House Brands

[retromania]

Yesterday I co-hosted a brunch with a friend of mine. We had Mimosas. On Saturday she called to say she would get the orange juice and what kind did I like. I said I really didn't have a preference except to make sure it said 'not from concentrate' and she asked what the difference was. Bad question. lolll I said 'what's the difference?' Obviously they didn't drink much orange juice and I don't either anymore after I found out how much sugar is in it. I told her she didn't grow up in our household where my mother bought Ann-Page frozen concentrate. That stuff was so acidic it turned my stomach. She said her mother bought Minute Maid. I said Minute Maid or house brand, all that frozen concentrate was nasty. She just laughed. That opened up an entire discussion of what our mothers bought that was a brand name or a house brand. I told her I couldn't remember my mother buying very many house brands, except the orange juice. Maybe Minute Maid cost a good bit more. I remember there was a big selection of Winn-Dixie's Dixie Darling. My mother mostly shopped at the A & P which was on N. Main Street near our house.

 

[danemodsandy]

House Brands....

....Have, for the most part, gotten a good deal better since the '60s and '70s. With many, you really cannot tell a difference, and with some, you can live with the difference in return for the price break.

There are exceptions, and one nowadays is margarine. House brand margarine used to be pretty awful compared to premium brands, and now they're about equal. The sad part of that is: All margarine is greasy and tasteless now that the trans-fats have been reduced or eliminated. So, house brand margarine is now equal to premium brands because the premium brands are now dreadful. The worst premium brand these days is Blue Bonnet, which now reminds me of the time I dipped my finger into my grandmother's can of Golden Fluffo (a 1950s hydrogenated vegetable shortening variant of Crisco that had yellow food dye added, to make fried foods "golden"). I thought I would get a buttery taste from the Golden Fluffo, but it was nasty.

But you have to try house brands; what works for someone else may not work for you, and vice versa.

 

[gfm8959]

Most stick margarines...

still have trans fats in them. Blue Bonnet has 1.5 gm/Tbsp

 

[retromania]

Nasty

I think margerine is nasty anyway, but my mother bought it thinking she was being so health-conscious for the family. I have always thought it was tasteless. I did use it in a cheese straw recipe once and it did quite well.

 

[whirlcool]

With canned vegetables and peanut butter we can't tell a difference, but with frozen juices forget it. We buy all our juices using the "Simply" brand. Simply Orange, Simply Apple and Simply Lime. These are all not from concentrate and are very good.
We're spoiled. Also house brand cookies & crackers are pretty good too. House brand coffee, paper towels, toilet paper and frozen foods are universally pretty bad.

We use only real butter. I haven't had any margarine in probably 30 years. It's all chemicals. I'd rather have something that is real than manufactured.

Anyone remember "generic" food in the white cans with just the name of the item printed on them. They usually had a generic aisle in the grocery store. Those seemed to have come and gone pretty quickly. I wonder what happened to those?

Last week we tried a house brand cream cheese for use with bagels in the morning. Usually we buy the Philadelphia stuff. It wasn't bad, but it had no taste at all.
The Philadelphia cream cheese has a lot of flavor in comparison.

 

[retromania]

I forgot all about the white generic grocery items.

 

[danemodsandy]

Margarine:

Don't get me wrong - I wasn't using it that much anyway. It's just that I grew up with butter for fine cooking, special occasions and the like, and margarine for everyday feeding of the masses (not many moms back then would have countenanced the use of real butter for, say, the kids' Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, to give just one example). Up until recently, I was still using some for everyday cooking purposes, but that's over, at least for now, because the current product is so awful. Even Imperial, my old favorite, is horrible now; it used to have a delicate taste that wasn't butter, but which was pretty good in its own way, certainly good enough to put on an everyday vegetable. Now it's flavorless and of a consistency that reminds me of lithium grease.

 

[xraytech]

Oh I remember the generic products in the white packaging with black letters.
We may still have a tin of generic black pepper in the cupboard. Grandma always had generic cottage cheese, she found it to be creamier and have larger curds than her former favorite of seal-test

 

[combo52]

Frozen Orange Concentrate

Does not contain any added sugar, and if you mix it with good water it can taste great. House brands are usually great AND many-many times BETTER than big brand names that advertise constantly.

 

Few if any of us should be eating any Margarine or BUTTER [ just because butter is a natural product does not make it safe or healthy ] neither is any good for you, I switched to Original Smart Balance years ago for all cooking and eating that you usually would use one of the later for. For most cooking I either use Olive Oil or other healthy type cooking oil.

