When I was in Highschool (20 years ago) I took an elective called Family and Consumer Sciences, which was basically an extended Home Economics class. One part of the course was blind taste testing. I remember it was very difficult to tell the difference and most of class preferred the generic. It was an amazing class that taught you how to save, shop, how to fill out a check, and write professional letters to companies to compliment/complain about a product.
I worked 14 years at a candy company. We made candy for many different companies including name and generic brands. After we filled the order for one brand we would stop the belt and changed the wrapper. We'd restart the belt but the candy was the exact same whether name/ generic. I know this isn't for everything but it opened my eyes and made me more open to generics.
@@lifewithkymm I know. I use to only buy the name brand chocolate stars but I started working there and saw all they did was change wrapper for the company it was going to. Very eye opening.
Yes, I am a pharmacy tech and many generics (Not all) are made by the same manufacturer as the brand. Every now and then the pills look exactly the same.
Here’s a shocker. My friend’s dad used to work on the assembly line for GMC trucks and Chevrolet trucks in Pontiac, MI. He swore up and down they were the same trucks just with different cosmetic packages. The GMCs cost more. They’d look at the paperwork and then slap on the appropriate cosmetic package. That’s what he said!
I used to be brand loyal to ketchup, I'd only buy the heinz made with real sugar. Then a couple years ago it got very expensive and my kids went through a bottle a week and sometimes more. I saw the great value brand had a made with real sugar option for less than half the price of the name brand. I bought the great value and secretly refilled my empty heinz bottle with the generic dupe to see if my family would say anything about the ketchup taste. Nobody noticed a difference!! After about 3 months I got tired of refilling the old name brand bottle and told my family "this is what we use for ketchup now, ya'll have been using it for 3 months now and have liked it. I'm just tired of putting it in the heinz bottle"
Haha I’ve been doing that with A-1 sauce. The name brand is $5 a bottle and the Great Value brand is $1.23 per bottle. My hubby has no clue and I’m saving $4 a bottle
You are my kinda people! I've done it with syrup, "club" crackers, ranch, mustard. The list is endless. The thing is if you tell the fam at the beginning they won't give the store brand a fair chance. Most of the time the store brand is equal or even better than name brand.
@@bonniethomas5309 yes ma’am! The Aldi “Velveeta” is way better than the real stuff and nearly half the price. It make the creamiest, simple mac and cheese ever
My father worked at a processing and packaging plant for a bit when I was a kid. He said he would never buy name brands again, because at the plant, they packaged the same hot dogs into a name brand package and a generic package. Same product, different packaging. I suspect that happens more often than we realize.
When I was a teen, there was a vegetable cannery one town over, and a store I worked in sold the dented remainders from that plant. I learned early from the delivery guys that the same cans got both their generic and the name brand labels. No difference in the food.
Someone my husband knows worked at a milk factory and said the same thing about them using the same milk in the name brand jugs as they did in the store brand jugs.
We home school. i have taken my daughter with me to the store gave her a dollar amount for her snacks. It did not take her long to see that she got more by using store brands.
FYI, my husband ran a Flowers bread route for +40 years. He hauled the name brand bread and the Great Value brand bread. Supposedly the exact same product.
At the time my son worked for Walmart In Indiana (10 years ago) he told me great value bread in our area was made by Lewis bakery and that great value frozen vegetables were Byrds Eye vegetables
Just a note that the c & h sugar is cane sugar and the generic sugar is beet sugar. That probably doesn't make a difference for most people, but I cannot use beet sugar because it is more likely to be contaminated with something that I am allergic to. Cane sugar is usually more expensive than beet sugar, so I buy mine in bulk.
It's very important to pay attention to the price breakdown if sizes are different, even among the same brands. I buy the small olive oils (17oz) walmart brand and they are 4c or so cheaper per ounce than the larger 27-ish oz bottle. It's so crazy. Years ago I worked at a nail polish & remover factory. Mid-run we would stop the machines to change labels to a generic store brand. I'm glad I learned that early on in life, it saved me a ton of $$. Tillamook cheese is far better than the store-brand and I'll spend the extra for it (but only when it's on sale!!)
My brother in law worked for a famous ketchup manufacturer during summers off from college. It was the same. The run for the namebrand stopped, labels sometimes bottles changed but the product , the ketchup was the same as what was in the more expensive bottles.
