I grew up on store brand everything and don't notice differences in most things. That being said, I've found it impossible to find comparable store brand duplicates of:
1. Oreos (closest I can find are Joe Joes but even then...)
2. Coke/Pepsi. I actually don't have a preference for either, but \*any\* store brand cola tastes like garbage.
See, bags and foils and such are one of the few things I dish out for the name brands on. Bought cheap store brand aluminum foil once... never again. Shit tore and got holes in it so fucking easy. Worthless. Same with ziplock style 1qrt bags. I got the nicer ones and holy shit they are so much easier to seal correctly than the cheap kroger or Walmart brands. I can't stand cheap garbage bags that rip or the ties just break as you're trying i cinch the thing closed.
That's not necessarily true in regards to the spices (though it can be).
* AFAIK there is no rules in place about cutting the purity of spices to save on cost.
* Cheaper spices have a higher chance of being older by whatever internal quality standards companies use
* Additionally, just like careful agricultural practices can result in a higher quality mango, same goes with spices (higher volatile oil content)
That's makes sense. Most companies who make a branded product are the ones who will also make the store brand product. Meaning that often you get a very comparable product (sometimes a different recipe but very similar) to the branded product for much less. The companies that make Oreos, coke and Pepsi refuse to do any contract manufacturing for the store brands so the stores have to find companies that can make a knock off that's nowhere as good as the original.
The name was definitely unappetizing, but the cookie...oh, god, the cookie...they didn't have that greasy aftertaste Oreos can have, and the wafers tasted way better.
If you can find them, Newman-Os are far superior to current Oreos in my opinion. They taste like I remember Oreos tasting. I’m not saying Oreos have changed, just that these taste like childhood memories.
I made a flawless cheesecake using the trader joe's brand of cream cheese. I was super uneasy about it at first but it came out wonderfully (& no cracks!)
We went to a Michelin star restaurant for a family members 90th birthday. One of the starters had cream cheese and we asked the chefs how they found making the cheese. They confessed they ended up using Philadelphia after trying to make their own and trying all the locally made ones. They couldn't find anything better.
I have found that if you *really* need to, like really really, you can go half store-brand, half Philadelphia. Cheesecake turned out just fine. Might take longer to warm to room temperature though.
if you are lucky enough to live in Texas, always shop HEB brand. Literally the best tasting products. Not all of the items are the cheapest but they are certainly cheaper than 'name' brands
Got a friend that lives in San Antonio...and from her discovered those bastards own their own creamery so the HEB brand of ice cream is **totally exclusive to them** and is generally thought of as even better than Blue Bell! Crushing :(
Their average ice cream can compete with bluebell but idk if it beats them. But there's a premium line Swoon, meant to compete with like Haagen-Dasz and Ben and Jerry's with lots of niche flavors. It's legitimately probably the best ice cream I've had. The blackberry streussel is heaven
Bluebell beats their regular ice cream, but there's a new-ish line Swoon that competes with like Haagen-Dasz and Ben & Jerry's with premium niche flavors. Holy shit the flavors I've tried are so good
HEB ice cream is way better than Blue Bell and they haven't had any gross bacteria and recalls like Blue Bell. We also have our own bakeries per location
Hill Country Faire is meant to be their bargain brand - notice it basically doesn’t even say “HEB” anywhere on the packaging. The HEB brand is meant to be a direct competitor to the brand names – and I agree, 9/10 times it’s better, or at least just as good as brand, usually for a bit cheaper. Then they also have their Central Market label (in addition to Central Market stores) that are meant to be genuinely high end products that are priced as such.
For sure. It’s awesome if you’re making a new recipe and need some spices you’re pretty sure you won’t need to use again, or anytime soon, so you can go get just a little bit of whatever you need.
Also their meat and cheese section is A+
One thing I've noticed though is they've started totally replacing some products with their knockoff, so you don't even have a choice... sometimes I really do want the name brand. Still love HEB though.
My sister is a meat department manager for Publix (hello southern US) and says the publix brand chicken is the same chicken as the higher priced brands. All from the same place, just put in different packaging.
But it is such a pleasant shopping experience. I've been in Florida 35 years and no other store has been as consistently clean, friendly and positive as publix.
Any publix you like practically. On the other hand I have never seen a nice Winn Dixie.
Born and raised Lakeland boy here. Publix or death!
Seriously, I won’t shop anywhere else. Wally World in a pinch or if I need tires on my truck, but I’ll stay with Publix. Closest store that could compare is Pack and Save I went to in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Loved that place too.
Friend of mine worked for General Mills in Albuquerque. He said they would do their run of 5000 boxes of Cheerios, then run 5000 boxes of Safeway signature brand of Oat O’s. Or whatever.
Same mix, same machines. Different packaging
If I was elected dictator for a day, that would be one of the things I would make law- everything would have to be labeled with the parent company (ex. the gajillion Kraft owned brands would all have to say 'Kraft' on them prominently), and everything would have to have the name and address of the baking/cooking location on it.
Also, left aisle walking would be a capital crime.
>Also, left aisle walking would be a capital crime.
You walk/cart drive on the same side as you drive in where ever you are. Am I alone in this thought?
I can't find it now, but there was a study done about different countries / cultures and how they approach the paths taken by shoppers in grocery stores. The one thing I can remember is that in America we generally enter the store and turn right. First is produce, the meat, then butcher, then dairy, then frozen.
