Buying Generic Brand Groceries

I usually buy the store brands because they usually are much cheaper. With groceries name brands mean nothing because you'll be getting the same thing whether you are getting generic or not. The only time I buy name brand products is when I buy non-food items which I intend to use for a really long time. There' no denying . . . some name brand products are of superior quality.

 

I usually buy whatever is the cheapest regardless of what the brand is. I think there isn't much if anything that I really prefer to have named brand products. Most of the time the cheaper ones do just fine. It makes me appreciate the more expensive brand named products when I do get them though I think.

 

My ex said that most everything is mass produced at the same manufacturing plant. I guess the exception would be kosher and organic foods. However, when the generic brands offer a reduced/no sodium, I jump on it and I'm usually pleased.

 

SM is the biggest chain of malls here and their supermarket called hypermart is also the largest and most complete. Some 10 years ago, they started coming out with the Bonus brand, supposed to be generic. It is focused on foodstuff like rice and bread but later on it diversified to noodles, canned goods and even canned and bottled drinks. Compared to the branded, Bonus brands are cheaper by at least 20%. And do I buy it? Rarely because I find the quality not that good. Last week I tried cooking their spaghetti which were given away when you buy 3 big soda bottles. Although it is free, not really good with the soggy texture and the not so good taste.

 

Generic brands have always been fine with me, for the most part, and I end up saving a good amount of money every trip just by reaching a few inches over and not going with the name brand. In my experience most everything tastes the same, if not very similar to the name brand. There are exceptions, though, and I will tell you one that I cannot understand for the life of me. CHEERIOS. I cannot find a generic brand Cheerios that does not taste like garbage. It seems like it would be so simple, but I guess not.

 

I didn't buy generic brands till Walgreens and Walmart opened up locally. It saves me a lot of money buying generic brands and they taste just as good. I've just one thing that I noticed about frozen french fries that I buy from Walmart. They are cheaper, but the quality can be lacking for there is always black parts to the french fries that I just cut off. I like Ore Ida's french fries and they were on sale at Safeway this past $5 Friday and it was 2/$5 so I bought 2 packages. I don't often see frozen french fries on sale, so I usually get them at Walmart. I have found that generic is good, but somethings brand name is best in quality and flavor.

 

I buy a lot of the "generic" brands at Save-A-Lot as well, and for the most part I've been pretty pleased with them. But it is a bit of trial and error to find out which ones you like and which ones you don't. For example, I was buying their store brand of jarred tomato sauces, since they were only 99 cents each, but lately I've not been pleased with the taste of them - it tastes as though they changed the recipe and are using lower quality ingredients and fillers. I was also disappointed with their store brand of ketchup, since it was noticeably runnier and less flavorful than other brands.

Also, not all store brand varieties are equal. For example, Save-a-Lot sells their spices for only $1 each, but they are much smaller bottles than the ones at Aldi, which are also only $1 each. Similarly, you can find stuff such as frozen veggies and frozen fries at Deals for only $1 per bag, vs. paying $1.99 per bag at Save-a-Lot for their store brand.

 

I am okay with buying generic as long as there is not much difference in taste and quality and I can be sure that it's safe. Sometimes I don't like to sacrifice too much because getting lower quality would just frustrate me and for this I'd usually just cut back elsewhere so I can spring more for the actual better quality products in some other areas. I mostly buy generic for items I won't notice too much like pasta since it will just end up being covered by sauce anyway.

 

I tend to buy a lot of generic goods, both food and also paper items. I do like soft toilet paper and paper towels, but as long as the generic products hold together well, are not rough, and are still acceptable quality, and save me a reasonable amount of money on a package, so I'll sometimes buy those, instead of the name brands. With regard to canned vegetables, there are some I will buy, such as the store brands (Great Value, Psst, etc.), but others that are questionable, I will skip. I've purchased a few really off brands of canned vegetables in the past and found some questionable pieces in the can, really hard stalks, etc., so would rather pay a few cents more per can and get something I know is decent quality.

 

I purchase generic or store-brand groceries quite often. There are typically only a few grocery items that I purchase that are brand specific, such as Dawn dish soap and toilet paper. I have found that there is little difference in quality between store/generic brand and name brand groceries that I purchase the most often, such as milk, bread, cheese, meat, frozen fruit and vegetables, canned fruit and vegetables, baking supplies, granola bars, cereal, and crackers.

However, I will use coupons to purchase name brand groceries if they end up being cheaper than the store brand items. For example, I often buy name-brand cereal for $1 per box or less, which is less than my local Aldi or Save-A-Lot prices. That being said, I do enjoy shopping at Aldi and Save-A-Lot in that I can save a ton of money on groceries without having to spend time clipping coupons.

 

Some brand names are worth it to me. I just think the taste is better. But majority of the time I buy generic items. Well, to be honest, I buy whatever is one sale. If it is name brand then it is what I buy. If it is generic then I buy it. I don't really look at the name of the grocery, though, there are a couple really cheap items I will not buy because I just know they are not good.