My sister worrked for a butter factory , and same thing as Jill said. When they got towards the end of a batch they switched the name brand label to a generic brand label. Its the same butter but may (but rarely does) have a poorer mixture towards end batch .
I have found at least here in phoenix az Tillamook med cheddar is cheaper at Costco for 2.5lb bs 9.89 for the 2lb loaf at Winco, albertsons/safeway, frys & bashas are 10.99 to 13.99. I was just at costco & the 2.5lb loaf was 8.95 & winco was 9.98.
I grew up with my mom using store brands... as much as possible... but I learned to compare prices as an adult when I discovered that with local sales, sometimes name brand is cheaper... I always compare ounce to ounce... 🙂 Thank you for doing this and physically showing the price differences... You even did the next challenge is blind taste-testing... 😂 Love your channel!
I was brand loyal to Hellman’s Mayo for years until I picked up the Bermans (Aldi brand) by mistake one day. The package is very similar and I was in a hurry and distracted by kids. I noticed when I got home and figured, well I’ll see how it goes, my family and I didn’t notice a difference and I’ve saved on Mayo ever since. I buy lots (almost all) store brands unless there’s a great sale bc I’m a single mom on a fixed income. I’ve learned so many money saving ideas from your videos and I thank you so much!!
I had a funny thing happen the other day. I use fetch rewards and I like you like Hellman’s Mayo. I bought Aldi to try and loved it as well. Got my receipt and scan it and fetch gave me points (bar code based😉) for Hellman’s. So makes me wonder where Aldi get their Mayo lol. It taste like Hellman’s to me. I have tried the great value Mayo and scanned and it didn’t give points for Hellman’s. I don’t care for that one either.
I frequently buy the store brand at Winco, Safeway, Target, and Fred Meyer but I refuse to give Walmart any extra profit by purchasing their store brand. I dislike Walmart with a fiery passion because it drove out a number of local businesses in my hometown.
So Walmart didn’t drive out the local businesses... the customers choosing to shop Walmart instead did. If Walmart wasn’t profitable, it would’ve closed up. Not shopping because of how they treat their employees, however, I can stand behind.
Many towns refuse to let Walmart build anywhere near them for that reason. As soon as Walmart comes to town, Main Street is DOA. There's a small town near me that boycotts Walmart. I love to visit it on Saturdays because it's like a time warp back to 1955. Main Street is jumping, full of people doing their shopping at mom and pop stores that have been there for decades. The town is charming and thriving just fine.
@@Scrapfan However, if there were no Walmart, there would be no patrons. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? To me it’s obvious that without Walmart, those patrons would be shopping the previous businesses. I’m not looking to begin any debate, just some friendly, and individual, points of view from See Mindy Mom lovers. Hope everyone is well and staying safe in these trying times.
@Tamar Hannah Whipkey ha, I was gonna say that. Also, Walmart was my son's first job and they treated him very well (wanted him to stay and go into management). He went from there to Starbucks, Walmart was about 100 times better to him (I know plenty of people hate Starbucks as well). I was raised in a small town that only had a family owned grocery store, it was gross. Now I live in a large suburb, our Walmarts are clean, nice, well stocked, but I know it isn't the same everywhere.
I have always been a true Oreo lover, BUT Aldi's brand double stuff dupes are BETTER ! With a blind taste test in my family no one guessed it right, they all thought the Oreo was the dupe. Try em.
I was majorly brand loyal to Hellman's mayonnaise. Been buying it for 40+ years. That was my only national brand preference - mayo =had= to be Hellman's. I buy just recently bought a jar of Aldi's Store brand on a whim to save $$. I really like it. That shocked the heck outta me. I'll be saving $money now. Lesson learned.
Great value thick and creamy mac and cheese is the store brand to go with! I did a taste comparison and the kids and my husband were convinced I mixed up the boxes because they loved the GV one so much.
@@jennifercurtis8229 I've noticed that with a lot of name brands, they're way too salty or sugary or something like that. the off brand products are probably able to be cheaper in part because they don't have as much sugar or salt, but they're way easier to eat in my opinion!
I have been switching over to generics. As long as my family doesn't see the package to know, they usually can't tell. I would be curious to see how generic vs costco would play out?
