Do you usually buy name brand food or the store brand? (stove, cheapest)

[CheyDee]

It depends. Ketchup has to be Heinz and mayonnaise has to be Hellmann's/Best. I prefer Bumble Bee tuna. There is only one pickle I really like, so I buy just that brand.

Other things, such as bread, cheese, etc., I am less picky about.

[no kudzu]

I hope you know that most grocery store pet foods , even and especially the name brands are junk. So many grains and fillers and not much real meat. One cat is on RX I get from the vet and the other cat and 2 dogs get top quality grain free foods from our local specialty pet food store. I've found paying more for quality pet food saves me money on vet bills.

[missik999]

I bought some Kroger brand semi-sweet chocolate chips because they were $1 cheaper per package than Toll House. The package even stated, "Real semi-sweet chocolate."

I only wish I would have tasted them before I made a double batch of cookies. They tasted like artificial chocolate, and didn't even melt like regular Toll House chips. The cookies were so bad that I had to throw them out. So the $1 I saved really cost me because I wasted the butter, flour, sugar, vanilla, etc.

Kroger has a money back guarantee on their store brands, and these were so bad that I returned them to the store. The cashier at the customer service desk told me that they get a lot of returns on their kroger brand products.

[brokencrayola]

I almost always buy name brand. I have seen the quality isn't nearly as good with store name brands. Try eating one of the name brand peanut butters and a store brand and you will know what I mean.

[debzkidz]

Originally Posted by brokencrayola

I almost always buy name brand. I have seen the quality isn't nearly as good with store name brands. Try eating one of the name brand peanut butters and a store brand and you will know what I mean.

Store brand PB is probably the one worst items I've tried. The only thing I use it for is to hide the dogs pills in. The name brand stuff he can lick right off and spit a pill out while eating the PB. That store brand stuff is so dry, he can't get it down without swallowing the pill too.

[CountryFisher]

Usually store brand but I'll buy whatever's on sale.

[GailL2007]

Here in NJ, we have coupons and they are mostly doubled or sometimes tripled. I dont want to say that I should be on the show Hoarders but I do stock up CHEAP for the name brands.

[missik999]

I thought of this thread when I bought Kroger brand "Zips" crackers today to use in a recipe. They are supposed to be like Ritz crackers but were a definite fail. After tasting a few I decided not to use them in my recipe but went back to the store to get a box of Ritz.

[debzkidz]

Originally Posted by missik999

I thought of this thread when I bought Kroger brand "Zips" crackers today to use in a recipe. They are supposed to be like Ritz crackers but were a definite fail. After tasting a few I decided not to use them in my recipe but went back to the store to get a box of Ritz.

I had this same problem last Christmas when I was trying to make my annual batches of Chex Mix. The store was actually out of some of the real Chex, so I opted for the store brand. They definitely didn't taste as good the real thing, but I thought by the time I added all the seasonings, it would be fine. It came out horrible. The cereal didn't stay crisp when I cooked it. It absorbed all the butter and other liquid and just got soggy. No one in the house would eat it. I ended up throwing away the Mix and all the cereal still in the boxes.

[tickyul]

I buy CHEAP as long as the quality is acceptable.

Walmart's "Great Value" line is actually pretty good. The instant coffee is just as good or better than Foldgers. Now the CD-elite/upper crust/yuppies can chime in about how horrible instant is....go to ****.....I like instant.