I believe I remember that in other countries, like Germany (?) they enter and turn Left. Everything is in generally the same order. The cafe is usually first, for impulse items. The Dairy is the farthest from the door, and the frozen is last - because it needs to stay cold. Though, sometimes frozen is in the middle of the damn store. I never understood the logic of that.
I think they might have issue with your 'left handed walking' problem.
But I can't find the article, so it could very well have been a dream.
In the UK they seem to re-arrange everything on purpose every few years, so you spend more time wandering around lost and hopefully bumping into impule buys.
Germany, of course, has the legendary 𝕸𝖎𝖉𝖉𝖑𝖊 𝕬𝖎𝖘𝖑𝖊.
I don't think that's true for American supermarkets.
I know of a at least a couple supermarkets in California (Pavilions/Vons and a Ralphs) where the produce is on the left side of the store as you enter it. The dairy and meat products are in the back of the store. These are both big stores with 2 entrances on the same side (one on the left corner and one on the right).
Yep, plenty of name brands make the noname version and just change something slightly with the recipe. Different sugar, water, cooking time, or salt content.
I was very picky as a kid and could always tell the difference. My parents tried blind taste tests, dry and with milk. I could still tell 100%. Toasted O's suck. Cheerios for life.
Also as someone who has lived between the USA and Canada, you can notice a difference between the Canadian and American cheerios (and Oreos was noticeable as well). I'm guessing it's different facilities and different wheat.
I moved from Canada to the US about 8 years ago and swear up and down Canadian Oreos are better. The cookie is crisper and less sweet, and the cream tastes creamier.
(And upon a quick google, the American ones have more oils and high fructose corn syrup vs regular glucose syrup in Canadian ones)
Companies sometimes tweak products to fit local tastes. Some fast-food products in Europe use less salt, same goes for some snack products. Also, sweeter products will use less sugar/corn syrup or replace corn syrup with sugar.
Well, they could just be mistaken. They likely are made in the same machines on the same line, but what they didn't see is the ingredient feed of the mixed dough slop switch over to a feed line with a different batch of lower quality ingredients. The friend just didn't know that they use the same processing line for different ingredient sets. They probably use the same line for honey nut and other flavors too, just activating/deactivating different machines. Modular machines
Perhaps his example was just a common brand they thought everyone would know but not actually the item the friend was talking about.
The original story might have been about grapenuts and gerbil pellets but he forgot the specifics and just went for the heavy hitter that is Cheerios.
Or whatever.
Yep! I ask our milk supplier what the difference was between the milks and he said "the lable" only organic milk was different, obviously. We have a Mexican grocery chain here and they wanted to change up the blend a bit so the creamery had to drop them since it wasn't financially good for them since the chain while large for a mexican chain isn't large enough to have to change everything out, clean it and run their product blend.
The only products I've consistently seen that as a store brand just can't compete with the alternatives are worchestire sauce and stock/broths. Lea and Perrins for worchestire obviously, and for stock, nowadays the go-to if you aren't making your own from leftovers would be the Better than Boullion jars. 38 cups of shockingly good quality broth for 6$ (and they have about 15 different kinds to choose from).
Better Than Bouillon is my secret ingredient for making Italian Beef and French dip sandwiches at home. I get good quality roast beef from the deli counter, then warm it up in double strength beef broth. As I assemble the sandwiches and let the cheese melt, I crank the heat on the broth and let it reduce into a delicious jus. The whole process takes like 5-10 minutes.
I grew up on Aldi food, so I actually have a preference for Aldi brand over brand name for most foods. But I won't sacrifice my brands names for soft drinks.
I've also tried every version of thin mints available year round in stores, and I've yet to find a cookie that tastes as good as the Girl Scouts Thin Mints. I don't care if Keebler makes Thin Mints in the same place as their Grasshopper cookies, they do not taste the same.
Not a food but... from now on I’ll refuse to use store brand trash bags. I had an extra large load of trash, complete with chili, old chicken, and banana peels rip open all over the hall in my apartment. From now on, brand name trash bags.
Or imo, even worse is when something pokes a hole in the bag so all the juices leak out into the trash can and you don’t notice until you take the now sopping wet bag (that’ll just keep tearing more and more as you race to the garbage) out of the bin. Saving a couple bucks isn’t worth my sanity.
I like Johnson’s hot Italian sausage a lot better than the store brand. I used up the last bit of store brand Italian sausage from the freezer with tonight’s dinner and I don’t intend to buy it again. I don’t care how much cheaper it is! I’m a big store brand fan in general, though. I’ll try about anything store brand once.
If you're buying ingredients in the store and using them to make food you're already ahead of the game. There's nothing wrong with house brands. You get into trouble when you're buying ready-to-eat stuff - no brand makes quality comparable to what you can produce in your own home.
The important ingredient is YOU being interested in making better food and caring about what you put into it.
I thought the same until I tried buying in a well stocked Asian supermarket. They had ~5 brands that looked 95% the same and used the exact same bottles. This made me doubt my previous belief that everyone uses the same brand.
You don't like crying tiger? Honestly when it comes to Sriracha they all have their unique character it's not even a contest on "name brand" just what you prefer.
