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Grocery Store Value Brands

T

theevilsharpie

Platinum Member
The grocery store that I go to has three "levels" of product (sorting by most expensive to least expensive):

1. National brand
2. Store brand
3. A 'value' brand

At this point, I normally buy the store brand for things I need to constantly replace (milk, bread, paper towels, etc.), and the national brand for things that last longer (condiments, hygiene products, etc.). I'm looking to cut my cost of living a bit so that I can put more money toward school/retirement/whatever, and if I replace as many of the higher 'tier' items I buy with the 'value' brand, I can cut my grocery costs by about 15%.

Is there anything wrong with these value brands? The products I can actually see look a little cheap, but I'm willing to put up with it as long as I don't get stomach cancer or something.

What say you, ATOT?

Here's the brand my store carries:
http://www.topco.com/Brands/Economy.aspx
 
Years ago, value brands were noticeably inferior. These days value brands are generally high quality, but you still have to take it on a per-product basis. If you have an Aldi near you, ht them up. They're all off brands, but the quality compares favorably to national brands.
 
the "value" brands are a lot better then the crap that was out when i was a kid. my parents tired the "Generic" stuff that came in black and white labeling and it was horrid.

generic-beer.jpg
 
I know at our Kroger for example the "store" brand is usually pretty close to the national brand...the "value" brand, when I have tried it, is markedly inferior. Whether crackers, ravioli, mac & cheese, etc. For example the Mac & Cheese: Kraft is $1, store brand is ~$.73, value brand is ~$.48....but the value stuff is just awful 😛

If you get the Kirkland Signature stuff at Costco it's basically (and usually is) the name brand stuff, often just rebadged.
 
store brand over national. stay away from value. i have a feeling those are 'manufactured' to kill off poor people
 
notposting said:
I know at our Kroger for example the "store" brand is usually pretty close to the national brand...the "value" brand, when I have tried it, is markedly inferior. Whether crackers, ravioli, mac & cheese, etc. For example the Mac & Cheese: Kraft is $1, store brand is ~$.73, value brand is ~$.48....but the value stuff is just awful 😛

If you get the Kirkland Signature stuff at Costco it's basically (and usually is) the name brand stuff, often just rebadged.
Click to expand...

I agree with this assessment of the Kroger brand vs the Value brand. So far the only Value brand items I bought that I liked was oyster crackers and saltine crackers.

I'm going to assume that it would be similar from store to store.

I've been told that a lot of store brand items are manufactured by the name brand companies and just packaged differently.

I have a friend that works at an area dairy co-op. The milk that goes into the name brand container is exactly the same as the milk that goes into the store brand container, and the store brand sells for approx. $1 less per gallon.
 
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I tend to buy primarily store brand everything. National brand only if it is cheaper with a sale and coupon. Some things I buy value brand, but like others have said, many of the products are markedly inferior. Cereal in particular.
 
Many times the store brand or generics are produced by the major brands and just labeled as store or value. This way they get a bigger piece of the pie.
 
you need to try it for each item. some items value items are fine, others store brand (most the time its the same as national brand) and some items only good stuff is national brand.
 
OutHouse said:
the "value" brands are a lot better then the crap that was out when i was a kid. my parents tired the "Generic" stuff that came in black and white labeling and it was horrid.

generic-beer.jpg
Click to expand...

I remember those. My grandfather would go shopping with me and often buy the generic Vanilla Wafers for me to snack on when I visited.
I didn't realize they were crap, but then again I was 5.
 
notposting said:
I know at our Kroger for example the "store" brand is usually pretty close to the national brand...the "value" brand, when I have tried it, is markedly inferior. Whether crackers, ravioli, mac & cheese, etc. For example the Mac & Cheese: Kraft is $1, store brand is ~$.73, value brand is ~$.48....but the value stuff is just awful 😛

If you get the Kirkland Signature stuff at Costco it's basically (and usually is) the name brand stuff, often just rebadged.
Click to expand...

I was going to use mac & cheese as an example to. We switched back to Velveeta shells and cheese because the value brand was noticeably worse in flavor.
Like someone else mentioned you almost have to do it on per product basis because some of the generic brands taste pretty darn close. Especially when it comes to soda.
 
bbhaag said:
I was going to use mac & cheese as an example to. We switched back to Velveeta shells and cheese because the value brand was noticeably worse in flavor.
Like someone else mentioned you almost have to do it on per product basis because some of the generic brands taste pretty darn close. Especially when it comes to soda.
Click to expand...

Velveeta mac and cheese is a great example. i have tried the value brand and store brand. that is one where the name brand is far better.
 
It's simple.
National brand-Store Brand-Value Brand

As a general rule of thumb the store brand tries to be as good as the national brand, or at least in the ballpark. The value brand is as cheap as they can make it and usually has a noticeable drop off in quality.

These are just general rules and for some items anything less than the national brand can be awful. For some very few things the value brand is just as good. For example salt.
 
Corporate Thug said:
wtf is a value brand? Does the store brand make it but w/ inferior quality?
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yes, it's usually a store private label.

first store i remember seeing 2 levels of private label (now 3) was HEB. hill country fare was the original private label, and is often crappy. HEB brand is the better (now mid) private label, and is fairly equivalent to mid priced brands. now they've got the central market organics brand on top of that.
 
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Store brand can be better than national sometimes.

I'm lazy so I use instant flavored oatmeal in the apple, maple, cinnamon variety pack.

Kroger store brand: natural flavoring, sugar.

Quaker: artificial flavoring, much longer list of additives.

I don't bother with the third tier, it's not worth any cost savings.
 
DaveSimmons said:
Store brand can be better than national sometimes.

I'm lazy so I use instant flavored oatmeal in the apple, maple, cinnamon variety pack.

Kroger store brand: natural flavoring, sugar.

Quaker: artificial flavoring, much longer list of additives.

I don't bother with the third tier, it's not worth any cost savings.
Click to expand...

Same way with some of their snacks/cookies. I prefer Kroger brand for many items.
 
It's hit and miss on both value brands and store brands. Both come from private packers under contract to provide them for a given chain. And those contracts change often, so the store brand of product x can be good for 6 months and then change to something inferior. And it could be crappy today and then change to something good tomorrow. As a general rule, the store brand is usually far superior to the generic or value brand. As the store brand is a BIG profit maker for the store and the generic brand less so it's good business for most chains to pay a lot of attention to the quality of their store brand stuff while the generic is usually cheap, low profit and corners are cut because they HAVE to carry it, but don't want you to buy it.

The only way to know which store brand or generic items are worth buying and which are not is to buy them and test. It differs from chain to chain.

Things I insist on national brand: Helmann's mayo, Heinz ketchup, ice cream.

Store brand: almost everything else
 
It seems like the consensus is that value brands are generally lower quality, but still acceptable depending on the product.

It may be time to donate my body for science :hmm:
 
theevilsharpie said:
It seems like the consensus is that value brands are generally lower quality, but still acceptable depending on the product.

It may be time to donate my body for science :hmm:
Click to expand...

There's very little food I'm brand loyal to. I get a lot of stuff from BigLots. A lot of it is from small American makers, and Europe. I'll do a test buy, and if I like what I got, I stock up big, because once it's gone, that's usually it. I've gotten some real treasures cheap doing that. The same applies to bargain food. Do a test buy, and if it tastes ok, buy a lot. Keep an open mind. Cereal especially can taste different, but just as good as the national brand. Don't treat it like clone, but as a distinct product with its own unique attributes.

Two things that are seldom good are ice cream and yogurt. With those you generally get what you pay for.
 
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