Which grocery store generic products are very good, and which products do you have to have the name brand?

Question

I shop Kroger and their Deli meats are just as good as Sara Lee or Boar's Head in my opinion. Also cheese and yogurt are good as well.

Answer 1

I have bought more house brand generics latley. The 2 things I realized I paid premium prices for were total cereal (no one else has all the 100% vitamins in it) and fresh produce.

Bread, crackers, toilet paper, keenex, cleaners, basic over the counter medications are all ok as house / store brand generics.

Also see below a post about the tricks grocery stores use to get you to spend more money.

Answer 2

Someone told me once that the FDA monitors generics for food and drug items, so they HAVE to be just as good as the name brands (or at least comparable.) On the other hand, things like cleaning supplies and toiletries are under less scrutiny and can basically be crap-in-a-bottle. In my experience, this has been a good rule of thumb, because I tend to find that most generic food items and things like aspirin, decongestants, etc. tend to be almost indistinguishable from the name brands. On the other hand, I find a big difference in the quality of generic dish detergent, cleaning wipes, toilet paper, etc. from the name brands.

I do agree with the person above who mentioned Heinz Ketchup, however. Even the other name brands can't compare to Heinz ketchup. I won't use anything else. But I think it's more a matter of liking their particular formula rather than a being a matter of quality.

Answer 3

At Trader Joe's, almost everything is their brand and is excellent. At almost any store, I'll buy the generic salt, seltzer water, canned and frozen veggies and 100% juices. I think the Safeway Select brand is excellent, and both Safeway and Giant now have their own organic line of products that is good. And I agree on cheese, milk and deli meat. Many "bagged" cereals are also just as good as brand items.

Answer 4

Hello:

I know that this may sound really silly,but my family and I eat quite a bit of the Wal-Mart Great Value store brand of foods. We eat alot of their pot pies,canned veggies,fruits,etc..

The only thing that I REFUSE TO GO GENERIC ON IS:

Kraft cheese slices

Jif Peanut Butter

Miracle Whip

Heinz Ketchup

French's Mustard

Vlasic Dill Pickles

Fruity Pebbles

Cap N' Crunch cereals

Pretty much everything else we will try to eat the generic brand.

Answer 5

I buy pretty much all generic except--I hate the generic DiGiorno Pizza and generic LeanPockets. Hannaford has the best generic stuff and almost every name brand product has a counterpart. The worst is Walmart where hardly go, but would always stick to the name brand. I think it is called GV or something and it all sucks!

Answer 6

We have to have Kraft or Velveeta mac & cheese, Potato Buds (the Safeway brand tastes like cardboard), Kraft singles American cheese, and some Campbell's soups like cream of mushroom. Pretty much everything else can be generic.

Answer 7

I can't handle the generic version of Miracle Whip, and I think that the cheap coffee that's sold in grocery stores is abominable. Everything else is just as good and sometimes better than the more-expensive name brand version.

Answer 8

Coffee and ketchup are the only things I buy under brand name when a generic is available and is usually 50 cents or more less expensive. You can save a bundle on generics.

Answer 9

Things that need to be brand name:
Hellmanns mayo
Heinz ketchup
Planters dry roasted peanuts
Scott toilet tissue
and
Breyer's ice cream is really far superior to all else, but I'll eat the generics. Ice cream IS ice cream after all.
All else can be generic, store brand, or whatever's on sale!

Answer 10

My brother was ordering a Carrando ham and someone told him that Shaw's ham were identical to Carrando just cheaper. They say that a lot of canned products (store brands) are packed by name brand companies.Don't know if it is true or not.But some store brands are not bad