What generic product do you buy that works as good or better than the name brand?

[kellia]

I buy Aldi, Walmart, Target, Meijer- any brand! I have only found a couple I haven't liked (and they seemed to be at Meijer for some reason). Especially like Sam's Club's version of HE Tide and Aldi's cheese rice cakes (dh will eat those and not whine about wanting Cheetos or Doritos)!

Honestly, Diet Pepsi, French's Onions, and select a size Bounty paper towels are about the only thing I MUST buy name brand.

 

[Chicago526]

I like Kirkland (Costco house brand) so far for laundry soap and dishwasher soap, also for olive oil and their canned chunk chicken. I use the store brand at Jewel (Chicago area grocery store) for a variety of things, mostly canned foods and paper goods.

One thing I can't go generic on is Mac 'n' Cheese. Nothing beats Kraft!

edited to add: Oh, I like Kirkland kitchen trash bags too! Bought a huge box over a year ago and it's still not empty, and they are just as good as Glad brand.

 

[staceyfe]

I used to be an only-Heinz ketchup girl, until I found Aldi's brand ketchup. I honestly cannot tell the difference. My best friend's DH has worked at different food plants as an engineer (Kraft being one), and he says the same food is labeled under many different brands. I guess this is one reason why when Peter Pan peanut butter was recalled, the Great Value brand was also recalled.

 

[elainemeyerovitz]

I'm a little late joining this thread- but wanted to add I love the walgreens brand of muscle rub- it's the only creme that works on my aching tight shoulders

 

[cmbonneville]

I agree with a previous post...generic medicines are soooo much cheaper and work the same....all your paying for is the colorful package and the name brand label

I would not say I am a name brand snob, but I am picky

What we won't buy in a generic brand:

Ketchup (Heinz only)
Toilet paper (angelsoft)
Sodas
pull-ups & goodnites (all other brands leak on ds)
baby wipes
laundry detergent (tide only)
razors/razor blades
Poptarts
Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Frosted Flakes

I can imagine how much we'd save if my family rolleyes1) were not so picky

 

[feedindy]

To be honest, I don't remember if the CVS diapers have stretchy sides. Lately, we've stocked Luvs thanks to some $3 coupons and $5 diaper sales (who could beat $1.99 for a jumbo pack?). I only remember that they didn't leak when others do. I don't like the "baby shape" Huggies diapers. They seem to cut in a little too much and allow the leaks.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

I buy generic for a lot of things. I can't tell the difference between the generic and the brand name. However, the things that I have to buy brand name are:

Cottonelle toilet paper
Pepsi
Paul Newman's pineapple salsa
Seven Seas Green Goddess dressing (I've never seen anyone else make it)

 

[kellia]

Ketchup (Heinz only)
razors/razor blades

Ok, I forgot those! We only use Heinz or Hunts ketchup (stock up around those summer holidays!), and everyone has their own razors they use, though I do get them at Sam's for much cheaper!

For diapers, when I didn't use cloth for my twins, I found Sam's Club brand (Smiles??) to work great, as did White Cloud and the Toys R Us brand ones when the cases went on sale.

 

[tinytink]

Where can I find these yellow towels at Costco? Do you wash them or are they disposable?

I found these in the Automotive aisle. They are micro fiber towels that work really well with just water. Don't wash with fabric softner or dryer sheets because the break down the towels effectiveness to clean as well. I think it's a pack of 25 for $10. I use them for everything, cleaning windows, sink faucets, tables, walls, keep it in the car for quick clean up, I could go on and on... The other great thing is no extra chemicals to be worried about. It's really great for soaking up spills, and it dries streak free. Hope you can find it at your Costco. I also found them at Sam's Club but they were blue not yellow

 

[NMW]

Wegmans Laundry detergant is better then Tide! I had to see for myself and now everyone I know uses it.

Wegmans Vodka sauce beat Emerils in a taste test. It was done for a segment on the Today Show which never aired.

Really it's better than Tide? Is it the powder or the liquid? I buy several Wegmans brand products and sometimes they are more expensive than brand names! I love their olive oils, basting oil, dried Italian classics pastas. I have used many other brands of detergent and none of them have worked as well as Tide. I may give Wegmans a shot.

I used to use Wegmans brand pull-ups. Several of my friends used them. They are made by Kimberly-Clarke-same company that makes Huggies pull-ups. The only thing different on them was the pictures-no Disney characters!

I never had luck with generic baby wipes-I was intensely loyal to Pampers wipes. Now that my kids are out of diapers I buy store brand wipes for sticky/dirty hands when we are out places. I also only ever used Pampers diapers. I used one generic package that someone gave me (I think it was a Walmart brand) with my first son and they leaked everywhere. I stayed away from all generics after that.

I buy generic french fries from Giant and Wegmans-no one can tell the difference. I bought generic ketchup instead of Heinz once, and my kids and even DH declared it "nasty", but everyone thought the yellow mustard was as good as the name brand. I buy all generic pain relievers. I don't like generic paper towels or napkins, only use Bounty.

Kirkland brand plastic wrap is awesome and you get 2 big boxes of it. We don't have a Costco near us, or I'd use it all the time. I bought it visiting my parents.

Other generics I have tried and had no luck with are frozen waffles and cookies. My kids wouldn't eat them, again declared them "nasty" and I ended up throwing them out. So, I guess I really didn't save any money.

 

[Lady V]

There is alot of the Walmart brand foods that our family like so much more than the national counterpart. I can't think of any food item that we abosolutely don't like.

The only thing I used to be consistently brand snobby about was which baby wipes I used on our babies' bottoms.
Seems like Pampers was the only ones to get the job done to my satisfaction. I would have to use three or four generic wipes to do the job of one Pampers wipe.
Now that ours kids are out of diapers, I buy the Parent's Choice (Walmart) wipes for everyday purposes.

Diapers however depended on the kids.

DD #1 was always in Huggies (we were first time brand snob parents)
DD #2 was always in Parent's Choice (Walmart) Worked great for her.
DS, our last, required LUVS because he produced more pee than anyone I ever saw! Luvs was the only thing that worked on him. Thank goodness they had a great price!
Now we are having trouble with him wearing pull ups at night now. Not everytime does he get up, and wets his pull ups. Problem is that the pull up overflows. We try to get him up and take him but sometimes he goes before we get to him. We may have to try the Good Nights even though he is still 3.

see-I agree about the wipes-it was Pampers with Aloe for me all the way..and I must admit I am a Diaper snob. I used pampers for both kids and I loved them. I ran an at home child-care for a while and some of the generic diapers that would show up on these kids did nothing at all!! Maybe I should have looked around more but with what I saw on those other kids i guess I got gun shy.
As far as generic--I buy the store brand milk because it is at least a dollar cheaper. I will buy the generic cereal sometimes. I wont buy generic cheese though! That was nasty to me!

 

[lchadwick]

LOVE Kroger diapers (NEVER a leak!) and wipes. And I am in the BabyClub, so I get double points on those purchases. With my little guy, I rack up those points fast!

Also, I was in Walgreen's one day and they had their raisin bran on sale (and I was CRAVING it!), so I bought it and loved it. Actually, so did my kids, who normally don't like raisin brans.

I'm always willing to try generics/store brands. If it works, great, if not, no biggie.