"Never Again!" Share your budget misfires.

[tvguy]

Opinions definitely differ, as I've bought (and liked) most of the products mentioned so far. I agree though, that Arm & Hammer detergent sucks. We ended up using what was left of it to scrub our wooden deck.

I'm very brand loyal to Heinz ketchup. DH bought Hunt's once because it was on sale, and it ended up getting tossed. It even made meatloaf taste weird.

The Heinz marketing people would be proud. My dad worked in a tomato processing plant. They made huge vats of ketchup. Over on the bottling line, some of it went into their Sacramento Brand bottles, some went into Heinz bottles, some went into Del Monte bottles and some went into Hunts bottles.

 

[lucyem]

We have tried every store brand of honey nut Cheerios and DS11 doesn't like any of them. I'd rather pay (using sales and coupons) for GM than to let another brand go stale and uneaten.

My ds was of the same opinion. I started buying both Cheerios and the organic non gmo and mixing them in a storage container. Increased organic version more and more vs Cheerios. I have him on organic now. I eventually told him so if he had regular Cheerios elsewhere he would not be surprised. You could try the same or just mix the store version with Cheerios.

 

[ellochka]

I agree on Greek yogurt - Chobani and Fage are the best. Dannon and Yoplait always taste very off to me (I am actually partial to regular Yoplait).

P.S. After reading this I am starting to understand why our food budget is north of $600 a month for two adults and a toddler. My DH shops, and apparently he likes good food!

 

[Egdisney]

DS thinks the Aldi ketchup is atrocious, and wanted me to throw it out. I tried it, and love it. We've figured it out - the Aldi brand is less sweet than the national brands, and I love savory foods, whereas DS has a sweet tooth.

Aldi is the only brand of ketchup I will eat other than Heinz. My husband is still stuck on Heinz, but we buy the Aldi brand for the kids and myself when Heinz isn't on sale.

 

[sets14]

Great thread!

For me, any knock off english muffins are a no. Must be Thomas English muffins. Also second PP, Kraft mac and cheese only for my boys- they can always tell when I get a different kind and won't eat it!

Also, tried homemade dishwasher detergent. No. Back to Cascade-now I am totally loyal.

Hubs insists on Charmin. He has a tender rump

 

[maxiesmom]

Any off brand mayo. It just doesn't taste like mayo, it is gross.

Also, if you have a Meijer near you, don't buy their store brand pizza. I took one bite and threw the rest out. Their fake Cheerios are pretty bad too. They have a weird texture to them.

 

[Disneytam]

I'm curious too. I googled because the thought of plastic in milk caught my interest but all I found were articles on milk plastic, as in the process of converting milk to plastic (apparently very common in the 20th century).

As a long time organic dairy farmer I would love to see any proof of this. China is well known for having "plastic" (actually a component of plastic) in their milk and it was all over the news a few years back when several babies died from it. Here in the US I don't believe it.

 

[gericoronado]

I have tried imitation Cheerios and NEVER again! I would rather pay any price for name-brand Cheerios than to even accept a free sample of "fake" Cheerios.

 

[Eureka]

My ds was of the same opinion. I started buying both Cheerios and the organic non gmo and mixing them in a storage container. Increased organic version more and more vs Cheerios. I have him on organic now. I eventually told him so if he had regular Cheerios elsewhere he would not be surprised. You could try the same or just mix the store version with Cheerios.

Great minds think alike-I tried mixing them when we had some Target brand leftover. He could tell. Sigh.

 

[AndreaDM]

I have tried imitation Cheerios and NEVER again! I would rather pay any price for name-brand Cheerios than to even accept a free sample of "fake" Cheerios.

When DD11 was a toddler MIL gave her some store brand Cheerios. DD ate one and shoved the rest off her high chair lol! FIL told MIL "I told you not to get those, even the baby knows they're crap!"

 

[puakinikini]

For me, any cottage cheese that is not Knudsen. I have tried them all, but nothing compares.

 

[ggtexs]

true!

 

[Josh Hendy]

Not sure if this is the same all over North America, but our Costco sells Kirkland brand toilet paper, errrm, I mean bathroom tissue. The packs are so generous, the rolls are large and it always seems like a good deal. But once in a while we're running out and don't have time to go to Costco and we get whatever name-brand of T.P. that the nearest supermarket chain or Walmart is selling ... big mistake!

I always feel ripped off buying "major brand" T.P. no matter what brand, no matter what store, and no matter how big the (claimed) sale is. And the counting of rolls and/or their claimed size seems very deceptive to me. It's some kind of duplicitous math where they say "6 = 12 rolls" or some kind of baloney like that.