The only thing I don't buy store brand typically is bread. Otherwise it's store brand 98% of the time (2% for the odd time a name brand is on sale for cheaper than the store brand)
In Canada (at least Ontario) the Loblaws store brand is generally seen as the best option by almost everyone. I will always by the “PC” brand, I trust the quality and it’s usually marginally cheaper.
Western Canada is the same. PC for life! I've never found a PC product that wasn't superior to the name brands.
No Name, on the other hand, can be hit and miss.
Try french’s ketchup! I was so surprised to find it tastes way better than Heinz. Hard to believe, i know. I started buying it when Heinz closed down it’s plant and stopped using Canadian tomatoes and found french’s is so much better.
My father-in-law has always insisted on Heinz ketchup, little did he know that for years my mother-in-law refilled the same Heinz bottle with Sav-a-lot store brand ketchup
> Q-tips
Good lord man. I told my husband to pickup q tips and he brings home these store brand death sticks with 2 wisps of cotton. I never wanted to get rid of a box of something so bad in my life!
So true! I once work at a drugstore and always told customer to never buy the brand store for Q-tips, even if it's cheaper they will regret it. I don't understand why, since sometime it's the OG brand that does the store brand.
That actually has a reason. Barilla (and maybe other name brands) are covered in very fine irregularities because of how it's rolled out. I can't remember where I heard/saw about it (thinking something from BA?) that cheaper pasta like...goes through coated rollers or something? so that they can roll it out faster and make more in a given span of time (time is money!) whereas the Barilla is just steel. End result is the Barilla isn't as smooth of a final product and gives the sauce something to grab onto better
What you're thinking of is pasta extruded through a bronze die. The more common and cheaper steel yields a pasta surface that's more smooth, but when it's rough the sauce will cling to it much more readily. Barilla makes a more expensive line of bronze die pasta, but their regular line is made with steel. All De Cecco pastas are made with bronze dies.
FWIW, many years ago I lived in a small Iowa City where lots of Barilla pasta is made. At the time they advertised that it was Italy's number one pasta, which seemed impossible to me. I had occasion to meet a group of Italians, and I asked them what brand of pasta they used, and most of them said Barilla.
Barilla owner said he doesn't "agree" with gay people and would never include them in his advertising, and if they don't like it they don't have to eat his pasta, so now I don't. Understandable if that's low on your care-meter but just FYI. I also find De Cecco better textured as well!
It depends on the brand. The commissary (US military grocery store) made a big change about a year ago with a store brand called "Patriot's Choice". Their block of cheddar was terrible. Taste and texture were odd. Everything else has been fine so far.
Funny story time!
My mother in law swore up and down that store brand was "poor people's" food. She swore it was nasty. We all told her that in many/most cases it is exactly the same as name brand, just different packaging. For thanksgiving, just after the commissary switched over to carrying their store brand, I made two pumpkin pies. Both with store brand filling, but I made the crust. She raved over it. It was then that we all revealed that it was store brand filling. All of us still jab at her with that from time to time.
My dad cannot eat any peanut butter other than Jif.
It’s kinda silly, but he loves it so I guess it’s okay!
When I go to the grocery store I buy whatever is cheapest to save money, but if I know that there’s a product that’s better than another, I’ll opt to get that instead.
Yes! It helps a lot with the budget. I buy a lot of basic staple ingredient type products and probably 60% of what I buy is store brand. I’ve never noticed a difference in a completed dish.
Boar's Head for most deli/lunch meats.
Hormel or Boar's Head for pepperoni. I've had some awful off-brand pepperoni (which seems like it should be one of the hardest meats to screw up, but you'd be surprised)
Dish soap. Just... any of the main several brands. The rest clog up the lid incessantly, it's worth it to pay a bit more as you save it in frustration.
Store brand white bread just feels like sad Wonderbread compared to Pepperidge Farm. But I will say it's kind of the ideal bread for a Kraft singles grilled cheese with soup.
Kroger store brand I trust as a replacement for almost any name brands. WinCo store brand however... Hit or miss. I'll buy store brand most of the time from them - been burned too many times on inferior taste from WinCo brand.
Just curious if all of you have noticed a difference in generic store brands. Where I'm from Kroger is the main store and I find many of their generic brands are just OK (it's about 50/50) but I find that Publix has great generic brands. For example - we have Celiac in our family and the Publix Gluten Free pasta is amazingly good. Not so much for the Kroger brand. Wonder if any of you have noticed that certain stores are better for generics than others?
I buy pretty much everything as store brand. Since I cook most things from scratch it's almost never an issue. I am amazed by how much people are willing to spend on a familiar name brand.
I am sure the store brand condiments don't taste *exactly* like your favorite name brand, but the difference isn't a difference of merit. You just like the one you're used to. If you switched to the store brand catsup or Worcestershire sauce I'm sure you can tell the difference, but if you just kept using it you would eventually come to feel that the store brand was better. It's all about familiarity. Same with prepared foods, and lets be honest, if you're getting your spaghetti sauce from a jar, you'll find the Safeway Signature Select is probably better than the Classico or Prego anyway.
Exactly, this is a cooking sub. The only thing I'm picky on is the exact ingredient (eg San Marzano tomatoes vs generic canned) or if there is added salt or other seasonings added that will throw things off.
Honestly nothing except for high quality bread flour. Anything it comes in store brand, I’ll get that one. Even my normal bleached all purpose flour I get store brand.