 

More than five years ago my doctor said that I should go on cholesterol reducing meds, I throw out the butter, margarine, and most red meats and every year since my cholesterol test since has been fine.

 

Please everyone don't wait till you have a heart attack or other health problems to make the switch, I have had too many friends that HAD to go on highly restricted diets after the big event and it is no fun. 

 

Take care of yourself while you can still enjoy all the wonderful parts of life, John.

 

[whirlcool]

No cholesterol problems here. Mine is usually around 131. Karen's is similarly low.
When I was growing up my mother used some margarine called "Tri-Nut" made with coconut oil. Haven't seen that in years and years.

It takes us about 2 weeks to go through a pound of butter. That's not too bad.

We have gotten away from eating meat at all most of the time. Maybe three days a week.

Remember that cholesterol levels are also controlled by heredity too.

http://worldhistory.com/1960/11/20/oakland-tribune/page-87

 

[retromania]

Nope

No cholesterol problems here either nor high blood pressure. I don't overdo it on the butter and I rarely eat red meat by choice. Given a choice of margerine or butter, I would rather use a very thin butter pat that a heaping teaspoon of margerine. I will say though that some of the butter substitutes like Smart Balance do have a pleasing taste over some of the old favorites. If I had to switch, it would be to Smart Balance or the like. That goes for mayo too. I have tried the reduced calorie, olive oil based, etc mayo and I don't like it. I have tried several different times to make the switch and it just didn't happen. So I use very little mayonaise, but it is regular mayonaise. Now for some reason I like skimmed milk. I guess becaue that's all my mother bought except when she was cooking she would buy a small container of whole milk or 2%. I guess I was in high school whem she started reading labels. Like I have said before she was into processed foods much anyway. I was out of college and living on my own when I tasted hamburger helper and Rice-A-Roni for the first time. My brother asked me why didn't I just put a gun to my head?! Brotherly love, huh?! LOLLL

 

[ovrphil]

House Brands with diet and exercise

House Brand are easily much better than house brands we knew years ago. I remember Ann Page as my mom too shopped at A&P. Now you have all grocers ramping up choice and price competitiveness in house brands. Target Archer Farms , Publix own brand, and Kroger's Simple Truth are what Danemodsandy is talking about. We buy all those house brands, depending on what we like, if they're on sale, etc. They're very good.

Diet and exercise and die anyways. Not that cut and dry. Well, cut one out and you could end up like my long time friend of high school -an attorney who cycles, 20-50 miles a day on weekends. Long story short - because of his diet, his arteries were clogged and eventually several months later chest pains brought him to the doctor. A quick check and he was immediately prepped for a quadruple bypass. Because he was regularly cycling year round, he was in great condition. What happened though, because of his meat and high cholesterol diet, arterial blood was being choked off. What blood did manage to keep him alive was done by his body creating extra arteries to compensate for the blocked ones! One and half years later, he now still cycles but with a different diet! Low cholesterol is only part of the health picture, as most know.

Incidentally - Archer Farms has some great inorganic and organci frozen veggies and fruits(for smoothies) with good pricing. Get your blenders out.

 

[gizmo]

Whirlcool's comment

"We use only real butter. I haven't had any margarine in probably 30 years. It's all chemicals. I'd rather have something that is real than manufactured."

reminds me of an old 1970s era TV ad for Butter:

Mum and kids in kitchen. One of the kids: "Mum, where does butter come from?"

Mum: "Cows graze on lush green grass and they produce milk, which contains cream. the milk is collected and the cream taken from the milk. When the cream is whipped up it turns to beautiful natural butter."

"and Mum, where does margarine come from?"

"Oh, I don't know. Ask your father, he's the industrial chemist."

the last image is of a quivering stainless steel mechanical cow.

the slogan was "only butter butters."

 

[whirlcool]

As far as food goes.. several years ago our family doctor sent us to see a dietician for an afternoon long session. One of the things we learned (and were tested on!) is how to read those nutritional labels. It was one of the best things we ever did.

I was amazed to see how much salt is added to things. Especially frozen foods. And all the fat.