Oh yes and one more "NEVER AGAIN" .... dishwasher or laundry soap with no phosphate!

 

[artemis4]

Our never again involves eating out.

We were out and about one Mother's Day, and we decided that since we were near a fave restaurant, we'd see if we could get in for lunch. Walked in, discovered a brunch. They were full, but said we could eat at the bar if we wanted. We said sure. Normally, our family eats there for $60-70, so we didn't think about asking the cost.

We learned our lesson when the bill for $140 came. For brunch.

Lesson learned: Never eat out on Mother's Day.

 

[Mrs.Malone]

My dishwasher started leaving my dishes so dirty, I thought the dishwasher was broken and would have to be replaced. Then I remembered I had recently started using Walmart (GV) dishwasher liquid. I switched back to Cascade and suddenly my dishes were sparkling clean again. What a waste the Walmart brand was.

 

[pfp258]

Sorry to the poster who claims that Heinz Ketchup was put into competitors, including Hunts, bottles. They are different companies and Heinz is very protective of their ketchup recipe. Try tasting Hunts vs Heinz, there is a big taste difference!

 

[leebee]

I've sworn off store brand soap products, whether it's dish washing liquid, dishwasher detergent, or laundry soap. I end up either using twice as much, or having dishes/clothes that need to be re-cleaned. There are also certain brands of cereal that we would never consider eating the store brand- original Cheerios, Kellogg's Raisin Bran being two of them. Store brand just doesn't get eaten.

Funny story- DH ate ONLY Cheerios for breakfast for about 20 years. We went to visit my mom, and because she knows how he feels about Cheerios, sure enough, there was the Cheerios box on the cereal shelf. YAY! DH poured a bowl and I thought he was going to cry; both the texture and flavor were off. Knowing that different areas of the country sometimes have different product formulations, he shook his head, dumped his bowl, and made some toast. Later in the day, I learned dear ol' Mom had put the store brand cheerios in the old Cheerios box we'd had there from a previous trip. She was sure DH wouldn't notice the difference!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Our never again involves eating out.

We were out and about one Mother's Day, and we decided that since we were near a fave restaurant, we'd see if we could get in for lunch. Walked in, discovered a brunch. They were full, but said we could eat at the bar if we wanted. We said sure. Normally, our family eats there for $60-70, so we didn't think about asking the cost.

We learned our lesson when the bill for $140 came. For brunch.

Lesson learned: Never eat out on Mother's Day.

For Mothers Day this year, DW picked a place that isn't open on Sundays. So, we had to go Saturday. Oh baby was that ever the way to go! That's going to be our new tradition!!

 

[barkley]

I've sworn off store brand soap products, whether it's dish washing liquid, dishwasher detergent, or laundry soap. I end up either using twice as much, or having dishes/clothes that need to be re-cleaned. There are also certain brands of cereal that we would never consider eating the store brand- original Cheerios, Kellogg's Raisin Bran being two of them. Store brand just doesn't get eaten.

Funny story- DH ate ONLY Cheerios for breakfast for about 20 years. We went to visit my mom, and because she knows how he feels about Cheerios, sure enough, there was the Cheerios box on the cereal shelf. YAY! DH poured a bowl and I thought he was going to cry; both the texture and flavor were off. Knowing that different areas of the country sometimes have different product formulations, he shook his head, dumped his bowl, and made some toast. Later in the day, I learned dear ol' Mom had put the store brand cheerios in the old Cheerios box we'd had there from a previous trip. She was sure DH wouldn't notice the difference!

that reminds me of the episode of 'roseanne' where she take's her daughter's home ec class to the supermarket to teach them how to make smart shopping decisions-she tells the girls to always opt for the less expensive knock off cereals vs. the brand names. her daughter says 'but we eat brand name cereal' to which Roseanne reveals that they've had the same brand name boxes for years which have always been refilled with the less expensive knock offs

the ONLY store brand I've ever found superior was years ago when alpha beta stores had their own version of 'cheese puffs'. terrible, awful unhealthy things but they tasted SO MUCH BETTER than the cheeto's brand (a horrendous amount of butter in the recipe)-once people tried them they flew off the shelves.

 

[ellone]

I agree on Greek yogurt - Chobani and Fage are the best. Dannon and Yoplait always taste very off to me (I am actually partial to regular Yoplait). P.S. After reading this I am starting to understand why our food budget is north of $600 a month for two adults and a toddler. My DH shops, and apparently he likes good food!

Look at the ingredients in Yoplait. Greek yogurt should only be milk and cultures. Yoplait has a heck of a lot more ingredients. I think they use the gelatin to thicken it instead of how Greek yogurt should naturally be made thick.