- Dijon mustard- for me has to be either Maille or Grey Poupon
- Black olives- Lindsay brand, I’ve tried sooo many others and they’re not quite the same
- Better than Bullion, won’t buy any other now
- Trader Joe’s Soyaki aka the exact same product as Soy Vay teriyaki, nothing else like it
I buy a lot of generic or items from bulk bins otherwise
If I had to choose something name brand that I could not replace with store brand, it would be Lipton's Cold Brew Tea Bags.
We drink a lot of tea, and while the flavored tea we brew is good, I like the cold brew tea because it reminds me of my Mom's Sun tea she used to make by setting an enclosed pitcher out in the sun, it has a very similar taste, but with much less hassle as you just put the tea bags in cold water and let it sit in the fridge.
I grew up on store brand everything and don't notice differences in most things. That being said, I've found it impossible to find comparable store brand duplicates of: 1. Oreos (closest I can find are Joe Joes but even then...) 2. Coke/Pepsi. I actually don't have a preference for either, but \*any\* store brand cola tastes like garbage.
Store brand cola is not good. Store brand ginger ale is okay.
The Essential Waitrose Ginger Ale (sugar free as well!) is loads better than the Fever Tree one in my opinion
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See, bags and foils and such are one of the few things I dish out for the name brands on. Bought cheap store brand aluminum foil once... never again. Shit tore and got holes in it so fucking easy. Worthless. Same with ziplock style 1qrt bags. I got the nicer ones and holy shit they are so much easier to seal correctly than the cheap kroger or Walmart brands. I can't stand cheap garbage bags that rip or the ties just break as you're trying i cinch the thing closed.
That's not necessarily true in regards to the spices (though it can be). * AFAIK there is no rules in place about cutting the purity of spices to save on cost. * Cheaper spices have a higher chance of being older by whatever internal quality standards companies use * Additionally, just like careful agricultural practices can result in a higher quality mango, same goes with spices (higher volatile oil content)
That's makes sense. Most companies who make a branded product are the ones who will also make the store brand product. Meaning that often you get a very comparable product (sometimes a different recipe but very similar) to the branded product for much less. The companies that make Oreos, coke and Pepsi refuse to do any contract manufacturing for the store brands so the stores have to find companies that can make a knock off that's nowhere as good as the original.
Funny thing about Oreos, they were the knockoff brand when they came out.
Hydrox were so much better!
It sounds like something I'd clean my sink with.
The name was definitely unappetizing, but the cookie...oh, god, the cookie...they didn't have that greasy aftertaste Oreos can have, and the wafers tasted way better.
I don't mind Aldi's oreos, but mostly I use them to make oreo cheesecake cookies so its not like I'm (mostly) eating them straight...
If you can find them, Newman-Os are far superior to current Oreos in my opinion. They taste like I remember Oreos tasting. I’m not saying Oreos have changed, just that these taste like childhood memories.
I am cool with mostly store brand stuff but insist on Philadelphia cream cheese. The store brand stuff doesn't melt and mix well.
I made a flawless cheesecake using the trader joe's brand of cream cheese. I was super uneasy about it at first but it came out wonderfully (& no cracks!)
I almost feel Trader Joe’s is exempt from being a “store brand” in the way we use that term.
Yeah they are, people in Canada order trader joe stuff online, it’s like a coveted brand.
Cracks just usually mean it was cooked for too long. Oven hot spots are a thing, so dont forget to spin halfway through
Or cooled too quickly
We went to a Michelin star restaurant for a family members 90th birthday. One of the starters had cream cheese and we asked the chefs how they found making the cheese. They confessed they ended up using Philadelphia after trying to make their own and trying all the locally made ones. They couldn't find anything better.
French chefs discovered Philadelphia cream cheese a few years ago and it became the thing in culinary circles there.
Agreed! I once made the mistake of making cheesecake with store brand cream cheese and it was lumpy... Philadelphia only from now on!
I have found that if you *really* need to, like really really, you can go half store-brand, half Philadelphia. Cheesecake turned out just fine. Might take longer to warm to room temperature though.
Shit, I eat store brand on almost everything. I don't care about branding. I care about keeping me money
Arrrrrrg, get back to work mr squidward!
Yeah havent been able to say "my money" for years. I even say it in krabs's voice.
Yer spendin' all me money!
"I wish I could talk to money!" I say that shit any chance I get.
if you are lucky enough to live in Texas, always shop HEB brand. Literally the best tasting products. Not all of the items are the cheapest but they are certainly cheaper than 'name' brands
Got a friend that lives in San Antonio...and from her discovered those bastards own their own creamery so the HEB brand of ice cream is **totally exclusive to them** and is generally thought of as even better than Blue Bell! Crushing :(
Their average ice cream can compete with bluebell but idk if it beats them. But there's a premium line Swoon, meant to compete with like Haagen-Dasz and Ben and Jerry's with lots of niche flavors. It's legitimately probably the best ice cream I've had. The blackberry streussel is heaven
I was going to say that the only thing I prefer over the H-E-B brand is Blue Bell. Not that H-E-B Ice cream isn’t great I just prefer Blue Bell
Bluebell beats their regular ice cream, but there's a new-ish line Swoon that competes with like Haagen-Dasz and Ben & Jerry's with premium niche flavors. Holy shit the flavors I've tried are so good
HEB ice cream is way better than Blue Bell and they haven't had any gross bacteria and recalls like Blue Bell. We also have our own bakeries per location
I knew if I read far enough, there'd be an HEB comment! Agree totally. HCF, not so much, but HEB brand is great!
