My husband insists on buying name brand foods, etc. He thinks the generic brand of food is "nasty tasting". I can agree with him on a few items (very few), but I am a penny-pincher!
I have learned a few secrets from being a cook's assistant at a couple restaurants, and I brought them home to try out on my husband. (Sad but true that many restaurants do just what I am about to tell you).
I buy a bottle of name-brand ketchup to put in the fridge and a couple of store brand bottles to stash in the cabinets. When the one in the fridge is about empty, I fill it up with the store brand. I rarely have to purchase name brand items this way. I just keep refilling with the store brand. No one seems to notice!
Ketchup is just one example. I do the same with flour, salt, sugar, mustard, mayonnaise, etc. I also add a few instant potatoes to my mashed potatoes, and no one ever knows the difference.
I will admit that there are items we buy that cannot be generic. Almost everyone will agree that toilet tissue and coffee are two such items. But, I buy the cheaper toilet paper and put it out for when guests are here - stashing the good stuff for my husband and me! I know this seems a little mean, but it is just how I do things.
In this day and age when prices are sky-rocketing, and yet you live with a picky person, you have to figure out ways to save.
By AuntieAnn from USA
Do you have a frugal story to share with the ThriftyFun community? Submit your essay here: http://www.thriftyfun.com/post_myfrugallife.ldml
This page contains the following solutions.
I like to clip coupons for products I use regularly. I've noticed that even with a coupon, the name brand item may still be more expensive than the generic store brand.
When my 3 boys hit puberty, they wanted name brand hair products. I bought one bottle and as it emptied, I added about 1/4 cup Dawn regular dish detergent and then filled with water.
I just wanted to throw my two cents in about the generic Zyrtec. My husband does real well on Zyrtec, the allergy medicine. Well we tried to save a little money and bought the Walmart brand equate, there are some differences in the ingredients but we didn't think a lot.
Does everyone know that there are generic heartworm pills? Just ask your vet and you will be very pleased with the price difference between generic and name brand...
A generic just became available for the brand name Allegra. The generic name is Fexofenadine and it comes in the 30mg, 60mg and 180mg.
Del Monte is the producer of Great Value canned fruit, I worked for a trucking comapny that hauled it, and it comes for various DelMonte plants around the country but, a lot is from California.
At least once a month, name brand stuff is on sale. I buy brand name products like; dish liquid, laundry soap, cereal; then I mix it with my generic.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Do you buy WalMart generic (Great Value) products? Have you found that's just as good as name brands? I just tried their peanut butter and found it to be just as good as the major brands. Some things I've been reluctant to try, but being the economy the way it is I'm having to really stretch my dollars.
By Betty
I use the WalMart brand of several items. I particularly like their grape jam (not jelly) which tastes just like Welch's. I've been using their brand of powdered dishwasher detergent for years.
Wallmart brands that I buy are their Great Value coffee and cranberry juice.
Also their laxatives and lubricant eye drops are good too. They have good cranberry capsules and fiber capsules.
You will find that store brands taste just as good as name brand, mostly because many of the store brands are made by the name brand company's suppliers and labelled for the stores. Not true of ALL store brands but it is for many. Always try a store brand before you judge it. Personally, the Food City brand orange juice tastes like watered down orange coolaide. >p
I believe GV coffee is made by Folgers. I do not buy generic jams/preserves, never use jelly. I almost always buy generic, with a few exceptions.
Their cereals are great! In fact, their Crunchy Raisin Bran is better than the orginal.
I use all sorts of Great Value products and love them. I use that brand of honey, coffee, diced tomatoes, jelly, pop tarts, dishwasher detergent, flour, brown sugar....I know I'm forgetting a lot. I don't know if there's anything Great Value that I've tried and didn't like and there is a savings. I had read that Peter Pan makes their peanut butter.
My son's science class did an experiment with paper towels, they found that the GV brand were most absorbent and least expensive!
The one thing I don't recommend is the mayonaise...it's runny!
Many store brands are name brand products with the store's label on them. Name brands have the perception of being of better quality and that simply is not so. A retailer like WalMart can ask a manufacturer to "private label" products because WalMart can purchase in such high volume, allowing the manufacturer to maintain profitability on the product. I buy store brands whenever possible. I work for a food broker ~ the middleman between the manufacturer and the retailer, so know what I'm talking about. :)
I also buy most of the Great Value brands and find I like most and some are better than the brand names. I do look at ingredients first to see what is in it before I buy it. There are only 1 or 2 products that I have not liked in the vast amount of items I have tried.