I bought the oxo brand cereal type storage containers they have flip tops for pouring the cereal out. Now when I bring the groceries home I put the store brand cereal in these containers. My family never sees the store brand box/ bag. They eat the cereal and they like the cereal.
I love your videos, I watch them all the time! I thought I might add a helpful tip .... when comparing prices, look at the price per ounce. In walmart, it's usually that number on the right with the orange highlight in the background on the price tag on the shelf... that way it doesn't matter the size of the package so much if you just want the best deal... much easier than trying to do the math in the store :)
I only buy name brand products on certain things but mostly our stuff is great value. I have even started buying great value toilet paper since the pandemic.
I mostly shop at Aldi. I avoid their frozen broccoli florets. They are always crushed up in the bag. My kids used to like the Aldi boxed mac and cheese, but they changed something recently and they don’t like it now. It has a sweet taste. I do like that the Aldi brand items tend to avoid artificial coloring. Great video!
I bought the Aldi mac and cheese for my son and he said it tasted "dusty" lol. He still ate it tho! I bought garlic at Aldi and never again, the 3 bulbs are crazy looking, the cloves are yellow!
We are brand loyal for a few small things. And even then, usually only bc I have a coupon or special ibotta deal. Our budget is 125 for groceries for a family of 5. Due to buying generic, I end up usually spending 85. (To be fair my mom orders our family a half cow and we split it, so meat typically isn't featured too heavily). Unless there's a massive sale, I refuse to even go to Kroger anymore. BC, I tend to overspend there. Even on generics.
There are some things I can't buy generic on due to food allergies in the household. Whenever possible I do though. That said, pay attention to sales and unit prices... Sometimes buying a name brand at a larger size works out cheaper than a generic.
YES!!! I have been doing this for DECADES 😅 nobody ever has complained and name brand aren't better. Thankfully I've been buying house brand for a really long time and my kids and husband don't care. The "name brand" stuff always makes the house brand anyways. 🤷♀️
Great video, Mindy! I noticed the price difference between white and brown eggs, as well. We’ve started buying from a friend with a flock of chickens. Taste so much better! I primarily buy store brand, but I do buy a few name brands. Coffee is definitely name brand!
I always bought the least expensive eggs in until I ate an Egglands best egg at my mom's. I don't understand how a different brand of egg tastes better.
Growing up I was appalled that my mother always bought the store brand of things and now that I do the shopping and spend my own money and see exactly how much more name brands are to generics I'm definitely a primarily generic shopper. My favorite coffee is the caramel vanilla cream from Green mountain and I do buy the K-Cups at Sam's Club because they sell a big box for a good price. But I have been trying the Walmart caramel coffee and it is very good actually. I noticed they sell it in a bag when you were doing the comparison showing the store shelves so I may try it in the bag and dig out my reusable k-cup. I really need to do that cuz it is more cost-effective. The only cereal that I really buy brand name of is the Cheerios chocolate peanut butter and that's because there isn't a generic dupe for it. Maybe at some point? One thing that I'm very brand loyal to are potato chips. I have tried many store brands and I have yet to find one at Walmart that is good. So I stick with Ruffles or reduce salt Lays. Otherwise I am mostly good with generics on many things. The other thing that I am brand loyal to is my dog food. One of my dogs has allergies and has to eat a limited ingredient diet and the other one is on a diet and has to eat a reduced calorie food and after going through an exhaustive comparison of calorie counts on dog food I found the lowest calories on a name brand food and since she is a small dog and only eats a quarter to a third of a cup a day it's not that expensive to buy the name brand of that and there really isn't a good generic equivalent I found. So basically the dogs eat name brands and I eat generics. Now how did that happen? I always give the generic a try and if I don't like it I'll go back to the name brand. I do eat Lean cuisines and there really aren't generic equivalents for that and I do buy Hillshire Farms thin sliced luncheon meats. I know there is a Walmart equivalent brand but I just haven't tried it yet. The Hillshire Farms was a switch for me from buying at the deli but deli meat is all around $10 a pound where I am and I just can't justify spending that. I like the Hillshire Farms turkey and ham very much and they make a great wrap or sandwich. Thanks so much for doing this video Mindy. I have long known that generics are much more affordable and really the quality is quite good generally speaking. I think you have probably opened the eyes of some people who are not used to using generics. You make a very good point that the fewer the ingredients and item has the less likely you will taste a difference. I remember seeing some chefs on TV talk about how they buy generics of all their basic baking supplies sugar flower salt etc because it is so much more affordable and there is no difference. Thanks again Mindy I really appreciate it!
