Store Brand vs Name Brand 
VS 
Great Store Brand Items
Cheese Crackers (like Cheese Nips) a big box is $1.25 for store brand and almost $3 for name brand . I always keep a big bin on hand. The kids love these for snacks
Canned Veggies and Frozen Veggies- honestly we can tell no difference between store and name brand.
Pasta Noodles - pasta is pasta unless you are purchasing the flavored noodles or whole wheat
Rice- in my opinion same thing as pasta
Granola Bars- We get these on a weekly basis. Save at least $2 by purchasing the store brand.
Kid's cereal- Another big saver! We get the copy fruit loops and cheerios.
Shredded Cheese- Great and tasty! The only downside is they do not make 2% in most store brands.
Milk- I've always wondered what makes these different. They have the same expiration's dates and ingredients. ????
Ice Cream- If you go with the Wal-mart brand. My husband actually did a study on this in grad school. In many taste tests the store brand out preforms the name brand. In my opinion they did not compare it with Blue Bell Ice Cream. That stuff is heavenly!
Name Brand, worth the extra $$$
- Soft Drinks - Nothing is better than a real Diet Coke!
- Paper Towels- Extra thickness and higher quality gets the cleaning job with half the product. My favorite is Viva.
- Diet Drinks and Diet Bars- I've tried the store brand slim fast and diet bars. Not good! Worth the splurge for taste!
- Salsa- At our house we only purchase Pace Salsa. It's made in Texas Ya'll!
- Girly Monthly Visitor Products- Need I say more?
- Mac and Cheese- Kraft and Velveeta have mastered their taste and texture.
- Chips- I've made the mistake several times of purchasing store brand chips. I get lots of moans and groans from the kids. Nacho Cheese Doritos and Cheese Puffs are weekly staples in our house for packed lunches.
9 comments:
I agree with you. On the chips, the store brands often have a lot of trans fats- big nono. That's the primary difference I notice when comparing store vs. brand. Most stuff is fine.
Regarding mac n. cheese, Pioneer Woman posted a recipe for homemade and we will probably never go back. My people swear it is the best ever. Salsa is also really easy to make fresh. I took a cooking class and they washed the onions, tomatoes, jalopenos and garlic and just put it whole in the cast iron pan. When it was charred she cut off the stems and such and threw it into the food processor. Add salt and pepper and even cumin if you like. Delicious. Earth moving delicious. And some homemade tortilla chips. YUM.
Good post. This was a topic of debate years ago at our house when we couldn't afford anything but the store brand. Things have changed but I still buy storebrand because I like to save money!
You have to buy brand name tuna fish and mayo, too. Don't know what it is, but store brand tuna freaks me out!
I agree on all of those! Especially the monthly visitor products. Everytime I try to go cheap I regret it!
good post! A few more to add:
*name brand zip-lock (or hefty) bags... the store brand ones rip!
*name brand crescent rolls..the store brands ones fall apart before you can roll them up
I completely agree with you on all the others. I like bounty paper towels the best, and there is usually a good coupon to use.
Only one real disagreement ... milk.
We started buying Braum's milk about 3 years ago. It has no hormones and chemicals and tastes SO GOOD! I never drank milk until I started drinking it. That's one area I don't even try to save on. It's typically about $3.69 a gallon, and we go through 3-4 gallons a week, but it's so worth it! I've even started buying their sliced american cheese for the same reason. I caution you against trying their milk .. you'll never go back to milk that's on sale (even Hiland)!
Oh, and I make my family eat the cheap chips. That's something I'd rather them not eat a bunch of anyway, so if they don't like cheap then they won't eat as much. If theyr'e desperate for chips, that's what they get. Occasionally I'll be feeling generous and buy a bag of real doritos !! :)
I'm not usually an ice cream snob...
(really, I'll eat any and all) but a few weeks ago I bought some Walgreens brand in a moment of weakness.... It was gross! Taste like flavored ice.
Never again!
Love this post! :)
I actually found a store brand soft drink that is good...Kroger's Diet Dr. K. It doesn't taste like Diet Dr. Pepper, but we actually like it better and its MUCH cheaper! I agree about the ice cream, though, nothing but Blue Bell for us!
I totally agree with you! Some things are just not worth buying the store brand but there are many things that are. Great post!
I agree w/ the braums milk... it's the best and I can tell a difference! I'm a viva girl too!!
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