For those who don't know, pilots have to take a physical every 6 months if they are flying for an airline. The rules are set by the Federal Aviation Administration. You better be in good health and have healthy blood pressure and a good heartbeat otherwise your career ends immediately. Some things you can get a wavier on, which costs a ton of money and can take months and months to approve and some things you can't. Sometimes you'll have slightly elevated blood pressure and meds to control it but if the BP meds aren't approved by the FAA, sorry charley, game over. So it does behoove one to take care of themselves if they want to continue working. I have seen this happen to so many guys. There is aviation disablilty insurance out there for pilots. If your health falls apart the insurance company will payout your normal salary, but it's very expensive and the airlines leave it up to the individuals to pay it. If this happens to a pilot some airlines will show the pilot to the door while others will give them a desk job. It all depends on the airline/situation.

Besides, as I get older I find I am losing my taste for some foods like fast food, red meat, etc.

 

[twintubdexter]

House brands & health...

I find myself willing to give house brands a try more often than before. It might have something to do with more attractive packaging. Some seem identical to the name brand product and I often wonder if they're not made by the same company. Do you think retailers price the name brand stuff artifically high in order to get you buy their product which I assume has a higher margin?

 

The butter/margarine discussion is interesting. My mom never cared for margarine but we still always had it...the "better" refrigerated stuff. I guess with 4 boys she didn't have much of a choice. She talked about when she was younger and yellow margarine was illegal in California. You had to color it with this yellow stuff that came with every package.

 

I love real butter and it always seems to be close to the price of margarine. I sometimes buy soft margarine for toast although I really shouldn't be eating it especially since I can polish off half a loaf in one sitting. Oddly enough I have this slightly wacko Springer Spaniel that goes into a panic mode when she sees the toaster or smells toast cooking. She was given to me as a little puppy pretty much near death...over 200 ticks on her and she had Parvo. The vet said to put her down but I couldn't do that and together with a good animal hospital she pulled through so I guess she's intitled to a quirk here and there. Toast makes her run out in the back yard and hide in the hedge. She waits awhile and then sticks her nose through the dog door for the "no-toast smell/all clear" signal.

 

For some strange reason I don't have a cholesterol problem which I interpret as a green light for butter. My doctor does not agree with me and neither does his office scale.

 

Holly says "can I get that breakfast order with no toast please"...

 

[fido]

I always bought Co-op 99 tea when I lived in UK as I preferred it to the major brands such as PG Tips and Typhoo. It also had to be loose tea, not bags.

 

[mixfinder]

House Label

There are minimum specs for each house labeled products. There are no maximum spec limits on house brands. If a processing plant is running an order for Green Giant or Minute Maid if there's over run in the production quota what is left frome Minute Maid might roll into the front end of the house label order. In daily usage of house label you may notice a variant of excellent and the next one average. A house label may exceed your expectation, but never disappoint the base line. Some house brands write higher minimum specifications than others. I find Safeway and Kroger house labels on a par with most brand names.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Now I have really never noticed any consistency, variance or difference in taste or quality when I've used generic or store brands...

Interesting, though, how the manufacturer's vary, while of course are governed by distribution of the retailer...

Guess an example of this is how a Spaghetti sauce can taste like Ragu, one day, Prego, another day, and the next day, Prince!

Or a peanut butter can go from tasting just like Jif, then become Peter Pan...!

-- Dave

 

[mattl]

Re:Orange juice and why i avoid it unless fresh...

Came across this on Cracked the other day, saw a similar story a year or two ago.

 

 

<h2 class="subheading" style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #000000; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">#5. Zombie Orange Juice</h2>

Quick, name the most healthy drink your nearest store has to offer. You said orange juice, didn't you? It's what everybody makes you drink when you get sick. Hell, that shit must be like medicine or something. And the labels are always about health benefits -- the cartons scream "100 percent natural!", "Not from concentrate!" and "No added sugar!"

[COLOR=#909090; display: block; margin-top: -10px; height: 5px; width: 215px; text-align: right; font-size: xx-small]Getty[/COLOR]
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Less than four thumbs per gallon!"</span>

And why not believe them? When it comes to making the stuff, orange juice isn't sausage. You take oranges, you squeeze oranges, you put the result in a carton, with or without pulp. End of story, beginning of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">deliciousness</em>.

But what if we told you that "freshly squeezed" juice of yours can very well be a year old, and has been<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>subjected to stuff<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that would make the Re-Animator puke?

[COLOR=#909090; display: block; margin-top: -10px; height: 5px; width: 303px; text-align: right; font-size: xx-small]Packaging Gateway[/COLOR]
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Tropicana's bottling room. Not pictured: Anything orange.</span>

<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Horror:</strong>

Ever wonder why every carton of natural, healthy, 100 percent, not-from-concentrate orange juice manages to taste exactly the same, yet ever so slightly different depending on the brand, despite containing no additives or preservatives whatsoever?

