Is there any food or product that you won't buy a generic cheaper version of? (items, price)
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Lots of things: tea, ketchup, cat food, soda, mayo...........and just added English muffins to the list. There is nothing like Thomas's EM. These generic muffinsI bought are so horrible.......they've become bird food!
I'm not too sold on generic butter for serious baking. I could see and feel the difference in texture of the baked items.
Mayonnaise.
Gotta be Best Foods or everything tastes funny
Mayo and grape jelly for me.
I grew up with Hellmann's Mayo on the east coast, couldn't find it on the west coast but the Best Foods label saved me as it looks just like the Hellmann's label. Costs about $1 more than other brands but I accept no substitutes.
A lot of things we only buy certain brands after trying others. I do buy some of HEB branded items as some are better than national brands we have found. Its always hit and miss on brands:IMO.
I will give generics a try on pretty much anything. If I don't like it, I have no worries going back to the name brand. It's not frugal to throw out 95% of a package of something and I'm not in a position where I feel l have to force myself to eat or use a product that I don't like.
I buy lots of Kirkland branded items at Costco and have been happy with pretty much all of them. And a fair number of Target Up and Up. Supermarket quality seems to be more hit or miss.
A few people have mentioned cereal, and I agree with that. I'll buy those big bags (can't think of the brand right now) but the store brands are generally not good. And I like MiO water drops - a bottle lasts me at least a month and I don't buy coffee so it's still a frugal way to get my caffeine fix. But the generics on those were awful. I wait for a sale and stock up.
Sometimes manufacturers will package the same item and sell it as a store brand. I have not noticed a lack of quality in cereal. LIke someone said the big bags are fine, they are the same as the box and to me they are the same as generic.
Where I have noticed a big difference is in nacho chips, Doritos are delish but expensive, the cheap brands don't even taste close to the same and are bad.
I agree somewhat about toilet paper. I used to buy the cheap 4 pack for 88 cents at walmart, you go thru a roll a day. I have found cheaper ones but better quality. The ones that say 12 rolls = 28 or whatever, they are the same as the name brands that advertise the same but are about 25% cheaper. Paper towels too can be a bad deal if you get the cheap ones, they can be very thin, but you have to get small packages and find the one you like the best. Walmart has a 3 pack designer roll that is about $2. It's fine but the quality varies. At one store I found some that were really thick and heavy, then at another they were decent and adequate but not the same, as far as I know it was the same product.
I also agree about things like ketchup, I use so little that when I do buy it I buy heinz. Sometimes I look at products at Walmart and think who buys these things.
I can't think of any products that I won't buy a generic/store brand/private label version of. That being said, I learned long ago that not all generic products are created equal so I'll often buy a name brand if the generic version carried at the store where I'm shopping is notably inferior and I don't want to make another stop.
As others have said, some of the store brand equivalents of name-brand soft drinks don't measure up - notably the Coke, Pepsi, and Mt. Dew knock-offs - but I drink so little pop that I seldom buy it by the case anyway.
I'll buy Sam's generic toilet paper, because it's better than any other toilet paper I've tried. I'll also use their laundry soap, because it's decent although the bottle has a tendency to leak so you have to remember to put the cap on. The generic cheese at Sam's is also good, but the mozzarella has a tendency to mold pretty quickly, so you have to freeze part of the 5lb bag or plan on eating tons of cheese.
I won't buy generic shampoo, body wash, razors, deodorant or tampons. I also won't buy generic dish soap, dishwasher soap, or fabric softener. I will buy generic hand soap and medications though.
As far as food goes, some generics are okay and others just aren't. Our local grocery chain HEB has a brand called Econo Max that's the lowest price, then their store branded generic, then the name brands, then their organic Central Market brand. I've found that the store branded generics are okay there, but the Econo Max stuff is not even edible...tuna full of crunchy stuff, mac and cheese with a sauce pouch that just coated the noodles in flavorless orange oil, etc. I actually threw out the rest of the Econo Max stuff I had bought instead of donating it to the food bank, because it wasn't fit for human consumption.
I buy all my soaps and cleaning products at Dollar Tree. Most non food supermarket things I buy there except for toilet paper and paper towels. I will buy the tissue boxes there occasionally. I actually like their dish washing detergent. I find it doesn't foam as much so you don't need as much water to rinse and clean plates off.
I buy all my soaps and cleaning products at Dollar Tree. Most non food supermarket things I buy there except for toilet paper and paper towels. I will buy the tissue boxes there occasionally. I actually like their dish washing detergent. I find it doesn't foam as much so you don't need as much water to rinse and clean plates off.
I just end up using a lot more of the cheaper dish soaps, so it evens out to buy the more expensive concentrated ones.
The LA Totally Awesome cleaning products that Dollar Tree has are pretty good.
I won't buy cheap laundry detergent because the clothes last a lot longer with good detergent.
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