will be using basic moisturizer w/ Vitamin C/antioxidants in summer as we are at the pool daily and AHAs/retinol make you sun sensitive. I do splurge a bit on sunscreen--Neutrogena's Helioples 45+spf, again per dermo. Early 40s, chasing that fountain of youth!!!

 

[luvdisney00]

We really like A&P's Master Choice brand and have found several things that are superior to name brand. Favorites are salad dressing (the balsamic vinigrette is great), iced tea mix and the tomato basil pasta sauce. Also dairy products are good, frozen items and paper products. I never buy cheap ice cream though, only Breyers will do!!!

 

[disneysteve]

Definitely store brand for medications. Generics are just as good and way cheaper. We only buy generics of Tylenol, Advil, Claritin, NyQuil, Robitussin, etc.

 

[tig_536]

I always buy store brand meds. I think they work just as good. I also love Kirkland baby wipes. They are the best! They pull out easily and are not stuck together (like Wal-mart).

 

[momof1princess]

i buy MANY wal-mart brands (i live in a small city and my store choices are VERY limited-no target, and our k-mart is a dirty pit). medications, body wash & facial scrubs, mouthwash, q-tips, shampoo (all equate brand), canned veggies, frozen waffles, milk, cereal (can't find the wal-mart brand frosted shredded wheat anymore, which DH is bummed about), nuts, spices, colas (all great value/sam's brand). i also buy generic paper plates and plastic cups there. my wal-mart price matches too, so i usually get my fresh fruit & veggies cheaper that way, unless the wal-mart price is lower. i've found aldi's milk is a $1.00 per gallon cheaper than wal-mart's, and it's not out of the way-just a block from wal-mart.

 

[AnninIowa]

I have come to love many of the Archer Farms foods at SuperTarget! For things that I am putting in something - such as flour, sugar, creamed soups, spices, and butter - I don't notice one bit of difference. My dad likes the canned fruit and beans.

For a lot of items, I am no longer brand loyal. I'm definitely looking around the shelf to see if there is a cheaper brand (such as Dole vs. Del Monte). Which ever is cheaper is the one I'll get.

I've also been happy with some Target brand medications, especially allergy medication. Their version of Benadryl was over half the price of the name brand, and it is the exact same thing!

 

[LadyyRedd]

No subbing for Hellmanns mayo and Heinz ketchup (not sure why? but they taste the best!)

Same here! These are the only things I'm brand loyal to except also Kraft Mac N Cheese. I won't buy any other brand if I'm buying boxed.

Kimya

 

[jinia]

Target brand cereal is even better than brand!!!
Target toliet paper when charmin is not on sale or no coupon!!
Target choco pudding is yummy!!
Target water is good and often on sale!!

Walmart is disgusting - I don't know why, but yuck!!
Target brand pasta not so good!!
Shop n save canned veggies always tastes like the can!!

Okay that is just a few - I will stop here as I have an opinion about everything!!

 

[neatokimmo]

Things I don't buy generic..

Saltines - they break when you put peanut butter on them
Diaper Wipes - I only like Huggies
All bath items, the bulk of them are free from CVS anyway. Even if they aren't free, I don't think the results of cheap bath stuff is worth it.
cheerios - I bought generic ones for a month and decided I'd just be more diligent about sales on the good stuff
TP - when I don't get it at CVS for cheap, I still think it's cheap enough to buy a name brand (like Angel soft not Charmin, this is the budget board hehe)
Bread - yuck
laundry detergent and dryer sheets - buy this in bulk with coupons, it isn't much more than store brands.

Things I do buy generic
Grape juice - it all tastes the same to me
butter - I can't tell the difference
milk - I am pretty sure it is Mayfield in a different yellow jug, the plant coding it very similar
Contact cleaner - I use equate, the ones with extra moisturizers and such make my eyes itch
Food Club tomato soup - it doesn't taste as salty
papertowels - I only use them to clean so I don't like to pay a lot for them
formula - switched to Walmart's brand from Goodstart because it was half the cost and the baby doesn't seem to mind.
Oatmeal, grits, cream of wheat
diapers - any kind work for us
bleach, windex type stuff
kroger block cheese (this is the only generic I like, the pepper jack is really good I think)

I am sure I'll think of more later!

 

[NikiM20]

I see everyone says no generic toilet paper, but I am a TP snob, and the target brand ultra premium is the best we have ever used.

But Target generic is way better than WM generic on almost everything.

 

[bdcp]

When my kids were very young and not brand conscience and we were poorer, they would not eat store brands of Peanut Butter, pancake syrup, ketchup, cereal, or orange juice. I did use generic diapers, wipes, napkins, paper towels, otc meds, vitamins, soda. Today, I still use store brand napkins, otc meds, but that's about it. Some things you can really tell the difference.

 

[kathrna]

Hey all! I thought I'd chime in on this one... for when you are AT WDW, Publix has awesome store brands. I like the cereal better than the national brands and considerably cheaper. I also buy their milk, creamer, cheese, bread (it rocks--so soft!), their Greeswise cleaning products, crackers, you name it. But I do stay away from the laundry detergent. Not because I've tried it, it's just that I'm happy with the "green" one I already use. So, if you are ever in the south or at THE WORLD, Publix is the place to go.