switching to generic/no name/store brands

[bankgirl05]

With the rising costs of wel, EVERYTHING, these days, what have you "downgraded" to off-name brands to save money? What will you absolutely not give up on???

I have downgraded to:

the bulk bags of cereal (Frosted Mini wheats, Raisin Bran, Cheerios and Golden Grahams.) and I find them to be just as good for less than 1/2 the price.

Store brand mayo for my salads etc. if I am mixing them with other things, but I will NOT trade in my Hellman's mayo or my Miracle Whip for sandwiches!!!

Store brand lemonade/tea mixes...

What have you switched too???

 

[DisneyMomma81]

With the rising costs of wel, EVERYTHING, these days, what have you "downgraded" to off-name brands to save money? What will you absolutely not give up on???

I have downgraded to:

the bulk bags of cereal (Frosted Mini wheats, Raisin Bran, Cheerios and Golden Grahams.) and I find them to be just as good for less than 1/2 the price.

Store brand mayo for my salads etc. if I am mixing them with other things, but I will NOT trade in my Hellman's mayo or my Miracle Whip for sandwiches!!!

Store brand lemonade/tea mixes...

What have you switched too???

I buy a lot of store brands, but Cheerios need to be Cheerios, Honey Nut I can do store brand.

 

[kiki02]

I buy a lot of store brands, but Cheerios need to be Cheerios, Honey Nut I can do store brand.

lately, I only need Hellman's mayonnaise and Heinz ketchup. All else is up for grabs.

 

[clm10308]

I found that the store brand of liquid dish washing soap to be a waste of money since it took twice as much soap to wash the dishes.

I did have a weird thing happen with some store brand chicken soup. I let it boil on the stove a bit longer than I souls have and when I turned it off all the noodles had dissolved.

My DD will not eat the store brand of raviolis or spaghettios. She says they don't taste the same, but I can't tell a difference.

I buy most everything else as store brands unless a coupon and/or sale makes a name brand cheeper.

 

[stitchfriend]

I buy store brands all the time. There are only 3 that I will not buy generic.

I must have jif pb, heinz ketchup, and miracle whip mayo.

My kids have no problem with generic or store brands cereals. I used to buy the name brands and saved the box. Then I put the store brand in the box. They had no idea.

 

[LJSquishy]

I will buy almost anything in a store brand (except laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent), but I will not sacrifice the nutritional content of items so often I am not buying the store brand. I won't buy anything with HFCS or artificial sweeteners, bread and crackers must be 100% whole grain (with the Whole Grain logo on the box or bag) and I won't buy deli meat if it has sodium nitrite in it so it really limits my choices.

I buy mostly organic now so for instance I do require a certain brand of organic milk (Organic Valley). A lot of other organic companies do not treat their animals humanely such as Horizon, the Kroger store brand, etc and how the animals are treated is important to me.

As far as taste goes, though, I find most store brand products to be equally as good. I agree about Cheerios, store brands are not the same! If I remember correctly, store brand mayos and peanut butters are gross also.

 

[*pixie*dust*]

I have to have Heinz ketchup, Open Pit BBQ sauce, Miracle Whip and Coke.

Otherwise I am pretty open to other things.

 

[littlebit0863]

I cannot eat generic Mac n cheese, pasta, canned diced tomatoes, or cereal. Everything else is fair game!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Stop and shop brand oatmeal is better than Quaker and about $1.25 cheaper. Most other food though, I buy name brand because sometimes the quality is better.

Everything else is name brand.
I've tried to use like Target brand lysol wipes, paper towel etc. But they are crap and you end up using 2x the amount to get stuff clean.

 

[Sandy61]

Tuna. The name brands were getting more and more water and less and less tuna. I use Walmart brand now.

We can't eat store brand nacho chips...too thick and bad tasting.

 

[snicketfan]

For me the question is more - what WON'T you buy store brand!!!

Toothpaste - have to have Tom's of Maine, anything else tastes too sweet to me

Oreos - the only exception is Trader Joe's brand. Anything else just tastes "off"

Frosted mini wheat's - I don't eat cold cereal often since it is too expensive, but when I do, these have to be name brand.