I’m gonna buy Diet Coke no matter what they charge! And Stouffer’s frozen lasagna. That’s the only “food” items I’m brand loyal to. But I do buy Tide laundry soap and Cascade dishwasher detergent. I’ve tried other brands but always came back to Tide and Cascade. Other than that, I’ll save my pennies on whatever is cheaper.
Mindy, this was such a great video!!! I pretty much Always buy Great Value brand, but I've never really figured up how much miney I'm saving. So good to know! You always share the best tips, tricks and knowledge. And Thank You for "taking one for the team" with those 2 grocery bills! Greatly appreciated to see the huge difference. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!🥰
I like the video but I think there are some things you either overlook or don't pay attention to. Peanut butter, you bought peanut butter spread. That means 90% is peanuts and the rest added sugar and oils. Peanuts have nutrient value, but oil and sugar, is not good for your body. Peanut butter should only have peanuts and maybe salt. You also mentioned that grapes were in season. Actually, US grapes are in season, for peak flavor August to October and otherwise May to October. However, your grapes clearly show Product of Chile. That's a 5 thousand mile one way trip. That is a lot of jet fuel and clearly not in season in the US. I don't know if you pay attention to this sort of thing, I haven't really noticed it even though I've watched about half of your videos. Just thought I'd point it out. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Thanks.
Heinz Ketchup and Duke’s mayo are my main brand loyal items. Problem for me saving money is that other than those and a couple other items (canned green beans) I’ve already been buying the house brands. But, what an eye opener about the true actual difference over a whole grocery order!!! 61%!!! Ridiculous!!!!
Love this video, I have really started buying more and more house brands since trying to take a deeper look into our household budget and try to get rid of some debt we have after paying for our wedding. The one thing that I don't know if I will keep buying house brand of is that Great Value brand frozen broccoli specifically. The last few bags I've gotten of the "florets" have been 95% cuts and 5% actual florest and the cuts are fine for like throwing in a soup or casserole but when just eating them as a side they can often be tough and really fiberous. I also only get name brand refried beans, the old el paso is my favorite and the great value brand just doesn't compare for me. Other than that I really haven't found a difference!
As far as eggs go - I'm just west of Atlanta and at Kroger yesterday and a dozen was $1.79 and Walmart was way more expensive at $2.37/dozen. You just have to watch the prices... I usually shop a either Kroger or Walmart (with Aldi thrown in there on occasion)
There are currently no free range eggs in the UK due to Avian flu, all birds have to be kept indoors. I've read that 5million birds had to be destroyed due to the outbreak in one site in the USA.
I'm not brand loyal to anything food. But I haven't been in 30+ years. I've always maintained a grocery budget that was filled with off brand items. In the early days....because I financially absolutely had to in order to survive. But now I do it because I'm frugal and it's my way of life. I remember having a friend and her 3 boys over for taco night. The mom said her boys would only eat Old El Paso shells and sauce. 🤣 I made tacos with Food Lion store brand shells and sauce...at a savings of 100%. I threw all the boxes away before they got there🤣 And they loved them...including the mom. I have never told her😊 Buying name brand just because.....wastes alot of money that could potentially be income to become debt free....in my opinion🤷♀️
You go girl! If other people have 30 extra bucks they want to throw away, they can blow it however they like, it's their money. But I certainly won't be doing it. 😄
I switched to store brands some time ago...with a couple of exceptions. Flour is one. It's Gold Medal for me. My recommendation is to try the store brand. If it's not up to your standard, fine. But, prepare to be surprised. Besides, if you use something consistently, you become accustomed to its taste. I've heard that many times it is exactly the same product in different packaging. It's the advertising costs that boost the bottom line.
Great information! I’ve always felt, if I could find a store brand version that would live up to name brand, then I would buy the store brand. Then either use the savings to buy the things I was brand loyal to, or buy them less frequently and as a treat. I’m only really brand loyal to one thing now and it’s Heinz ketchup. I even buy it for my mother so when we have dinner at her house we have the “right” ketchup. She buys whatever is on sale. The bread you bought was a great comparison. I’ve had both and the name brand was sweeter to me, so I definitely preferred the store brand. Thanks for taking one for the team and buying both orders!
