Most of them? Generics are frequently the same thing from the same manufacturer with cheaper packaging and no/very little marketing. There are very few things I've ever tried that were noticeably better in the name brand.
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I was going to say everything. I mean its not everything but if you don't know its always best to give them a try if the price difference is good and if you don't like it then thats one of the few things not to get. Especially now. generics used to be pretty meh but man now they are sometimes better. Oh man dominicks had this store brand chunky peanut butter that I have not been able to find an equal to since they closed.
Sometimes store brands/generics have lower meat content for example, if you buy, say, meat balls or fish products. While other products are literally the same just with another logo. Always check the ingredients (at least in my country they give a lot of information)
oh I always compare the ingredients just like price per unit. Im one of those folks who forgets to mention things like this so thanks.
As long as your not a former roommate of mine. He would calculate price per slice of bread and buy the cheapest. He would do this for everything and would take hours shopping...
Im not that bad but I do sorta consider it a puzzle game. Sorta a "fun" math activity to keep my brain active like doing suduko. Honestly I don't see a point at price per slice as you would just get really thinly sliced bread. Should be per ounce. Honestly bread is one of those things I spring for the xspenciv stuff in the bakery section or I will do one of the fancy brownberry type with oats and nuts or potato.
Any drugs. If you're not familiar with medications, just look at the active ingredients. They're most likely the same or very similar dosages.
Also, sleep aids are usually just diphenhydramine, aka Benadryl.
I'm not a doctor or a pharmacist. But just because it has the same ingredients doesn't mean it is the same. The way the medication is packaged, what fillers it has, etc. may have an impact on the way it works. Anecdotally I've heard of people having a different reaction to namebrand and generic because of some of these factors.
Good point, and worth keeping in mind! At the same time, the generics are often so much cheaper it's worth a try. I take Claratin daily for allergies and the Costco version is literally 10% the cost of name brand. It's astounding how much of a markup basic OTC drugs can have.
Yeah there are less controls around generic prescription drugs than their name brand counterparts.
The article goes into how oversight over generic drugs is really low.
Potato.
I told Latvian cousin to buy store brand potato. He laugh, I laugh. There is no store.
Is this like a Borat joke? Why Latvia? Latvia isn't underdeveloped or something.
Why Latvia? Is Joke?
No comrade, is meme.
Latvian no like meme, cannot eat.
Why buy potato with name?
Potato already have name: Potato.
I once buy brand name potato.
I kid, I am poor and store no have potato.
Really as long as they are labeled correctly and not like dairy treat vs ice cream it's probably fine
labeled correctly and not like dairy treat vs ice cream
I mean, that is labeled correctly...
Something to do with milk fat percentages. And since it's (relatively) expensive, once you go cheap enough they stop using it and legally can't call it ice cream. There's not enough cream to meet the legal definition
Yeah, for me just about any consumable I buy store brand for. They're pretty much equal the name brand (if not sometimes better). There are some exceptions, but as long as they're the same product, they're probably produced in the same factory even.
The store by me has their own brand of pop-tart that's got more icing and filling as well as being half the cost. They don't have as many flavors, but they're not shrinkflated to the point of being a sad cookie. Shout out to Meijer toaster pastries.
I'd say the other way around. The store brand version has nearly always been fine, in my experience. I'd instead use the store brand and make a list of cases where the store brand isn't okay. At least in my experience, it's pretty limited. What I can recall having bad experiences with, off-the-cuff:
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Soup. I have had some pretty disappointing store brand canned soups.
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Things with motors, like small kitchen appliances, blenders and the like. I've had a bunch of generic ones of those fail before.
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Sodas. These aren't exactly the same. Some people particularly prefer the taste of one root beer or whatever, and it might be that they prefer a name brand. That being said, there are also people who prefer store brands, so...shrugs
There are also a few cases where I've run into a particular brand that doesn't have a store clone, and where I really like the name-brand product.
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Pretzels. I particularly like Dot's. I haven't seen a store brand clone of Dot's.