It depends on each individual thing you are buying. I use a lot of Great Value items. If it's one I haven't tried yet, then I get a small size of it and try it. Most times it's just as good (like one lady said, the same thing) as the name brand, but much cheaper. Once in a while I run across something that's not as good, in which case I go with another brand of that item.
For the most part though I'd have to say yes, Great Value brand is just as good as the more expensive name brands.
Just tried their juices this last week, the bottle is large, but the family didn't know the difference from V-8 for their vegetable juice, nor the white grape from Welches.
Walmart's Great Value brand of ice cream is just delicous. No artifical ingredients, flavorings or preservatives...just plan natural ice cream. Very happy that I discovered it.
I was concerned about the meat that Wal mart sell, while listening to a talk about meat regarding the shots that are given to the animals to fatten them. The speaker said that Wal mart would not buy any meat that had been treated with the injections. Hopefully they are keeping their word, as I am now buying a lot of my meat at Wal mart it is also quite a lot cheaper. Also their own brand of dishwasher powder is very good.
I use a lot of Great Value brands also. I believe their milk, like their meat, is also hormone-free. My kids & husband LOVE their bread, it's a soft, white bread comparable to Wonder brand (but I only indulge that occasionally ,they usually have to settle for whole grain!).
I think most of WalMart store brand is as good or better than the name brand stuff, Consumer Reports has even rated some of it higher-like the vitamins & I believe the fabric softener?
I recently tried their dishwasher soap & love it! The other brands are getting SO expensive & don't seem to work as well, but we have had a great result from the Great Value brand.
The only thing I won't buy is their canned fruit. It's disgustingly mushy & flavorless!
Please reread "SavingGrace's" comments as she is correct . . .
SavingGrace quote: "Many store brands are name brand products with the store's label on them. Name brands have the perception of being of better quality and that simply is not so. A retailer like WalMart can ask a manufacturer to "private label" products because WalMart can purchase in such high volume, allowing the manufacturer to maintain profitability on the product. I buy store brands whenever possible. I work for a food broker ~ the middleman between the manufacturer and the retailer, so know what I'm talking about. :)"
I've have retail work experience, so I know what I am talking about, too. Like SavingGrace stated, a company as large as WalMart has the ability (financial edge) to work with many different brand name companies and can negotiate a multitude of "private label" (Great Value, in WalMart's case) manufacturing deals.
That said, some items are as good as brand names, as they are brand names with private labels and if it's the actual brand name you prefer, and others are not (might be a private label, brand name that is not your favorite). As others have posted here, buy a small quantity first so you can "test it out" before you commit to a larger quantity purchase.
Compare labels; ingredient lists, (the order of ingestable ingredients matters as manufactures are required to list the highest content first, at least in the U.S.) and nutritional content. It's often difficult to compare items that are in tin cans, but with bottled, bagged, and boxed items, often, but not always, the store brand (private label) will be identical in size and shape to the name brand bottle, bag, or box. Again, compare the ingredient lists and nutritional content to make an educated guess.
In the over-the-counter medicine aisle of many large retail stores including WalMart, you'll find a lot more items that actually say "Compare this to (name brand) product" which gives you a heads up of what brand name product is being repackaged as a store "private label". Wish they would do the same on all food products (sigh) but 'tis not so!
As far as fresh meat, poultry, fish, produce, etc., goes, I'm guessing most of it depends on how locally grown the items are. The farther the products have to travel from the harvest source, chances are the less fresh they will be. No rocket science here, just good ole' common sense. Good luck finding the best bargains for your buck! :-)
Dollar General has a lot of good items, too, but I do not recommend their dishwasher tablets--they didn't clean at all and left a lot of the tablet residue on everything.
I firmly believe generic products in general are as good as name brand. The only exceptions I make are for Marie Calendar and Campbell's. Why pay more for a name? When I was sighted I compared my multivitamins and ibuprofen with the store brand, side-by-side, line by line. Generics may have a tiny bit more filler, but the active ingredients are the same.
I find most of the WalMart brand items are good. One thing to watch out for though. The popular Great Value items are sometimes priced higher than the brand name items. They are counting on you just grabbing the brand and not looking at the price. A WalMart cashier told me about this and I've found it to be true when I started looking.
The only generic brand I consistently do not like is Always Save, but Wal-Mart does not carry that. If you are near an Aldi store, they have great prices on most things and almost all their food is wonderful. I don't particularly care for their mayonnaise and their milk has started getting fat deposits near the lid. It wouldn't bother me, but when a teenage boy opens it, it becomes a "yuk" factor for him. It is wise to look at their prices as there are a couple of things one can get cheaper at Wal-Mart (eg., pistachio nuts). Good luck.