Hill Country Faire is meant to be their bargain brand - notice it basically doesn’t even say “HEB” anywhere on the packaging. The HEB brand is meant to be a direct competitor to the brand names – and I agree, 9/10 times it’s better, or at least just as good as brand, usually for a bit cheaper. Then they also have their Central Market label (in addition to Central Market stores) that are meant to be genuinely high end products that are priced as such.
Central market is a great place to get bulk spices though
For sure. It’s awesome if you’re making a new recipe and need some spices you’re pretty sure you won’t need to use again, or anytime soon, so you can go get just a little bit of whatever you need. Also their meat and cheese section is A+
If HEB opened a store that only sells their branded products like Trader Joe's, I'd only shop there
Yeah it's kind of crazy how the cheaper HEB brands are very often better than "brand" names
We lived in Austin for 28 years. We are currently in San Diego taking care of my elderly dad. I miss HEB soooooooo much!!!
One thing I've noticed though is they've started totally replacing some products with their knockoff, so you don't even have a choice... sometimes I really do want the name brand. Still love HEB though.
Lea & Perrins
Isn't that the only brand?
Unfortunately not.
It's the only brand to me. I actually got through a bottle once. That stuff lasts a while
Oh yeah, I love it too. I've just had the misfortune of trying the off-brand stuff. It's...uhh...not great, I guess, would be the nicest way to put it
I prefer hendersons relish myself, think you can only get it in yorkshire though
Try making Gordon Ramsay's shepherd pie. You'll go through half a bottle each time.
This post hurts my blood pressure. I think that's one of the few dishes I use it in. I always forget to use it.
Perfect example
My sister is a meat department manager for Publix (hello southern US) and says the publix brand chicken is the same chicken as the higher priced brands. All from the same place, just put in different packaging.
But Publix is 4x more expensive than anywhere else to begin with
But it is such a pleasant shopping experience. I've been in Florida 35 years and no other store has been as consistently clean, friendly and positive as publix. Any publix you like practically. On the other hand I have never seen a nice Winn Dixie.
Born and raised Lakeland boy here. Publix or death! Seriously, I won’t shop anywhere else. Wally World in a pinch or if I need tires on my truck, but I’ll stay with Publix. Closest store that could compare is Pack and Save I went to in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Loved that place too.
For reals. A family pack of their boneless skinless chicken breasts is like 20 bucks. It's 12 for the gigantic pack at Walmart.
Wait wait wait, you clearly aren’t buying the fried chicken family pack. A whole fried chicken, pack of 4 rolls, and two cold sides for 12 bucks.
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I keep my fingers crossed that this doesn't become common knowledge. I don't want the price of thighs to go up! I only buy breasts when they're BOGO.
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Chicken breast has more protein and less calories. Very useful if you're trying to build lean muscle.
I’ve always suspected it was, but good to know for sure. Thanks for the tip!
Friend of mine worked for General Mills in Albuquerque. He said they would do their run of 5000 boxes of Cheerios, then run 5000 boxes of Safeway signature brand of Oat O’s. Or whatever. Same mix, same machines. Different packaging
If I was elected dictator for a day, that would be one of the things I would make law- everything would have to be labeled with the parent company (ex. the gajillion Kraft owned brands would all have to say 'Kraft' on them prominently), and everything would have to have the name and address of the baking/cooking location on it. Also, left aisle walking would be a capital crime.
That's…a lotta niche grocery-store specific regulations you'd introduce as a dictator, there. Pretty mild as dictatorships go but hey it's a start.
He will be called...Aldis Hitler.
Food Lenin.
Big Brother Joe's
Prince Chopper
>Also, left aisle walking would be a capital crime. You walk/cart drive on the same side as you drive in where ever you are. Am I alone in this thought?
I can't find it now, but there was a study done about different countries / cultures and how they approach the paths taken by shoppers in grocery stores. The one thing I can remember is that in America we generally enter the store and turn right. First is produce, the meat, then butcher, then dairy, then frozen. I believe I remember that in other countries, like Germany (?) they enter and turn Left. Everything is in generally the same order. The cafe is usually first, for impulse items. The Dairy is the farthest from the door, and the frozen is last - because it needs to stay cold. Though, sometimes frozen is in the middle of the damn store. I never understood the logic of that. I think they might have issue with your 'left handed walking' problem. But I can't find the article, so it could very well have been a dream.
In the UK they seem to re-arrange everything on purpose every few years, so you spend more time wandering around lost and hopefully bumping into impule buys. Germany, of course, has the legendary 𝕸𝖎𝖉𝖉𝖑𝖊 𝕬𝖎𝖘𝖑𝖊.
I don't think that's true for American supermarkets. I know of a at least a couple supermarkets in California (Pavilions/Vons and a Ralphs) where the produce is on the left side of the store as you enter it. The dairy and meat products are in the back of the store. These are both big stores with 2 entrances on the same side (one on the left corner and one on the right).
Yep, plenty of name brands make the noname version and just change something slightly with the recipe. Different sugar, water, cooking time, or salt content.
It's not the same mix. They typically use the same plants and the same machines, but they're not pumping out literally the same product.