Just left the ALDIs near me in Illinois and good god are their prices were way up. $4.00 for both a dozen eggs and butter. Not to mention the meat was ridiculous as was the produce. Good luck to us all!!
Great advice as always! I've often found that if we change brand but prefer the one we've always bought better, that this usually changes once we get used to the new brand. Then we usually prefer the new one! I hope this makes sense!!!
Wow! I shop at Aldi primarily. I do get some things at Walmart when I must, but I avoid the store when possible. I am brand loyal to some things (Cascade, Tide,Dawn soap, Downy, hair products, Folgers) but have found Aldi brand to be just as good for the most part as the name brand!
I avoid Walmart too whenever possible and I have one within walking distance. Alldi is my go to. For anything they don't carry I end up at Wegmans. But I prefer to avoid that.
I have been purchasing Great Value more and more. The only item I've noticed a very negative difference is GV cheese dip (for chips) very blend and texturally off. The only name brand I cannot give up is my Best Foods/Hellmans, I have not found another mayo that can compare.
Thank you, thank you for doing this video. I am a believer in generics with most everything. One for the reason that April pointed out with the candy and if you look up dog food manufacturers there are only 5/6 companies that make all the different brands. Same food different packaging and great marketing! Making people think it’s better. Those who get sucked in waste a lot of money. Appreciate your channel and the cause you support Mindy. Keep up the good work.
Wow, bigger difference than I expected too! Coffee and yogurt are about the only things I’m brand loyal to and I always buy them on sale at Meijer not at Walmart without special pricing. I’ve always been willing to at least try different brands. Aldi has a couple items that I don’t care for but mostly you’re correct than store brand is just as good. I’ll share this video and watch it a few extra time in the hopes that you can recoup some of that grocery bill! 😊
I’ve been buying name brands exclusively almost my entire adult life. I mean, it’s one of the simplest ways to save money besides buying the clearance/loss leader items. I remember the extreme coupon craze from a few years ago and stacking coupons, combining coupons and sales, organizing coupons, etc. is like a part time job. Now I have a friend who loves coupons, she sees it like a game. So more power to those who love the challenge. I hated it though and would rather just buy store brands.
Holy savings batman!!!!!! What an eye opener! We've recently switched to generic on most items. I'm angry with myself for waiting so long. Thanks for doing this comparison shop at Walmart.
I'm just a few minutes in, but you said you aren't a professional baker. I am and I buy the Great Value flour for my business. It is just as good as the expensive stuff and allows me to keep my prices low.
Thanks for taking it on the chin for us (financially speaking) to make your point. That was a significant difference. I have always bought house brands whenever possible as they are almost always comparable to the name brand, in my opinion. I'm so glad I found your channel as you give wonderful ideas to help stretch our dollars. For example, I just made the teriyaki chicken (got the chicken 1/2 off at Aldi) for dinner tonight from one of your recent videos and my family loved it. My next meal is going to be the chili stuffed potatoes - wow did they look delicious! Thank you!! BTW, my daughter lived in Shawnee, OK for several years and we often bought the different Shawnee Mills items there (the mill is right in town).
I am totally brand loyal with spaghetti sauce. I would rather make my own from scratch than buy store brand, or even some of the name brands. But definitely I know which brands I like, and I find the others not worth buying at all.
Great video! Being the oldest of four while growing up I learned a lot. I would like to add to your tips with a few more: 1. Bread outlets will save enormous amounts of money! If you have one go check it out. 2. Coffee whole bean on Amazon is far cheaper. The investment in a grinder will pay for itself and coffee is eons better when ground right before brewing. 3. Eggs-if you go thru a bunch then get them at Costco. 4. This may be the most important tip-always and I mean ALWAYS check the clearance section of every department and try to leave a few extra dollars in your budget to buy "things for the future" if the sale is amazing.
