waz,

Frozen vegetables. They all grew out of the same earth, possibly even at the same farm. The only difference is the packaging.

justlookingfordragon,
@justlookingfordragon@lemmy.world avatar

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.

HeavyRaptor,

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).

Emi621,

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.

Kolanaki,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

I would say pretty much anything. The only time I got a cheaper brand and absolutely hated it was when I saw a pack of Bar-S hot dogs for like $0.60. You know how the stereotype is that hotdogs are made from feet and assholes? Those Bar-S fuckers tasted like they actually were.

Sometimes the off brand is even better than the name brand. Oreos, for example, are way better than Hydrox.

hessianerd,

I’ll go one step further and say some of the generic store brands are better. Sring cheese I find is often better when it’s store brand or a generic brand. Tends to be lower fat which makes it denser, more stringy, not just a stick of mozzarella.

Kolanaki,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

While my original comment was being funny with it, I truly do think that is the case with some brands. I love the Dollar General brand of Pop Tarts more than actual Pop Tarts (the pastry bit is softer and the insides taste more like preserves than artificial jelly) and many of Great Value (Walmart’s food brand) items are loads better than the name brands, like Doritos, Little Debbie’s, juices, etc.

Wazzamatter,

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.

RBWells,

Publix Monterey Jack cheese is, oddly, better than the other brands. Like it’s the first one I ever tasted that wasn’t just rubbery nonsense. Their milk and butter we like, and their coffee is good.

Whole Foods store brands are all pretty good stuff.

I buy any brand of canned beans (I don’t buy refried beans, I refry them) or dry beans, unbleached white flour, egg noodles, fizzy water (though I do prefer Topo Chico, it’s a weak preference), sugar, and a lot of what we buy is fresh fruit & vegetables, they mostly aren’t branded.

AlfredEinstein,

For a couple of years, Kroger was selling some Ugandan whole bean coffee under its store label that was the best coffee I ever had.

It was perfect. And now it’s gone.

Son_of_dad,

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.

Professorozone,

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.

fruitycoder,

Publix is employee owned too, so I would rather buy their brand then others personally.

Professorozone,

Agreed.

Tedrow,
@Tedrow@lemmy.world avatar

Holy shit, I didn’t know that. Thanks!

grasshopper_mouse,
@grasshopper_mouse@lemmy.world avatar

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.

zzzz,

Green beans, also. Mostly, it’s the texture and how good a job was done removing all the stems.

xarexyouxmadx,

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.

lagomorphlecture,

To be fair, so do a lot of name brands.

xarexyouxmadx,

You’re right. I was just referring to items where the generic version did but the name brand version didn’t.

squiblet,
@squiblet@kbin.social avatar

Do you mean stuff like preservatives, artificial colors, or things called out on Prop. 65 warnings? The one I've seen for the latter is acrylamide, which is formed naturally from cooking things. It's odd how it's labeled on some products and not others.

shinigamiookamiryuu,

Birthday/Christmas cards

dmention7,

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!

TAG,

I like store brand oat loops more than Cheerios. I feel like they are less powdery.

Riven,
@Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

I don’t recommend the generic for mini wheats though. I tried it, and as someone who always seeks the store brand for stuff I was not impressed.

IMongoose,

I actually like the generic mini wheats better. I much prefer the generic cinnamon toasts too. The name brands taste weird to me now, like they have too much iron in them or something. Tastes metallic to me.

wjrii,
@wjrii@kbin.social avatar

With the mini wheats, there are also a few different styles, mostly in how finely shredded the fibers (or whatever) are, how they're compressed, what the size is, and the thickness of the frosting. Like, the Post is barely the same cereal as the Kellogg's, and the store brands play around with the ratios too. It's really a matter of preference.

scytale,

There’s a lot of them. I find it easier to classify by the store. For example, Costco’s and HEB’s (in Texas) store brand products are considered great (and sometimes even better) than their branded counterparts.

Auduras,

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!

Crashumbc,

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.

tal,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination

Price discrimination is a microeconomic pricing strategy where identical or largely similar goods or services are sold at different prices by the same provider in different market segments.[1][2][3] Price discrimination is distinguished from product differentiation by the more substantial difference in production cost for the differently priced products involved in the latter strategy.[3] Price differentiation essentially relies on the variation in the customers’ willingness to pay[2][3][4] and in the elasticity of their demand. For price discrimination to succeed, a firm must have market power, such as a dominant market share, product uniqueness, sole pricing power, etc.[5] All prices under price discrimination are higher than the equilibrium price in a perfectly competitive market. However, some prices under price discrimination may be lower than the price charged by a single-price monopolist. Price discrimination is utilised by the monopolist to recapture some deadweight loss.[6] This Pricing strategy enables firms to capture additional consumer surplus and maximize their profits while benefiting some consumers at lower prices. Price discrimination can take many forms and is prevalent in many industries, from education and telecommunications to healthcare.[7]

In a theoretical market with perfect information, perfect substitutes, and no transaction costs or prohibition on secondary exchange (or re-selling) to prevent arbitrage, price discrimination can only be a feature of monopoly and oligopoly markets,[19] where market power can be exercised (see ‘Price discrimination and monopoly power’ below for more in-depth explanation). Without market power when the price is differentiated higher than the market equilibrium consumers will move to buy from other producers selling at the market equilibrium.[20] Moreover, when the seller tries to sell the same good at differentiating prices, the buyer at the lower price can arbitrage by selling to the consumer buying at the higher price with a small discount from the higher price.[21]

You’re undermining their reliance on consumers not having perfect information there.

mihnt,
@mihnt@lemmy.world avatar

Dollar Tree has “thin mints” that are just as good as the real thing. Kroger does as well but they cost like twice as much as they would from dollar tree.

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