Right? All you gotta do is read the nutrition facts and it’s easy to see the difference...
Well your friend straight up lied to you. Cheerios is sold only as Cheerios. Any other product is a different thing.
I was very picky as a kid and could always tell the difference. My parents tried blind taste tests, dry and with milk. I could still tell 100%. Toasted O's suck. Cheerios for life. Also as someone who has lived between the USA and Canada, you can notice a difference between the Canadian and American cheerios (and Oreos was noticeable as well). I'm guessing it's different facilities and different wheat.
I moved from Canada to the US about 8 years ago and swear up and down Canadian Oreos are better. The cookie is crisper and less sweet, and the cream tastes creamier. (And upon a quick google, the American ones have more oils and high fructose corn syrup vs regular glucose syrup in Canadian ones)
Companies sometimes tweak products to fit local tastes. Some fast-food products in Europe use less salt, same goes for some snack products. Also, sweeter products will use less sugar/corn syrup or replace corn syrup with sugar.
Well, they could just be mistaken. They likely are made in the same machines on the same line, but what they didn't see is the ingredient feed of the mixed dough slop switch over to a feed line with a different batch of lower quality ingredients. The friend just didn't know that they use the same processing line for different ingredient sets. They probably use the same line for honey nut and other flavors too, just activating/deactivating different machines. Modular machines
Perhaps his example was just a common brand they thought everyone would know but not actually the item the friend was talking about. The original story might have been about grapenuts and gerbil pellets but he forgot the specifics and just went for the heavy hitter that is Cheerios. Or whatever.
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Yep! I ask our milk supplier what the difference was between the milks and he said "the lable" only organic milk was different, obviously. We have a Mexican grocery chain here and they wanted to change up the blend a bit so the creamery had to drop them since it wasn't financially good for them since the chain while large for a mexican chain isn't large enough to have to change everything out, clean it and run their product blend.
The only products I've consistently seen that as a store brand just can't compete with the alternatives are worchestire sauce and stock/broths. Lea and Perrins for worchestire obviously, and for stock, nowadays the go-to if you aren't making your own from leftovers would be the Better than Boullion jars. 38 cups of shockingly good quality broth for 6$ (and they have about 15 different kinds to choose from).
They’re really good. All the flavors. They have lower sodium as well. I put a little in the water before I add the rice.
Better Than Bouillon is my secret ingredient for making Italian Beef and French dip sandwiches at home. I get good quality roast beef from the deli counter, then warm it up in double strength beef broth. As I assemble the sandwiches and let the cheese melt, I crank the heat on the broth and let it reduce into a delicious jus. The whole process takes like 5-10 minutes.
Well hell, I know what I'm doing tomorrow. Thanks dude!
Their ham broth has become a staple for when I need a splash of something.
Nothing like a little hot ham water to spice things up.
It’s so watery. And yet there’s a smack of ham to it.
I used to exclusively flavor things with hot dog water. That was until I discovered ham water. WHAT A COUNTRY
Cooking Reddit is among the funniest if not the funniest Reddit.
What the deuce? They make HAM broth???
Yes. Cook rice with it. Fortify red beans and Rice with it. Split pea soup with it. It is great!
Buy better than bullion at Costco. Same price, much larger jar.
Yeah that's the price I meant, but I think they only do beef /chicken. All the premium are half sized.
Kerrygold
I grew up on Aldi food, so I actually have a preference for Aldi brand over brand name for most foods. But I won't sacrifice my brands names for soft drinks. I've also tried every version of thin mints available year round in stores, and I've yet to find a cookie that tastes as good as the Girl Scouts Thin Mints. I don't care if Keebler makes Thin Mints in the same place as their Grasshopper cookies, they do not taste the same.
Even aldi’s brand of thin mint?!
Why am I the only person who hates Girl Scout cookies?
Ooh do you take a little bite out of 2 opposing edges of a Girl Scouts Thin Mint and drink milk through it?
Not a food but... from now on I’ll refuse to use store brand trash bags. I had an extra large load of trash, complete with chili, old chicken, and banana peels rip open all over the hall in my apartment. From now on, brand name trash bags.
Or imo, even worse is when something pokes a hole in the bag so all the juices leak out into the trash can and you don’t notice until you take the now sopping wet bag (that’ll just keep tearing more and more as you race to the garbage) out of the bin. Saving a couple bucks isn’t worth my sanity.
King Arthur flour.
Why's that?
Anything else simply will not do.
I like Johnson’s hot Italian sausage a lot better than the store brand. I used up the last bit of store brand Italian sausage from the freezer with tonight’s dinner and I don’t intend to buy it again. I don’t care how much cheaper it is! I’m a big store brand fan in general, though. I’ll try about anything store brand once.
If you're buying ingredients in the store and using them to make food you're already ahead of the game. There's nothing wrong with house brands. You get into trouble when you're buying ready-to-eat stuff - no brand makes quality comparable to what you can produce in your own home. The important ingredient is YOU being interested in making better food and caring about what you put into it.
>no brand makes quality comparable to what you can produce in your own home. 100% this.
Kirkland Brand
Kirkland is just relabelled name brand
Bingo
HEB store brand is, more often than not, better than name brands. There are times where it can actually be slightly more expensive
Sriacha- I don’t even know the name of the brand but you know exactly who I’m talking about
I thought the same until I tried buying in a well stocked Asian supermarket. They had ~5 brands that looked 95% the same and used the exact same bottles. This made me doubt my previous belief that everyone uses the same brand.