Many stores offer a "store brand as good as name brand" guarantee. They will give you your moner back if you dislike their store brand. Not sure if Walmart does-ask them. I know Costco, and Trader Joes will do so.
This is a question that is often asked and debated. Not all generic brands are created equal and not all name brands stand up to the hype.
I am doing a Science Fair Project on this
I loved this page and agree with it fully.
I'm doing a science fair project on Name Brand vs. Generic Brand and this site really helped me!
I'm doing a research paper and this site was very helpful and informative! Thank you!
I'm doing a persuasive speech on this topic. Great help!
My opinion is this; brand products are better in quality. just because another product is produced that looks exactly like the original product, doesn't mean its good. Some times manufactures have to really watch out and make sure that their products are not wiped out of market because of and imitating products. Brand name is what makes your product solid and also helps in building customers confident towards your product.
Getting faithful customers is not easy. So if you have any, it's good to keep as well attract new ones than lose all.
This helped me a lot on my project as well. I love thrify fun and all of its properties even though I don't know who wrote this website. And how do you do?
This has helped me for debate compettion!
I'm doing a power point on "VALUE FOODS" so I want to do a graph.
Which cake mix is better(generic or name brand) I would like a % of people. I am doing this for a science project
I'm doing a research paper about this topic for my science fair project. It was really hard finding information on this topic amd this website has really helped me.
Megan: I prefer Betty Crocker cake mix when I use a boxed mix (which isn't often) and WILL NOT buy Duncan Hines. Gereric cake mix is (in my opinion) not good at all.
Does anyone know if one might be better for you than another? For instance, might a name brand use better or more wholesome ingredients? I have been trying to compare ingredient labels myself to see if the difference is there and I think perhaps it is, on some items anyway.
Name brands often contain food additives and flavor inhancers that make the product taste better. I buy organic products. If it contains preservatives or MSG or high fructose corn syrup I do not buy it. Taste is not a sign of quality. I agree that Duncan mixes are not edible but now I make my cakes from scratch. I read every lable on everything I buy. Why should we eat herbasides, insectisides, and fungisides when we don't have to. If you buy these products and think you are getting something better just because it tastes better you are wrong. FDA says products have "Acceptable" amounts of these chemicals in them. I don't want any in mine. Name brands cost more not because they are of better quality but the additives they put in them to make them taste better cost money and that cost is passed on to you. Name brands advertise and store brands don't. That cost is passed on to you. Taste and quality are two different things.
I almost always purchase generic when buying non-food items but when it comes to food items I am picky because there is usually a huge flavor difference for many types of foods. For example, Hunts tomato sauce and generic tomato sauce are shown in the photo here. I have tried just about every generic brand of tomato sauce there is and in every case I couldn't stand the difference in taste when the meal was ready so I don't even bother to waste my money for generic now and it's Hunts 'only' all the way!
Items like grocery store brand dry pasta or jam and jelly passes the taste test with me and Safeway store brand capers pass the taste test with me too. Guess the bottom line is choosing item by item and deciding whether taste quality for a particular item will make a difference overall in the recipe or whether saving some cents is more important.
Oh, and among many other brand names I can't live without Hellman's Mayonaisse, Vlasic Zesty Dills, assorted Ortega products, assorted Rotelle products, and on and on and on. LOL ;-)
No name brand vegetable juice cocktail has a way more taste then Campbell's V8 juice, and is half the price.
I have just a few products that I only buy name brand. They are Q-tips, Crest toothpaste, All Free Clear, Kiss My Face deodorant and Cottonelle/Northern t.p. Otherwise, I stock up on pantry staples at Ali and shop at Kroger where I use generic brand unless I have a coupon which is doubled. I haven't found a generic that doesn't turn out as well as name brand. I save a lot of money and feed two growing teenage boys, my husband and myself for $500 a month.
For me, brand-name products are usually more effective than generics but of course this high quality drugs comes also with high cost and because of this reason, more consumers prefer to use generics since these are relatively cheaper than the brand-name products. But with today's recent news, that reason will be deleted since a growing list of brand-name prescription drugs will become less expensive as the patents for the drugs lapse. Some of the best-selling drugs on the market are integrated, so Big Pharma's loss will be the public's gain. I read this here: Brand name medications to get cheaper as patents expire.
Most generic cleaning products contain the exact same ingredients in the same percentages, making them typically interchangeable. This is a page about generic versus name brand bleach.
