Brand names or store brands

Well I'm starting to stock on on foodstuffs for the holiday season. My sis and parents are usually here for a week over christmas plus this yr we will have DH family over -he has 7 bro/sis they have 17 kids-most married with their young children!!
I browsed the Sunday newspaper ads and wrote down the places that had good deals-4 different grocery stores!!!
Don't know if I'll do that again but I got some good deals esp on meat.
But while I say for instance will buy a store brand for brown sugar but on the other hand prefer Campbells cream of mushroom soup. Today was the 2nd time I have been to Aldi's so I'm not sure how the brand they carry for say again baking supplies or cracker are.
So what to you prefer.
If you have a store brand product you either like or dislike could you write about it?? Or brand name for that matter.
Lets see if we can become smarter shoppers!!

i find most store brands are just the same as the big name ones. IMO..the only thing i wont cheap on is..Hamburger helper. and Mac and Cheese..lol

there are some things that i will not buy the store barnd name ez cheese i will only buy kraft cuz the store brand taste nasty and i will only buy kraft mac and cheese cheaper brands never taste the same those are just two things i can think of right now

i find that its only worth getting brand names if you have become attatched to that brand and particular taste eg heinz beans, kelloggs cornflakes, tetley tea etc

most of the time you dont even notice the difference though. my nan hid own brand cornflakes in the kelloggs box for years because my grandad reckoned he could tell the difference when she brought the cheap stuff! lol

Since we're usually on a fixed budget-we usually opt for the store brands-neither John or I are picky about brands, so whatever is on sale, I will eat! I usually can never tell a difference anyways!

I have no problem with store brands on most things. I have had store brand cereal and oatmeal though and I will never buy that again. There was a huge difference.

read all the labels ... i offten buy store brands after I make sure they are identical to the national but wvery so often youll see a different flour or oil and that will be noticed

I wont skimp on toilet paper (cottonnelle), velveeta cheese, hershey syrup and Kosher pickles! Everything else i'm alright with not getting the "name brand"....i have often found that the store brand is just as good or better than the name brand!

Originally Posted by yasmine

I wont skimp on toilet paper (cottonnelle), velveeta cheese, hershey syrup and Kosher pickles! Everything else i'm alright with not getting the "name brand"....i have often found that the store brand is just as good or better than the name brand!

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I agree-I always get good toilet paper!! Cottonelle here too!

Most store brands are really just brand names is diguise. Chances are that store brand soup or veggies you buy are really made and packaged at DelMonte or one of the other brand name factories. The only difference is, they put the stores label on it. I know that is true, because I had a family member who worked for Quaker Oats and they also packaged oatmeal for all of the different grocery stores in the store label. There is absolutely no difference. I also once bought a TV at Sears, with the Sears label on it, but it was really made by Zenith. I saw a Zenith label on the back of the TV, where is said it was made.

I buy a lot of store brands, but for macaroni and cheese I HAVE to have Stoeffer's Frozen. I also LOVE MichaelAngelo's (not to be confused with Michelina's) frozen Italian food. I have tricked people with their vegetable lasagna. They use all natural ingredients. I passed it off as homemade (and told the truth later). I then called the company and told them and they sent me a bunch of coupons - some of them for FREE products!

For the most part I'll buy whatever is the cheapest.

BUT

If I'm buying cream soup to cook with, store brand is fine, but if it's for eating then Campbells is the only way to go.

TP isn't something I'll skimp on. It has to be Charmin. (Mom always bought the cheap stuff and I SWORE that I would never do that!)

Cookies aren't usually very good as store brands. There is no substitute for Oreo.

I've tried a lot of different kinds of brat(wurst)s. When we get the store packaged ones, even on hecka sale, they end up being thrown out after getting freezer burned from sitting in there too long. Johnsonville never go bad in my house - they don't get the chance to! (But I do wait for sales and usually with coupons )

Hope is exactly right about store brands being made by national brands. Whatever label has the contract for the store at that particular time is what you get. The store brand is often whatever name brand it is closest to on the shelf. My in-laws were truck drivers, and they would pick up canned food at the same packaging plant with several different labels, the name brand, and several different store brands. Sometimes the store brands would be at the end of a packaging run, and maybe the shape or size of the products would not be uniform, but it was basically the same stuff. Laundry detergent is the same way. It all comes out ot the same vats at the factories.

I dont like generic toilet paper, or some cereals, like cheerios, because they taste completely different. the cereal in the big bags are pretty good though. and some of the chips and soda also taste a lot worse than namebrand. Most of the time I will buy the generic because its almost identical and sometimes a dollar cheaper. When im buying OTC medicines, I always check the ingredient list and how much they use and very often its the exact same. A person at walmart even told me that the cheap stuff comes from the same factories as the namebrand.

I am half and half, as stated by others, some store brands just don't come close to brand names..i.e. ketchup, some soups, soda, coffee...

I actually prefer my store's brand of yogurt to any of the national brands.

I have learned a lot reading this thread, but please remember if you are going to post negatively about a brand, keep the actual name off the boards.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69961

Looks like I am in the minority here. I am not picky about brands when it comes to clothes and such, but as far as grocerys are concerned I don't buy the generic brands. I know how everyone says they are just brands names packaged differently, but they never taste the same to me.

One thing I have found...the cheap cheesy poofs are usually BETTER than the more expensive name brands. The crunchy cheesy poofs have to be Cheetos, but the poofs are best if they are about $1 a bag.

I'm brand loyal in most things, but it's not necessarily national brands.

I don't buy a lot of canned veg, but I do buy canned corn and insist on Green Giant Peaches and Cream, which for my money is as close as you'll get to fresh without cutting it off the cob yourself. For canned tomatoes, though, what's most important is that they are peeled whole plum tomatoes. There are a couple of brands I particularly like, and a couple I won't buy, but the field is pretty open, and some of the brands I regularly buy are store brands. It just depends where i happen to be shopping and how the prices compare.

I'm definitely brand loyal in cleaning products, and to a lesser extent in paper products.

Bacon and ham, which we love -- there are a few that we like, and others I won't touch. None of the favoured brands are store brands in this stuff.

I don't buy a lot of convenience foods, but the ones I do are pretty well all national brands.

Well, you get the picture.

Oh, yes, yogurt! Now there I am completely brand loyal -- no interest whatever in anything other than Liberte Mediterranee (from Quebec, and it's to die for! )