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Sardines. Bit of a niche, but I once went on some website with some guy that was absolutely rabid about sardines, reviewed them, wrote huge amounts about them. My dad always liked eating canned sardines on crackers. Tried a couple different brands, and yeah, there is a difference, but the big one is that stores in the US don't normally have heavily-smoked sardines (well, okay, sprats) in oil. I started eating Latvian "Riga Gold" sprats in oil, and they're just amazing. I don't like a lot of foods I've tried from Eastern Europe, but man, they hit it out of the ballpark on that. I don't think that we have a US-based comparable manufacturer.
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Red Windsor cheese. It's not all that fancy, just cheddar with some port wine marbled in, but I really like the taste. Same thing on this -- I don't think that there are any companies in the US that make the stuff, so it's name brand or nothing.
If someone did clone any of the last three, though, I'd give 'em a try.
I'll piggyback on your comment with Worcestershire sauce.
Lea & Perrins make the original Worcestershire sauce, they also have never disclosed the full recipe, just the ingredients.
There are store brands and even Heinz makes a sauce. None of them are as good as the original.
Recently I've been buying the grocery store brand cereals. They're half the price and I honestly find them tastier and made with better ingredients. Kellogg's quality has gone down the drain and it's really noticeable when you switch over.
Personally I don't care about brand names but about quality, as long as it's not shit just buy the cheaper options. Mostly the brand stuff isn't worth it, at least here in Czech republic but here's whole different problem with us getting all the shittiest products from EU.
I guess you need to define "fine". Most things are fine to buy but some name brand items are, in my opinion, worth spending more on.
For example, for me it's certain condiments and spices. Red pepper flakes by a name brand such as McCormick just taste better and have a more potent flavor. Buying a generic brand is just "fine" - it gives a good kick to food - but it doesn't nearly taste the same or is as flavorful as the name brand. In my opinion!
Lol, just a FYI about McCormick they also produce the generic spices on the exact same lines with the exact same spices as their own brand.
I worked on the ground pepper line, the ONLY difference between McCormick and the black white 4oz cans was the amount that was considered "acceptable". Brand name was kicked off it was under filled below 3.75 while generic cans could be 3.5 oz and still considered acceptable.
Honestly, i've always approached this question the reverse of how it's posed here. Pretty much every store brand whatever is just fine.
But, picking a few fancier versions of things as exceptions is nice sometimes.
Lately for me, Kingdom aged organic cheddar and Kerrygold butter have been my indulgences. I don't eat much dairy, so they last me a long time. They're loaded with flavor. And, it's just nice to have a few things that feel special.
In Canada, No Name Brand. All the products are in non eye-catching packaging, and are quite cheap. They are quite popular with the college and university housing crowds.
Breakfast cereal 100%
I'd go out of my way to buy Malt-o-Meal cereals even if they weren't cheaper. Marshmallow Mateys 4 Lyfe!
Most things but I just wouldn’t buy processed food branded or unbranded.
Store brand frozen vegetables and canned vegetables are fine, however I've found that there's a huge difference in quality where canned beans are concerned. Generic refried beans are just awful, as are generic baked beans.
I find many of my store brand (Publix) products are as good or better than the leading brands. Not all, but many.
But if you need a specific one, I'd say yellow mustard.
Publix is employee owned too, so I would rather buy their brand then others personally.
Frozen vegetables. They all grew out of the same earth, possibly even at the same farm. The only difference is the packaging.
Hard to say. Gotta check the labels because I've noticed a lot of the store brand items (especially at Walmart) have known carcinogens in the ingredients.
Noodles. Premade sauce in jars, that's a different story, but the noodles themselves ... I simply can't taste any difference, so why should I pay five times as much for the same amount of noodles?
Same with rice. I usually buy a huge bag of no-name rice from a nearby overseas market every couple of months, which is a lot cheaper than buying the same amount of rice in small bags, and doubly so if said rice is a brand name grain.
I disagree, there is a huge difference for pasta. People tend to buy Barilla here which is both expensive and bad. There are other brands which are much better and sometimes even cheaper (e.g. Rummo).
But then again I find store bought sauces pretty uninspiring so it probably doesn't matter which pasta you use for those. It really matters for making pasta dishes which rely using the starchy pasta water for creating a sauce (like carbonara).