The process indeed starts with the oranges being squeezed, but that's the first and last normal step in the process. The juice is then immediately sealed in giant holding tanks and all the oxygen is removed. That allows the liquid to keep without spoiling<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">for up to a year</em>. That's why they can distribute it year-round, even when oranges aren't in season.

[COLOR=#909090; display: block; margin-top: -10px; height: 5px; width: 320px; text-align: right; font-size: xx-small]Amazon Fresh[/COLOR]
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Thanks to science, we can enjoy screwdrivers from Christmas to the 4th of July.</span>

There is just one downside to the process (from the manufacturers' point of view, that is) -- it removes all the taste from the liquid. So, now they're stuck with vats of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">extremely</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>vintage watery fruit muck that tastes of paper and little else. What's a poor giant beverage company to do? Why, they re-flavor that shit with a carefully constructed mix of chemicals called<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a flavor pack, which are manufactured by the same fragrance companies that formulate CK One and other perfumes. Then they bottle the orange scented paper water and sell it to you.

And, thanks to a loophole in regulations, they often<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>don't even bother mentioning<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the flavor pack chemicals in the list of ingredients. Hear that low moan from the kitchen? That's the Minute Maid you bought yesterday.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">It knows you know</em>.

[COLOR=#909090; display: block; margin-top: -10px; height: 5px; width: 219px; text-align: right; font-size: xx-small]Getty[/COLOR]
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Braaaaaaaains!"</span>

<span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #000000; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">

Read more:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>http://www.cracked.com/article_1943...-food-industry-feeding-you.html#ixzz2cYZvcdnf</span>

 

[launderess]

"generic" food in the white cans with just the name

Ohhh yes!

Remember seeing those tins in one's childhood and as often occurs with youth we were quite cruel; called them "welfare/food stamps" food and such. Mother would never touch such "off the wall" things so never found out how good (or not) they tasted. By the time one was on one's own they had vanished.

Consumer Reports now and then rates major brand versus store/private label items and according to them some of the latter are good as or even better than former. Indeed private label/store brands are giving major brands a run for their money in some areas.

Kirkland products for instance rank either on par or just below many brands in most categories. Have always found store brand frozen veggies just as good when compared to "Bird's Eye" or other major brands. Indeed the only time one purchases major brand veggies is when they are on sale.

As for OJ, Tropicana always gets my vote. Simply Juice is a close runner up. Happily one local supermarket always as one brand of OJ on sale each week and it seems almost every other week or so Tropicana comes on sale (2 for $5). This Tropicana sale is repeated at other supermarket in the area but the price can vary as much as one or more dollars higher. One stocks up during these sales and usually have enough to last until the next promotion. Maybe if someone has a cold, flu or otherwise unwell we go though a lot of OJ, otherwise it is just a glass or two at breakfast.

 

[whirlcool]

If you ever look at Walgreen's house brands they have a disclaimer on it. Take their version of mouthwash which looks and tastes like Listerine. It'll say something like "This product was NOT produced by Warner-Lambert or any of it's affiliates. This is NOT Listerine." I've seen things like that on several of Walgreen's products.

Walmart screwed up a few years ago by dropping several brand names so they could include more of their Great Value products in their stores. This was because the GV products had a bigger profit margin. Lots of people abdicated to other grocery stores because they could no longer find the brands they want. It took Walmart a year to realize this and they rushed to get some of the dropped name brands into their stores. In the Houston market Walmart has moved to number 2 in the volume category. HEB has moved into first place. They carry a better line of brand name goods at prices that are within pennies of what Walmart charges for them.

My mother once told me about the margarine they had during the war years that had yellow food coloring packets in the package.She said without it margarine was bright white.

Joe, I am so glad you were able to treat your dog for Parvo. Over the years vets are getting better at treating it and the survival rate is now about 15%. Does your dog have any "ticks"? (as in uncommanded muscle movements?) Lots of Parvo survivors have those because Parvo is a neurological disease that screws up brain connections. I think it sounds like your dog may have had something scare it one day when toast was being made and the smell is associated with the scare. Have you tried putting a few pieces of toast in her food from time to time? Just start out with crumbs and work your way up to about 1/2 a slice (in pieces) over a period of a couple weeks. Make you a bet her fear of toast will go away. It's replacment therapy and usually works.

 

[launderess]

Most If Not All Generic/Private Lable Brands

Carry that warning now. We see it here on everything from contact lens to oral care products.