Toilet paper - I have to have Seventh Generation or another 100% recycled brand, cannot stand the idea of virgin forest being sacrificed so I can wipe my behind! Same goes for most paper products, actually.

 

[Colleen27]

There are quite a few items where I prefer Meijers store brand even over name brands - most canned goods are just as good and sometimes better than brand-name counterparts and their "naturals" line (few/no additives but not certified organic) has been a budget-saver as I've gotten pickier about label reading.

Cereal we're (well, the kids are - I don't eat it) brand-loyal about in a weird way - the kids are so used to the Spartan store brand that the name brands "taste funny" to them, so I stick with the cheap stuff.

There are only a few things where I insist on specific brands - Dawn dishsoap because I can use less of it than the cheap stuff, Tide because it works better in cold water than most, Progresso soup if it is for me (no one else in the family cares; any chunky-type brand will do), Luzianne tea for making iced and Lipton Bavarian wildberry or Bigelow Constant Comment for drinking hot, Bulls Eye BBQ sauce because they're the only mainstream brand that doesn't use HFCS in every variety.

 

[Nayan]

I buy store-brand beans, both dried and canned. I'll buy store brand pasta and frozen veggies but many of the packaged foods have HFCS in them and I won't buy products that have that. Like a PP I also stick with Dawn and Tide since they work and don't irritate my skin.

 

[Jerseyguy's Wife]

For me the question is more - what WON'T you buy store brand!!!

I'm with you. About the only name brand item I MUST have is Q Tips. My husband works for Kroger, and I get 10% off their store brands. That being said, I make a lot of my own stuff. I make lotions and oils and soap. And I grow veggies. I have had to since DH had to modify his diet. Have you ever read those labels? Geez...

 

[LBIJim]

In general, we won't buy store brand/generic cereal, peanut butter, cola, mayo, cookies, and canned soup. We've tried various store brands over the years of these products but all were much less satisfactory than the national brands.

Almost everything else we'll buy the store brands, but often a national brand on sale is even cheaper than the store brands, even without coupons.

Jim

 

[superme80]

I have to use Crest toothpaste, All Free and Clear detergent, and DH has to have Best Foods mayo. We like the generic soda and other organic products at Safeway.

 

[Sparkly]

I'm often fine with store brands vs name brands- I even thought the own brand peanut butter from Tesco was BETTER then the branded one!

 

[cornflake]

I don't think I buy any store brands, now that I'm thinking about it, but I don't buy much branded stuff in general and the stores I mostly go to don't have a store brand. What's possible from drugstores or the occasional supermarket trip though, hmm...

I like the detergents I like (I usually have Tide and a cheaper like Cheer or whatever and use Tide for heavy duty stuff as I think it works better on some types of stains. Lasts longer that way), I like the non-stick Reynolds wrap and not giving up Bounty.

I prefer Annie's ketchup, whatever the mustard is (I know what it looks like, heh), etc. Very picky about tortillas, do buy store brand shredded cheese, but Whole Foods store brand so that's probably not cheaper!

Oh, I use a lot of white vinegar, and will buy the generic of that if I can find it, it's much cheaper and white vinegar is white vinegar. Can't think of many more things I buy there's a generic to.

 

[ShortStuff]

The only things I will not buy store brand, are dishwashing liquid, cinnamon toast crunch cereal for my grandmunchkins, once a month, as well as any brand name that is cheaper than a store brand. (Not often to never, where I live).

Now my 'luxury' food product is my K-Cups. If I could get the flavors I like in store brands (Kona, Chai Latte, etc), I would happily buy them that way.

 

[TyTysMommy]

We switched to the bagged cereal. My son hasn't noticed any difference. He calls them by their "name brand" name.

Walmart sells Great Velue cran-apple and cran-grape juices that rival Ocean Spray. Their apple juice is good too.

Kroger's Private Selection has a lot of good quality items. Two really good ones I can think of right now are the 100% not from concentrate apple juice (best apple juice ever) and the frozen lasagna family dinner.

I can't use any other brand of ketchup than Heinz. And cheese has to be Velveeta or Kraft.