# Do you buy generic or store brand foods? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468 "2012-03-22T03:20:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/41 "2012-03-22T22:13:10Z")
Store brand soda isn’t the same. Some are (ie, I don’t mind the generic mt dew or generic orange) but the cola isn’t the same. The brand mt dew is better than the generic mt dew but the price is lower. Also generic q-tips suck. They bend and are flimsy. Plus I don’t think I’ve seen generic powerade. Then again powerade is probably the generic gatorade. Generic ketchup isn’t too good. I haven’t had good luck with generic mustard either. Generic trash bags are thinner in my experience (but I may have bought a lower grade, I don’t know). But they still work. Aside from that most other items I buy are generic if the generic is cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![snorlax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@snorlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snorlax)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/42 "2012-03-22T22:25:52Z")
Here in the UK there is a consumer website called MoneySavingExpert run by a guy called Martin Lewis. He promotes something he calls the “[downshift challenge](http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cheap-supermarket-shopping#downshift)”. In brief (and I’m simplifying here) he suggests that you should try a weekly shop in which you replace every branded item with the store-brand equivalent. Naturally in some cases you will find that the store brand doesn’t match up to the branded version; but where you _don’t notice the difference_ you stick with the generic version. He finds that you can save 15% using this technique. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/43 "2012-03-23T00:27:28Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > How do you know what for sure that it’s Boost? Is there a website where one can look this sort of thing up? I work at the pharmacy that sells it, and I’m able to look up stuff internally like shipping reports, recall noticed, and sometimes plain manufacturer info. At ours, it’s specifically the “plus” version which is Boost; the normal version really does seem to be a generic. ---
**Author:** ![StuffLikeThatThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/44 "2012-03-23T00:54:56Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > My husband and I are convinced that the Del Monte green beans you buy in eight-packs from Sams’ Club have far more stems and skinny beans than the individual Del Monte cans from regular grocery stores. Possible? Why not? We get the store brand green beans where we shop, and there’s always at least one stem. Sometimes the beans are a slightly different color. I always just figured that we’re eating the stuff that didn’t pass the highest level of quality control. We get the next tier down, with a stem or two. There’s no reason that couldn’t be true for cans headed for warehouse clubs as well as cans headed for store brand labels. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/45 "2012-03-23T01:21:28Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > A month or two ago, our store had a weekly special on Plugra (fancy European-style butter), so I bought some, and it replaced our normal store-brand butter for awhile. I almost wish I hadn’t, because it was so amazingly much better than store-brand. I have to look on it as one of those brief, fleeting pleasures in life. You’re not going to want to hear this, but Plugra isn’t the be-all-end-all of fancy butter; if you can, go get yourself some Normandy butter imported from France. The brands that spring to mind are Celles Sur Belle and Isigny Ste. Mere. They beat the piss out of Plugra, let me tell you. A good loaf of fresh bread and some of that butter is a really sublime experience, let me tell you. Generally speaking though, I buy house brand if there’s no quality difference, or if the quality difference doesn’t matter. For example, I’ll buy house brand milk, butter, cheese, canned tomatoes and club soda. I almost never buy name-brand OTC pharmaceuticals though; ibuprofen (or whatever) is the same regardless of whether it’s called Advil, Motrin or ibuprofen. I don’t buy house brand razors though; they’re face-graters for me. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/46 "2012-03-23T02:29:34Z")
I always buy store-brand tuna; there’s a chain of grocery stores here in Washington called Top or Haggen depending on where you are in the state and their tuna in spring water is cheaper and better than the big name brands. I also really like their saltines; I might prefer them to the originals. Same thing but different store for sliced pickled beets; I go to Safeway for those. Fred Meyer (the Kroger of the Northwest) has way better- and cheaper!- bottled lemon lime seltzer in 2L size than any of the fancier brands like Talking Rain. I also prefer the Kroger housebrand graham crackers (and I don’t even like graham crackers!) and Kroger has the best fake Dr Pepper of all the options I’ve tried. I don’t like their root beer, though- tastes too much like wintergreen. Just about anything in Costco or Trader Joe’s housebrands I’ve been very happy with. On the other hand- Cheerios can only be Cheerios. If we want honey-nut, the TJ’s version is fine, but nobody makes Cheerios right but the original makers. Q-Tips are also an original or not-at-all choice; I hate generic cotton swabs. ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/47 "2012-03-23T02:53:33Z")
I buy store brand Trader Joe’s stuff as much as possible. As far as the local chains - no. The Schnucks store brand stuff is all AWFUL, and this is from extensive experience. The Dierbergs stuff is better, but they’re too high-end and expensive to shop at normally anyhow…and a lot of their store brand is more expensive than the name brands, that’s the kind of place they are. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/48 "2012-03-23T03:07:54Z")
Yep; even more so when I live near a Publix! ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/49 "2012-03-23T05:29:27Z")