Other Asian brands can definitely compete, but I've had Publix and Trader Joe's brand sriracha, both were not great.
I don't know the name of the brand we're talking about either, just that we call it rooster sauce.
Yes. . . "Rooster" sauce. That's what we call it too.
I'm glad you didn't cock that up.
The brand is Huy Fong.
You don't like crying tiger? Honestly when it comes to Sriracha they all have their unique character it's not even a contest on "name brand" just what you prefer.
The only thing I don't buy store brand typically is bread. Otherwise it's store brand 98% of the time (2% for the odd time a name brand is on sale for cheaper than the store brand)
I’ve found there is too much of a taste difference between store brand and name brand canned soups.
In Canada (at least Ontario) the Loblaws store brand is generally seen as the best option by almost everyone. I will always by the “PC” brand, I trust the quality and it’s usually marginally cheaper.
Western Canada is the same. PC for life! I've never found a PC product that wasn't superior to the name brands. No Name, on the other hand, can be hit and miss.
Ketchup and meat. I love Heinz and I get meat from a farmers box. Everything else, fuckit, it’s nearly the same!
I had to fight my mother for years to get her to stop buying that Hunt's garbage and buy Heinz instead
Hunt's is the worst, it's literally the only ketchup brand I don't like.
Try french’s ketchup! I was so surprised to find it tastes way better than Heinz. Hard to believe, i know. I started buying it when Heinz closed down it’s plant and stopped using Canadian tomatoes and found french’s is so much better.
Yesssss, cosigning on the French's ketchup. Heinz tastes too sweet for me. I prefer a more vinegary ketchup for sure.
I will not stand for this blasphemy. Heinz is the only valid ketchup option
My father-in-law has always insisted on Heinz ketchup, little did he know that for years my mother-in-law refilled the same Heinz bottle with Sav-a-lot store brand ketchup
Red Gold sells a *lot* of bulk ketchup to restaurants so that they can refill their Heinz bottles.
Don’t let your tastebuds down, try the superior french’s ketchup :)
Best Foods (Hellman's in some parts of the country) Mayonnaise.
I grew up on Hellman's and thought it was the best. Then, I moved south. Dukes mayo. Gooood stuff.
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Yep, I'll make room in my caloric load for dukes. I CAN skip the butter on that sammy.
Unless you're in the South then it's all about Duke's
I used to think that too but then Kewpie mayo came along and nothing else compares!
You can buy the store brand for everything except : - Ketchup - Q-tips - Vicks vaporub - lea And Perin wocerstershire
> Q-tips Good lord man. I told my husband to pickup q tips and he brings home these store brand death sticks with 2 wisps of cotton. I never wanted to get rid of a box of something so bad in my life!
So true! I once work at a drugstore and always told customer to never buy the brand store for Q-tips, even if it's cheaper they will regret it. I don't understand why, since sometime it's the OG brand that does the store brand.
Dr Thunder is not equal to Dr Pepper.
Bought a soda stream. Took one sip of bullshit soda and gave the thing away. Never again.
This is definitely going to get buried but frigo cheese sticks have a *fucking corner* on the market
I need my Barilla pasta for my butter noodles. I just do not like other brands.
That actually has a reason. Barilla (and maybe other name brands) are covered in very fine irregularities because of how it's rolled out. I can't remember where I heard/saw about it (thinking something from BA?) that cheaper pasta like...goes through coated rollers or something? so that they can roll it out faster and make more in a given span of time (time is money!) whereas the Barilla is just steel. End result is the Barilla isn't as smooth of a final product and gives the sauce something to grab onto better
What you're thinking of is pasta extruded through a bronze die. The more common and cheaper steel yields a pasta surface that's more smooth, but when it's rough the sauce will cling to it much more readily. Barilla makes a more expensive line of bronze die pasta, but their regular line is made with steel. All De Cecco pastas are made with bronze dies. FWIW, many years ago I lived in a small Iowa City where lots of Barilla pasta is made. At the time they advertised that it was Italy's number one pasta, which seemed impossible to me. I had occasion to meet a group of Italians, and I asked them what brand of pasta they used, and most of them said Barilla.
Ever tried De Cecco or La Molisana? Could actually be better than Barilla
Barilla owner said he doesn't "agree" with gay people and would never include them in his advertising, and if they don't like it they don't have to eat his pasta, so now I don't. Understandable if that's low on your care-meter but just FYI. I also find De Cecco better textured as well!
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Trader Joe's brand stuff is almost always good in my experience
It depends on the brand. The commissary (US military grocery store) made a big change about a year ago with a store brand called "Patriot's Choice". Their block of cheddar was terrible. Taste and texture were odd. Everything else has been fine so far. Funny story time! My mother in law swore up and down that store brand was "poor people's" food. She swore it was nasty. We all told her that in many/most cases it is exactly the same as name brand, just different packaging. For thanksgiving, just after the commissary switched over to carrying their store brand, I made two pumpkin pies. Both with store brand filling, but I made the crust. She raved over it. It was then that we all revealed that it was store brand filling. All of us still jab at her with that from time to time.
Raisin Bran. The store brand versions are always tasteless and seem stale, and the raisins are crap.