Brand name products also now often carry a blurb about how their *original* product/formula is not resold as "private label" and so forth. Original Listerine IIRC has words to this effect printed on their labels.

 

[arbilab]

I find Kroger cheaper than wallyworld for almost everything I buy and I use their house brands almost exclusively. Same with HEB when I lived in Austin. Not to mention both are nowhere near the zoo WW is.

 

[twintubdexter]

Allen,

The type of Parvo little Holly had was the intestinal variety as opposed to the cardiac type. Most puppies die from it. The crusty old man from Yucca Valley that I got her from didn't take care of the puppies and I'm sure the other six dogs in the litter all died. He felt it was not necessary for the dogs to get puppy shots and said all the dog needed was a "flea bath" to get rid of the (200+) ticks. I reported him to the authorities. He brought the dog to me, I never knew his address. Four days in the animal hospital was very expensive. I never regreted it. The wind-up kitchen timer sends her out the dog door and into the bushes too...go figure.

Now, so I don't get accused getting completely off topic, I forgot all about Costco's Kirkland being a house brand. All of the Kirkland stuff seems top quality. You see more and more Kirkland wines which have received excellent reviews. I understand a contract with Costco for a winery is a real prize.

 

[alr2903]

Kroger Value

Arbilab I could not agree more on Krogers in house brands. We use them too. Kroger also has a great meat dept. The quality is there. Another nice thing about Kroger is they have an employee on the shopper side of the cash registers directing you to shorter/quicker checkout lines. They also offer double gasoline points for discounts at their fuel stations. Without the discount the pumps are priced in line with other gas stations. I just prefer to shop there. I honestly could not tell you the last time I set foot in a Wal-Mart. alr

 

[whirlcool]

Here in Houston Kroger is one of the most, if not the most expensive grocery store. Butter averages $5.00 per pound. Bread is $2.99 per loaf.

However I will counter by saying they have the best selection of groceries. They carry a lot of things that other stores here don't. For example, I love Smucker's Boysenberry pancake syrup. All the other stores carry just Smucker's Blueberry Syrup.
Krogers has Boysenberry, Strawberry and Blueberry. However the other stores charge about $1.99 for the blueberry while Krogers charges $2.99 for all flavors.

Back to the white canned generic items. How long did those last? They seemed to be around for a year or so then it seemed like they dropped off the face of the planet. I have heard some people say that those are now house branded goods.

 

[whirlcool]

A few years ago I read about a study that was done in Arizona about what is in people's garbage. What they found was pretty amazing. Things like the higher the value of the neighborhood the higher the chances of generic or house brand items were consumed. Except when a party was held, then brand name goods were used.

I found that pretty interesting.

 

[danemodsandy]

Brand Names and Self-Image

Allen:

In the half of my career that deals with special-needs people (who are usually lower-income as well), I see an insistence on brand names all the time. Any suggestion that a client's limited funds might stretch further at ALDI than at Hy-Vee is met with enormous resistance. In other stores, suggestions that a house brand or generic product might save money is almost guaranteed to upset the client as well. The people I serve want what they see on television, nothing "less." It is as if they feel they receive validation as a person from owning expensive products, and that they would be devalued as human beings somehow if they did not get to choose brand names. It is a VERY big deal to them, as in huge, and no amount of counseling ever, ever makes the slightest difference in the situation.

 

[yogitunes]

interesting thread....

to get around certain name brand items...like cereal.....my kids want the name brand stuff.....no biggie, I buy the Millville brand at ALDI....and in my secret laboratory called the laundryroom, at night time, I take the bag out of one and replace it in the name brand box, and it gets placed in the cabinet....they never know the difference....same goes for mayonnaise.....

its like taking the Pepsi challenge and they all chose Jif!....some can't tell the difference.....

when working for Seabrook Brothers, who package frozen foods for Birdseye, and Senaca AppleJuice in a jar.....the first batch of mixed, unfiltered stuff gets bottled first with the store label.....once the clear juice starts to come down the bottles change and Senaca's label is then placed on it......did you really think there was a difference?....everything is from the smae tree.....and you think your getting a better product!!!....guess again!

years ago we used to shop PathMark..I liked them because they were open 24 hours a day...they had one whole isle of generic stuff.....white boxes and labels, a thin red and blue stripe circled it, and in black letters "No Frills" brand.....most stuff tasted and worked the same....

 

[fido]

Aldi

You have Aldi in the States then? These Germans get everywhere!