There are many times at the grocery store that I find myself looking between two different items which are the same food but one is a generic store brand while the other is a well known brand that can be found at most stores. I always wonder- is one better than the other? Are they basically the same? Usually, I get the generic store brand. However, there are some things that I do prefer to get a nicer brand of! What do you buy? Do you tend to pick up the cheaper brand or do you go for a brand you know well through marketing?
I don't really pay that much attention between brands and I also tend to pick the generic one since its almost always cheaper than branded items. The taste/effects of the items are not really that noticeable and sometimes generic brands even outperform branded items.
For me, it all depends on how much money I have to spend. I buy the generic brand when I'm broke. And it rarely tastes like typical brand names. There's always something off. Unfortunately, it's easier to go up than down, taste buds and all. When you've had good stuff, going for the cheap stuff leaves you feeling cheated. Now, when I have money to shop, I skip the typical brands and go for the alternative, organic or natural, and high-end stuff. They tend to have a better taste than typical brands because they use natural products, like real blueberries versus artificially flavored blueberries. And they're also healthier.
There are two items which I refuse to bargain-shop for: seafood, and Parmesan cheese. Store brands are so good nowadays that some of them (in my opinion) are better than the name brands. For example, if I'm making a pasta dish but don't have time to make the marinara sauce from scratch, my back-up is a store brand item. I've tried to replicate it but I just can't do it. Regarding seafood, I love to cook and eat seafood, but I'm not a seafood expert, and the horrific food poisoning stories I've heard have made me a firm believer in the adage "if it smells fishy, don't buy it." Will it cost more to shop this way? Yes, and it will also be harder to find quality seafood unless you live near the ocean, but it is well worth the added expense. Regarding Parmesan cheese, that canned crap offends me. It belongs in the bottom of a hamster cage, not on your plate. Fork over the extra cash for a nice, firm wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano, and thinly shave it over your pasta dishes. It's well worth the extra effort, and if you love your food, you will treat it with respect.
It also depends on the product. There are products that I have grown with. One example is a specific brand of oat meal. I would not risk my money buying a generic brand that I am not sure that I'm gonna like so I will always stick to what I am used to. However to some products such as toothpaste, I would just get the generic since I think that they are all the same.
It depends on the item. I will give the generics a try at least once. I have found that certain items are just as good as name brand items, some are actually even better. There are some that are much worse and not worth getting and I will now avoid getting generic brands for cetain items. I would say it has been a trial and error process that has taken me several years but for the most part I know now what I can get as generic and what I need to avoid.
I almost always get the generic brand. The prices are lower and I can cook the food to be just as good as another brand. If something tastes a bit bland just add a few spices and it'll be great! The things I do tend to get with brand names are clothes, but that's off topic. Generic food is almost always just as good as brand name food.
I tend to get generic brands. I don't mind generic brands with most things and it saves money. I do like the "real" brands of soda better, like Dr. Pepper. Although, Mountain Lightning is a generic Mountain Dew and they're both great in their own ways and actually taste very similar. With some things I buy the high end brand though, like with Cheerios, peanut butter, chips, cool whip, jam, condiments like ketchup and barbecue sauce, juice, canned veggies/fruits (Green Giant and Delmonte we usually get), iced tea bags (Lipton we normally get), frozen french fries. Etc. That's more than I thought actually!
Big brands have an advantage: they gained fame over the years. However, I believe we must give a chance to secondary brands. Many times the cost isn't a high quality signal. I've had pleasant surprises with "second brands" and in fact, they have replaced the original brand. The custom is often a bad adviser in this case, because the repetition of a purchase over time conditions us and rules out the capacity to try new options. In every purchase we have the opportunity to experience and discover new products.
As others have stated, it really just depends on the product. For example, I will always purchase name brand cold cereal and toilet paper. I tried generic once, and once was enough. However, I notice no significant differences between the generic brand of whole wheat noodles and frozen fruit, so I opt out of the high end brands in these cases.
They say you get what you pay for but i don't believe that's always the case on somethings. It really comes down to what product your buying in terms of food some generic brands my not be the best tasting as the name brand stuff and others might. It's definitely a trail and error kind of thing you have to try it and compare, but a lot of times i do think there is good generic brands out there that can stand up there with name brands and be way cheaper to.
I almost always go with the generic brands, and there's hardly ever a problem. If it's an item that's new to me, I'll just buy one product to try. That way, if I don't like it, I haven't wasted much. I gave up on brand snobbery a long time ago. A friend of ours who works in a food processing plant told us that the generic items are made in the same factory, with the same ingredients. Only the packaging is different. There is one main exception to this rule, and that is Kellogs. They advertise that they don't make cereals for anyone else, and I can believe this, as nothing seems to compare with Kellogs cornflakes. That's one product where I don't buy generic.
I tend to buy the generic brands more and more these past few months. I am actually trying to save every money I can because money isn't that easy to get by. I used to snub generic brands before, but I found out that the taste and quality are almost always the same. I'm glad that I am becoming more practical nowadays.
I do go for branded products sometimes when the quality or taste make a difference. For example, I couldn’t settle for store branded coffee, biscuits, or cereal. When it comes to breakfast cereal, I have to buy Kellogg’s for my son, as they have a special range of vegan options. Buying the exact same product under a generic brand just won’t do for him, as the list of ingredients is not very specific in some of them.
Honestly, i try them both out to see if there are huge differences in taste and in nutrition. Then if there's really not that much of a difference then I go for the generic brand.
Most of the time I take whichever is cheaper, which is usually the generic brand. There are only a few items I will always buy brand. One of them is coffee, because there's nothing worse than bad cheap coffee. Another is cheese. Other than that, the generic brand of anything is good enough.
Kellogs makes Kashi cereals, this was recently pointed out due to some bill in California forcing companies to show who they are owned by. Many brand name companies also make generic versions of their products for sale at Aldi's, so you're essentially getting the same thing, just with a different label/package.
Brand names are just that. They're brand names that people know. Too many people get hooked on paying for brand name items because they think they're better. Often, the bargain brand (i.e. the Food Lion or Harris Teeter brand) is just as good.