Yes to the Oreos and Kraft Mac and Cheese! Also Hormel Pepperoni, Red Baron Frozen Pizza (Brick Oven Pepperoni!), Campbell's Bean and Bacon Soup, as well as Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dressing! We've tried generic for these, but decided we preferred the name brands. Pretty much everything else, I buy generic though. I recently switched my family to Great Value Chips, particularly the GV Cheese Puffs, Original Potato Chips, BBQ, and Original. No one complained, and I've saved some money! This was a great video!!! 😃
I buy house brand for pretty much everything except toilet paper. Lol also I used to work in a pretzel factory. Exact same pretzels going in the dollar tree bag as the name brand bag. Lol literally getting packed on machines next to each other from the same oven
About 2 months ago I purchased the 60 egg case at Walmart it was $7.50 ish, I purchased the exact same thing a month later and it was $9.50ish. A week later my hubby and I ran to Walmart to grab other things and I happened to walk down the aisle where the eggs are and they were $13.98 for the 60 eggs. I was shocked! I understand a 2 dollar increase but almost double?? Crazy! I am 52 and I honestly don't remember a time where grocery prices were increasing at such a rapid rate. Also, I love Walmart brand white bread. Its thicker than others and more substantial than others. Thanks for doing these types of videos. I'm shocked at the end totals. Wow!
I’m not brand loyal in most regards, but then, I mostly buy items with few ingredients, like you mentioned. I will buy a couple of name brand things that i think are wonderful- Pepperidge Farm Coconut Cake and Pepperidge Farm onion buns. Yes, their cookies are also fabulous, but i can stay strong and not buy those!😂😂
I just found you and this is the third video I've seen of you. You actually say things I've never thought of or considered! You may not think that's a big deal but I'm the same age as you and I'm still at home with the kids, trying to manage our budget with not a lot of money; I've heard basically everything out there. I've read it all, seen it all, and thought I was doing it all. But you had suggestions that actually might work for me! That's huge! I already bake and make everything I can at home, I never use name brand anything, I compare ounces for every deal at the store, you name it, I've done it all. So I thank you for actually helping me! New subscriber now.
Very good video. I buy a lot of store brands. I'm with the kids on the salty Ritz. :) My husband let me know that he doesn't like the Aldi cheeses. He says it taste "plasticky". I stopped buying that but I will buy Walmart or Kroger cheese. He likes that. Thanks for sharing this with all of us. Very interesting finds.
Mindy, your kids are ADORABLE! that was a fun taste test. And bless you for taking the hit on purchasing all of those name brand items. I personally am not really brand loyal to any one specific item… but we have found some off brands that we will not buy specific items in. The only thing that comes to mind at the moment is the Aldi “Oreo” cookies…. NASTY! thanks for sharing today. Have a great rest of your day!
@@natalieeubank4533 haha, well don’t try the Aldi ones… they’re terrible. The Walmart ones aren’t great either. I haven’t had an Oreo in years though, so maybe they changed their formula.
Fage Greek yogurt. I’ve tried them all and I find it far superior. (This just pertains to the plain yogurt, I’m not picky on when it comes to flavored yogurts 😆)
Fage plain greek yogurt is the best with no additives. I make fantastic yogurt at home from Hiland whole milk and a quarter cup of plain fage greek yogurt as the starter. Sweetened slightly with raw honey and added berries, so good! I use it plain instead of sour cream. You can hang the yogurt to drain and make a spreadable cheese and use plain or add herbs, spices, jalepenos,etc..
Thanks for doing this for people to really see how much more expensive name brand items are. I buy store brands except for the 2 things that I am brand loyal to which are Oreos and Miracle Whip.
I love ALDI for this reason and do most of my shopping there. There's just a few items that I'm picky about and will go top-shelf name brand. I don't like ALDI's bleached white flour for baking. I always use King Arthur unbleached. I'm lucky, though, since I live in the area where King Arthur is milled. I know a place where I can buy KA flour for as little as $1.50 for a 5lb bag. It's cheaper than ALDI and the regular grocery stores. 😃
Aldis flour is weird. I buy it sometimes, but it seems to clump pretty bad like it’s got moisture in it. I’ve found though that if I’m trying to make good soft bread, I have to go with high quality bread flour. King Arthur is the absolute best, but unfortunately super pricy in my area.
Since Crystal farms changed their formula back in the early 2000's I now will only buy velveeta block cheese. I was raised on velveeta and like the creamy texture when it melts and way way back when crystal farms had the same texture and taste now it tastes like powder to me. I used to be a truck driver and know that many of the store and off brands come from the same manufacturers so I'm not too picky on canned goods and frozen stuff. Folger's coffee is another brand name in loyal to and my hubby insists on Hyland milk so when he's not home I buy what I want as in organic because I don't go through milk like he does it's a little more expensive but in the long run I don't throw out expired milk lol.
