When does it NOT pay off to buy the store brand....

I am very picky when it comes to food so most of what I buy is name brand. I hate it because I know I could save so much more money if I go with store brand. I can come up with alot of things that are store brand that was not worth what I saved. Diapers is one of them. All my children have used Huggies Supreme diapers most expensive and less diapers for the penny. Any other diapers they broke out in severe diaper rashes. Store brand soda isnt the greatest, expessially the store brand ginger ale. Peanut butter is another one, I have found that most 'el cheapo peanut butter is always way too oily so I stick with Jif of Skippy. I could go on and on but those are the main ones I will refuse to go second best with.

I am with you. I buy all store brands of my frozen veggies. I put store brands of cookies for my kids and they seem to like it. I get store brand ketup and sugar and flour. you are right, somethings are just a no no, but for the most part it's cheaper to get the store brands and i go for it.

I used to work for Kraft General Foods, and we usually had orders from the Big Chain Stores for In Store Brands of jello, cold cereals, and drink mixes etc, that were especially made for the store. The usual practice of Kraft was to use an older recipe of the product for the In House Product. This meant that the product was good, but not as up to date as Kraft's own Brand. I would suggest you try the store brand, and if you like it you can save some money by using it.

Store brands vary is quality a lot. Between both individual store brand products, and between stores. Sometimes a company will get food that just does not meet their quality requirements. Could simply be they wanted it fresh, and it sat around too long before they processed it. Before, they would simply sell it to a generic distributor for cents on the dollar, or dump it. Now, they process it anyway, but under a store brand label. But most store brands are simply plain foods without additives, and many times from the exact same company. For example, coffee. No one drinks regular coffee anymore. Basic coffee has fallen out of favor for ages. Most coffee has tons of additives that make it taste thus and so. Store brand coffee, is actually what plain real coffee tastes like. No one drinks that anymore. (or very few. Someone must be or they wouldn't sell it). If you walk into a coffee shop, and order a plain cup of coffee, that's not exactly what you are getting. An example for me was Birds Eye frozen vegetables. I bought the store brand vegetables. Then I found out that Birds Eye, makes the store brand too. So the baggy of frozen vegies right next to the dollar more Birds Eye vegies, is from the exact same place. Just one has seasonings, and the other does not. The brand name does taste a bit better, but then I can mimic that by putting on my own seasonings. The biggest difference was store brand cola. The store brand from Meijers is actually really good. All of them taste very much like the brand name, and at 68¢ for a 2-liter, is really good price point. But you go over to Krogers, and try that Big K, and it is nasty. Horrible stuff, and goes flat in 10 minutes. I haven't yet figured out who makes the store brand cola for either.

The cheap brand of oreos suck. I also do not like the store brand of instant breakfast. I clumps up, no matter if i pour the milk in on top of it while stirring or if I pour the mix into the milk while stirring. It always clumps up.

Store brand coffee tastes awful! I have to have Maxwell house! I also found that generic Oreos, cheese puffs, and sliced cheese are awful! Some things just cannot be substituted! Oh and generic cheese nips. My son will eat a box of these in one sitting! He won't eat the genetics though.

Macaroni and chesee from the great value brand, the thick and creamy is really good and I prefer it over any other brand. Now I am trying to come up with something store brand that is just nasty but I can't think of anything because I am a pretty picky eater. There was something when I was younger, but I can't put my finger on it now.

To be honest, there's quite a great deal of own brand things that I like less than the mid-range store brands. Here, most big supermakets have 3 levels of own brand. Their 'no frills' range is just really basic, no flavour, rather boring and synthetic but only costs a few pennies, so if I'm really poor, I'll make do with that. The mid range things, I find are usually on a par with most brand named goods, and these I prefer mostly to the brand named things. The mid range store brand usually works out at a third to 50% less than the price of the branded products, so that is quite a good saving. The top range store brands are usually really expensive, but you can tell use really good quality ingredients. They are usually as good as the most expensive brand items. These are a luxury though that I usually just cant afford or justify buying when the mid range store brand is just as good. If the top range stuff is reduced though, I grab it whilst I have the chance! Happy mylotting.