I’ve always been a loyal fan of certain name brands. For example, I love Surf laundry soap. I buy Tillamook cheese because I really think it’s tastier than the other brands. I buy only real Oreo cookies.
But there are items for which I really can’t see a difference between the name brand the store brand. And I love the savings that going generic provides. Also, many store brands are now better than ever and some offer organic options for the same price as leading brands. If you haven’t tried some of these in a while you may want to take these nameless products for a spin.
Here’s a list of my favorite store brand deals:
Medications: prescription and over-the-counter
Wipes
Diapers
Canned vegetables
Canned fruit
Canned tomato sauce
Canned beans
Breads
Pasta
Milk
Butter
Ice cream
Juice
Soap
Cleaning products
Question: For which items do you buy the generic brands? For which ones do you only buy name brands?
I have to say that I love the Ralphs brand ice cream best. I usually buy generic b/c I’m so cheap. Sometimes I do notice a difference in quality. Like in the canned fruits and veggies I’ll find more stems, pits, etc. The cuts aren’t quite as great. But it doesn’t make enough of a difference for me to spend the extra bucks.
Also, since we don’t eat a lot of sugar cereal, the generic is just as good as the regular. (This doesn’t apply to the sugar cereals!)
I love to bake, so I definitely purchase many generic items especially when I know I’m going to mix it with something else. I cannot tell the difference in sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar, flour. I also buy generic vanilla wafers, pudding, etc. for desserts. My favorite find is generic “crystal light”. Walmart has a larger variety of flavors and much cheaper.
I definitely have to purchase name brand yogurt. I’m really picky about the texture. I also have to have name brand soup…either Campbells or Progresso.
I buy almost everything generic/cheap. except glass cleaner-because I think Windex does better than the walmart brand-that’s the only one I’ve tried. and since it takes me ages to get through a bottle its not a big deal. also I love dove soap. but almost anything else I’ll just go the cheapest route.