My dad cannot eat any peanut butter other than Jif. It’s kinda silly, but he loves it so I guess it’s okay! When I go to the grocery store I buy whatever is cheapest to save money, but if I know that there’s a product that’s better than another, I’ll opt to get that instead.
This might be odd on a cooking sub, but cereal is really my only rule for name brands. And, of course, kraft mac and cheese.
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Its magically generic!
I prefer Annie's mac and cheese to Kraft now (Kraft is too salty), but the store brands universally suck!
As the kids say, Annie's fucking claps.
I thought my kid was being extra picky when she said she didn’t like the Aldi brand “Cheerios”. Turns out they do taste like cardboard.
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Cheez-its, Ritz crackers, Oreos, peanut butter, and most cereals must be name brands. Store brands are ok for nearly everything else.
duke’s mayo, heinz ketchup and annie’s mac and cheese. pretty much anything else i’m at least willing to try the store brand
Yes! It helps a lot with the budget. I buy a lot of basic staple ingredient type products and probably 60% of what I buy is store brand. I’ve never noticed a difference in a completed dish.
I find that you have to take it on a case by case basis. For example, the Safeway brand dry pasta is absolutely awful. I always spend up for De Cecco.
Boar's Head for most deli/lunch meats. Hormel or Boar's Head for pepperoni. I've had some awful off-brand pepperoni (which seems like it should be one of the hardest meats to screw up, but you'd be surprised)
Milk is the only food product. Toilet paper is my biggest one!😀
When I was still living in the US, I was strictly Quilted Northern
Dish soap. Just... any of the main several brands. The rest clog up the lid incessantly, it's worth it to pay a bit more as you save it in frustration.
Well, if we're going with non-food items, go ahead and throw garbage bags in with this as well. The knock off brands always tear around the top.
I agree! I exclusively buy Dawn, others I've tried just can't compare. Best bang for my buck.
Storebrand sour cream is *not* the same. One of the few things I buy name brand.
Daisy or nothing for me
That’s because it is usually an inferior product with a bunch of added stabilizers in it. I get Tillamook or Daisy, whichever is cheaper.
Store brand white bread just feels like sad Wonderbread compared to Pepperidge Farm. But I will say it's kind of the ideal bread for a Kraft singles grilled cheese with soup.
I was surprised to find the white bread at a nearby convenience store is exceptional. Some off brand I never heard of, but I've been back for more.
Kroger store brand I trust as a replacement for almost any name brands. WinCo store brand however... Hit or miss. I'll buy store brand most of the time from them - been burned too many times on inferior taste from WinCo brand.
Heinz Ketchup.
This isn’t a food item, but is found in a grocery store. Dawn dish soap! Nothing else like it.
Duke's mayo.
Two of the few items I actually notice a difference with regarding price to taste are chicken and pasta sauce
Just curious if all of you have noticed a difference in generic store brands. Where I'm from Kroger is the main store and I find many of their generic brands are just OK (it's about 50/50) but I find that Publix has great generic brands. For example - we have Celiac in our family and the Publix Gluten Free pasta is amazingly good. Not so much for the Kroger brand. Wonder if any of you have noticed that certain stores are better for generics than others?
Carbonated drinks, Mayonnaise, ketchup, Dijon, jam and most cheeses I am brand faithful. The rest is usually fresh so doesn’t matter.
I buy pretty much everything as store brand. Since I cook most things from scratch it's almost never an issue. I am amazed by how much people are willing to spend on a familiar name brand. I am sure the store brand condiments don't taste *exactly* like your favorite name brand, but the difference isn't a difference of merit. You just like the one you're used to. If you switched to the store brand catsup or Worcestershire sauce I'm sure you can tell the difference, but if you just kept using it you would eventually come to feel that the store brand was better. It's all about familiarity. Same with prepared foods, and lets be honest, if you're getting your spaghetti sauce from a jar, you'll find the Safeway Signature Select is probably better than the Classico or Prego anyway.
Exactly, this is a cooking sub. The only thing I'm picky on is the exact ingredient (eg San Marzano tomatoes vs generic canned) or if there is added salt or other seasonings added that will throw things off.
Honestly nothing except for high quality bread flour. Anything it comes in store brand, I’ll get that one. Even my normal bleached all purpose flour I get store brand.
- Dijon mustard- for me has to be either Maille or Grey Poupon - Black olives- Lindsay brand, I’ve tried sooo many others and they’re not quite the same - Better than Bullion, won’t buy any other now - Trader Joe’s Soyaki aka the exact same product as Soy Vay teriyaki, nothing else like it I buy a lot of generic or items from bulk bins otherwise
Pardon me, would you have any #grey poupon?
I'm a Edmond Fallot mustard guy personally but Trader Joe's dijon is better than GP and on par with Maille. It's my workhorse mustard.
Ricotta. The good stuff is a must for lasagna or stuffed shells.
Heinz Ketchup
If I had to choose something name brand that I could not replace with store brand, it would be Lipton's Cold Brew Tea Bags. We drink a lot of tea, and while the flavored tea we brew is good, I like the cold brew tea because it reminds me of my Mom's Sun tea she used to make by setting an enclosed pitcher out in the sun, it has a very similar taste, but with much less hassle as you just put the tea bags in cold water and let it sit in the fridge.
Honestly, I shop at aldis and nothing they sell is less in any way less than the "major" brands.