House Brands

[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!

 

[danemodsandy]

Phil:

Yes, ALDI is a strong presence here; the U.S. stores are owned and operated by ALDI Sud.

They do a lot of things well, and one can save a lot of money there, but customer service is a very, very weak point; if you have a problem that cannot be resolved by a simple exchange or refund, you almost never receive a satisfactory response.

 

[whirlcool]

Aldi just opened up a bunch of stores in Houston this past March. Since the buildings are exactly the same as the ones in Chicago I thought they would be the same, but they are not. There is no logical explanation as to how the store is laid out. The interior of the store is very small. In fact with the racks they use to display merchandise and most of the signs are in Spanish I have the feeling I'm shopping at a charity food bank. They don't have much inventory, just a few pkgs of each item offered. the location is great, right in the middle between two major grocery stores a Walmart and a HEB of whom are involved in a price war. I feel they could do better than they are. Since we already have some of the lowest food prices in the U.S. all Aldi can do is come in 4 or 5 cents cheaper then the regular stores do. BTW, I've been to an Aldi in Germany and those are great!

Now on the other hand, the Aldi store is spectacularly clean and the employees (the only ones ever seen are the cashiers) are very outgoing and friendly.

But Houston is a very competitive food town and lots of grocery chains have come and gone simply because they couldn't tailor themselves to the Houston marker. BTW, Aldi expects to have 35 stores open in Houston by year end.

 

[danemodsandy]

Allen:

The Achilles heel of ALDI is that they pre-program everything and everybody to an extent that makes it hard for the system to respond when there is a systemic problem.

An example here in Iowa occurred a couple of years ago when the quality of their Burman's mayonnaise suddenly became unacceptable. It was runny, funky-tasting and you did not buy it twice, trust me.

Complaints to store personnel got the offer of a refund, nothing more. Complaints to ALDI corporate generated no response, which is their usual standard of customer care. Only after sales for the mayo dwindled to essentially nothing, and sales across the board were affected (I got this info from a rogue employee who actually talks to customers), did ALDI get on the stick and take the necessary steps to restore the former quality of the product. Total time? Perhaps six months.

The mayo is back to normal, but there are other problems from a customer perspective, and there is nothing you can do but fume - or go to the fully stocked, completely competent and brand-name-carrying Walmart right across the street.

 

[perc-o-prince]

b/w generics

I remember them from the '80's! No Frills was the tag line as I remember.

I buy an awful lot of store brands. Honey Bunches of Oats is like $3.29 but the delish Market Basket equal (maybe with berries or almonds, if I choose) sells for $2.

Price Chopper brand lite blue cheese dressing can be stacked up against most of the major brands, including Ken's, and is much better than Wish Bone at about 1/2 the price!

Price Chopper almond milk is about $0.75 cheaper than Silk, and tastes much better (though the Blue Diamond brand is slightly better than the PC one and on sale a lot).

Funny- at Price Chopper they have their own brand of stuff, but they also have Central Market which is their more upscale store brand, and they've now come up with GV (Great Value) packaged minimally in yellow/black for a generic feel.

There aren't any glaring problems I've come across with the Price Chopper brand goods. Even their TP, when you compare it to what they say they're comparing it to on the label, is good. What I think is really funny is when I see the PC and brand-named items next to each other and you swear they're in the same bottles- ribbing and all (like plastic juice bottles)!!

Chuck

 

[arbilab]

Kroger or HEB housebrand French onion dip is INFINITELY better than Kraft, which doesn't even resemble food.

If Kroger is expensive in Houston, they are marketing to a different niche (variety) because they know they can't beat HEB. DFW doesn't have HEB. HEB doesn't have card or senior discounts, Kroger does. Wallyworld has neither. The only thing I buy there is bluejeans.

There are only 2 things I don't buy Kroger house brands. One is tartar sauce, which from talking with others is a highly subjective taste. The other is cranberry-grape juice; Kroger's contains high fructose which I avoid like the plague, national costs a dollar more but contains cane/beet sugar.

 

[retromania]

Aldi

The one here in Anderson stays packed. It's way up on the north end near the interstate. Not practical for me unless I stop there on my way home from work. It is small on the inside and cluttered. With lot's of people in there it's hard to push a buggy through. So I mostly shop elsewhere,

 

[frigilux]

The only grocery store in my little burg is a HyVee. I purchase quite a few of their house brand items and have been quite pleased with the quality of most of them.

HyVee cake mixes still weigh in at 18.25 ounces!! They're the only ones I buy, anymore.

Hisses: Bags of HyVee brand shredded cheeses are following the downsize trend, unfortunately. A number of the varieties are down to 7 ounces, and I saw a couple yesterday that were 6! I make a chafer pan (double-recipe sized) egg bake for the break room at work once a month, and the recipe calls for two 8-ounce bags of shredded Cheddar. Only the Mild variety of cheddar still comes in an 8-oz. bag. I bought a couple dozen on sale ($1.67) and threw them in the freezer.