Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Brand Name vs. Generic

Any one who is frugal minded has tried store brands or generic brands. I found an article which compares Name Brands against Generic or Store Brands.
Article by http://www.walletpop.com/

Brand Name Sandwich Cookies
Brand: Double Stuf Oreos
Price: $4.79
Size: 1 lb. 2 oz.
Review: Moist, chocolatey and delicious

Generic Sandwich Cookies
Brand: Kroger Double-Filled Kid O’s Cookies
Price: $2.39
Review: Passable, but harder and not as much chocolate flavor.
Verdict: Kroger's are OK, if you don't have a real Oreo sitting next to the Kroger cookie. Once you do, however, you'll see how much more moist and chocolatey the real Oreo is.

Brand Name Wheat Crackers
Brand: Wheat Thins
Price: $4.29
Size: 10 oz
Review: Nice salty, wheat flavor and satisfying crunch.

Generic Wheat Crackers
Generic: Kroger Wheat Crisps
Price: $1.24
Size: 10 oz.
Review: Taste just like Wheat Thins, but contain less salt.
Verdict: Kroger's crisps are virtually indistinguishable from Wheat Thins. Both have no trans fat or cholesterol. Wheat Thins have two and half times as much salt as the Kroger crackers. Maybe Wheat Thins are a little more crispy, but certainly not $3 worth of crispy.

Brand Name Vegetable Soup
Brand: Muir Glen Organic Garden Vegetable Soup
Price: $3.69
Size: 19 oz.
Review: Plentiful vegetables and no greasy orange spill on top makes this canned soup stand out.

Generic Vegetable Soup
Generic: Whole Foods 365 Organic Vegetable Soup
Price: $1.69
Size: 14.5 oz.
Review: Virtually the same as brand name, but carrots were a little smaller.
Verdict: Tie -- and tie goes to the store brand because it's cheaper. The soups seemed just about identical. The carrots in the Muir Glen were slightly bigger, but they both had the same generous amounts of green beans, peas, carrots, celery and potato. Neither had that fluorescent orange oil spill on top.

Brand Name Lime Tortilla Chips
Brand: Tostitos Restaurant Style with a Hint of Lime Tortilla Chips
Price: $3.69
Size: 13 oz.
Review: Tostitos is a light, crispy chip with a delicious and addictive lime taste.


Generic: Whole Foods 365 Organic White Corn Tortilla Chips Cilantro & Lime
Price: $2.79
Size: 13 oz.
Review: Heavy, bland and lacking in lime.
Verdict: Tostitos blows the generic away. The Whole Foods chip is so heavy I had to recheck the bag to see I didn’t inadvertently buy a baked chip. I couldn't really taste any lime. I know they face added pressure for meeting organic standards, but this kind of bland fare gives organics a bad name.

Brand Name Granola
Brand: Nature's Path Organic PomegranPlus Granola with Cherries
Price: $4.39
Review: I could barely find the cherries, let alone detect any pomegranate essence, in Nature's Path cereal.

Generic Granola
Generic: Whole Foods 365 Organic Fruit & Nut Granola
Price: $3.49
Review: Lots of tasty fruits and nuts.
Verdict: The Whole Foods cereal is actually better. It had fruit (mainly just raisins but also cranberries) and nuts (both pecans and almonds!) that you could easily spot and taste.

Do you have a favorite store brand or generic brand? Tell us about it!!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always use generic, if possible.
I hear all of these stories of people using coupons. To me, that doesn't even sound worth the hassle. Most of the time, I save more by NOT using coupons.

Anonymous said...

Generic is great! I love the way you compared them! I still have not found a generic oreo that is the same as or better than the oreo.
My first time to your blog! Love it!

Anonymous said...

That was a neat post ! I loved how you had the comparisons there. It is true that some no-name products are NOT worth it. But alot are. [0= I have to admit I am out of the loop when it comes to a lot of pre packaged foods. We just use sooooo little. But I love hearing comparisons so if I do than I know what to look for. We don't have a Kroger up here.
]0=

Thank you sooooooo much for joining in on the fun with us in our Tightwad Journey.

Blessings in Him<><
-Mary

Unknown said...

I am always trying the store brand. Many times the differences are so slight it is worth the money you save. We recently started purchasing Meijer brand select a size paper towels, cheaper and just as good as Bounty!

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