I’m brand loyal with mayonnaise (has to be Kraft Real Mayonnaise) and peanut butter. I’m like you in that I love Peter Pan Peanut Butter (smooth for me). I tried the Peter Pan Naturals but I didn’t care for it because it separates (even the no stir). Most everything else, I’m fine with the Great Value brand at Walmart where I shop for groceries. I just started getting the Great Value Organic milk and I have noticed the taste difference. It tastes so much better and it does last longer. Thank you so much for doing this challenge and thank for sharing your recipe videos as well. Your kids are too cute, Mindy!
Oh my, yes! I once bought a big jar of mustard (not the squeeze type). It had a giant wadded up piece of duct tape in it. My boyfriend at the time bought some beer. Just a 6 pack of white cans with big black letters "beer". It was always a crapshoot. Some canned corn I bought was not suitable even for horses.!
Yes, real cane sugar is more expensive to produce. The brand sugar she shows in the video is C&H, which I grew up with as a kid but never buy today because it's too expensive. C&H = California & Hawaii Sugar Co. It's 100% real sugar cane from Hawaii. Woderful product but pricey. The cheaper sugars are beet sugars, which are grown across the country for a fraction of the cost.
Great content! Love this video. We did a peanut butter taste test at my house and all of us liked Aldi peanut butter best. I was sure I was going to like Jif since that is what I grew up on.
I buy generic in just about everything, but I am definitely brand loyal to Rao’s marinara (I know it’s pretty pricey), Bunny brand sandwich bread and Fritos corn chips. I will go to another store to buy those if my store is out. 🤣
Rao's is amazing.. But Aldi has a signature marinara for three bucks that is pretty much the same. Someone on the internet claimed it was the same product--I'm not sure that's true but it's very similar, in my opinion. :)
I'm type 2 diabetic and I'm trying to be careful with my sugar/fruit intake. My biggest concern with budget shopping and name brand vs generic is that I cannot find sugar free versions in the generic brands (they're "offered" but those sections of the shelves are empty). Or that the sugar free options from the SAME BRAND are more expensive. As for the fruit options, "fresh" fruit are too expensive and canned fruit options in generic are harder to find packed in fruit juice. Frozen fruit I mostly use for baking.
Love this video! And i think your right the more ingredients in a food the harder to dupe. I use lots of store brands, but triscuits, stovetop stuffing, and prego spaghetti sauce must be name brand. My rule is buy the dupe/store brand and try it, then you'll know.
In my Walmart store I noticed some of the online prices are lower than the in person prices. I don’t know why this is but I’m not asking. The biggest one is the spaghetti sauce was 88 cents online for a jar and $1.40 a jar in store. I stocked up when I noticed the difference.
This was really well done. I had to laugh though because I saw the title of your video and got excited and then realized I'm already doing this. haha. But for anyone on the fence, the only way to know if a store brand will work for you is to try it. Maybe try a new one each week. And I'm with you Mindy - there's no substitute for Oreos. :)
Erin, I thought of that as I was posting it. I plan to touch on lots o f grocery savings ideas over the next months with videos like this that sort of illustrate the point. I was telling a friend that I feel like this inflation will hurt the most for people who were already really budget savvy and have adopted all these tricks already.
@@SeeMindyMom That's wonderful - I appreciate your content - I can tell you put a lot of work into it.. It's interesting, I was already doing a lot of things to keep the grocery budget low, but I find I'm still able to maintain a low budget even now. It just takes a little more effort and intention now. One big thing that's making a difference for me is trying to really minimize food waste. I think many of us throw food away more than we intend to. (By the way - I'm also a former choir teacher. )
My name brand non-negotiable is definitely A-1 sauce and Heinz ketchup. My family would say Oreos as well. I do think name brand seasonings tend to be more flavorful than store brand (though the glass bottle organic great value is good, but the plastic bottle regular is just colorful powder lol). My kid likes Kraft Mac n Cheese better if he's eating it plain but he usually doctors it up so the store brand is fine.
I buy generic usually. Must have Ritz (tried several other kinds - don't like it), also honey Graham crackers. I also changed to organic milk for the same reason.