I will buy store brands of things like raw ingredients or canned vegetables, but other things absolutely have to be brand-name, and usually a specific variety of one brand only. It’s either Coke or I’m not buying soda, Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie or I’m not buying ice cream, Tostitos or I’m not buying chips, etc. Frozen pizza has to be one specific variety of California Pizza Kitchen and occasionally DiGiornio’s supreme. Toiletries and over-the-counter meds have to be brand name with the exception of toilet paper and paper towels. And of course the cat only likes one type of brand name litter and one type of brand name cat food, so that’s what I buy. I can avoid being a picky eater in social situations and restaurants. But at home by myself? Pickiness to the extreme. It does cost a little more but I’m one of those people that will just not eat anything at all rather than eat something I don’t like, so if I buy store brand of stuff I don’t really want, it’ll probably get wasted. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/50 "2012-03-23T14:19:38Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I almost never buy name-brand OTC pharmaceuticals though; ibuprofen (or whatever) is the same regardless of whether it’s called Advil, Motrin or ibuprofen. For the last couple of years, it’s almost been the case that the generics are probably of higher quality… they’re not on continuous recall notices. It’s still nearly impossible to find Tylenol, Motrin, and Benadryl, and Excedrin and Theraflu are now off the market… but the generics are still available. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/51 "2012-03-23T14:41:33Z")
If there is a generic available for a particular product, I will probably buy it in lieu of the regular product. I only have two exceptions: 1.) Cheese. I take my cheese very seriously, and the store I usually go to doesn’t have the pre-sliced extra-sharp cheddar anyway. But I’d still probably spring for Sargento. 2.) Diet Coke. This is because I’ve never found a generic that tastes the same. Otherwise, I’ll generally buy whatever’s cheaper. That being said, a _lot_ of the things that I buy don’t have store brand where I shop (Oscar Mayer Carving Board meats, white cheddar puffs, greek yogurt, etc). I feel bad for still getting the brand name, but I’m not going to get something wholly different just to save a few cents. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/52 "2012-03-23T15:41:53Z")
Looking in my cupboards the only store brand stuff I have is cartons of long life skim milk however I don’t buy most of the packaged things that people have mentioned so far. When I was married with kids I used to buy a store brand ice cream because it was really good. Basically all of my cleaning stuff is from Aldi. All their brands are complete mysteries and are virtually the same as other stores own brands - made exclusively for Aldis etc. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/53 "2012-03-23T22:52:15Z")
Wegmans diet cola used to be better than Diet Coke, and in the last year the quality fell off drastically. It started tasting…fruity! It wasn’t sitting around for weeks, and the store swore there was no reformulation, so, I don’t know. Pity…I did buy a store brand can of pears somewhere, and inside was one enormous whole (peeled) pear! ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/54 "2012-03-23T23:03:00Z")
I am a consumer of cheap pop. I have never found any store brand of ginger ale, root beer, lemon-lime, black cherry, strawberry, cream soda, or peach soda to be bad. Some are better than others- Kroger peach is awesome, while Kroger root beer is too wintergreeny. Cola has to be Coke Classic or R.C., however. I miss the days when the stores would let you mix a loose case of cans, though. Now every store just sells 12 packs. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/55 "2012-03-24T00:08:46Z")
The only things that I don’t buy generic are peanut butter, mayo and tuna. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/56 "2012-03-24T13:37:56Z")
I go store/generic whenever possible, & curse when I can’t. Quality is high (it’s often made in the same factories & on the same machines as name brand), & it saves mountains of money. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/57 "2012-03-24T16:30:21Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Basically all of my cleaning stuff is from Aldi. All their brands are complete mysteries and are virtually the same as other stores own brands - made exclusively for Aldis etc. They have a very limited selection of cleaning products in the US. I was at my local Aldi yesterday looking for a general purpose cleaner like Lysol with no luck. I do 99% of my shopping at Aldi or CostCo, and it’s virtually all their store brands. Never had a bad experience with any Kirkland product, and only once with Aldi - their string cheese is miserable, but they game me a full refund. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/58 "2012-03-24T16:54:27Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I shop at Hannaford. Their canned vegetables are as good a brand names and their ridged potato chips are better than national brands. Things like butter and milk are identical. Some of the Hannaford brand stuff (like their Inspirations line) is top-notch. I don’t have Hannafords where I live, but I stock up when I’m visiting family. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/59 "2012-03-24T17:50:13Z")
I can only think - Paper Towels, Aspirin, some Canned Veggies and Noodles. Anything else starts to really get sub-par quality vs. savings. Even my Cat Food and Litter is Brand name. 😃 I’m on the fence about Generic Saltines vs. Premium, because the Premium is three times the price. The premium is defiantly better munched on stand alone. Crispier and less doughy. On the other hand, how can you quantify if it’s three times better crushed up in chili. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468/60 "2012-03-24T18:03:38Z")
I generally buy the generic/store brand if there is a version of the product I want. When I choose a name brand over a store brand it’s often not because I feel the food item is superior, but because there are some cases where the name brand packaging actually makes a difference. For instance, I once bought some generic Ritz-style crackers, only to find that they weren’t divided up into separate bagged stacks like with actual Ritz. All the crackers were loose in a big bag, like cereal, and a bunch of them were broken from being shaken around. While I am generally in favor of reduced packaging, I don’t want broken crackers! With a few other foods the name brand packaging is just more convenient, and I alternate between wanting to save money and wanting to have things be easier for me. Name brand canned goods are more likely to have the soda can style tabs so you can open them without a can opener, and name brand boxed mixes often have instructions that are designed so they’re easier to read at a glance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-generic-or-store-brand-foods/616468.md?page=4)