Name Brand vs. Store Brand – Which Is Better?

These days, we’re all looking to save money anywhere possible. One of the easiest ways is by buying store brand products rather than name brand at the supermarket. Many of the store brand products are even made by the makers of the national brand. By purchasing store brand over name brand products, you could possibly save more than $1,500 a year. Consumer Reports recently conducted a taste test comparing name and store brand products.

One of the biggest reasons associated with the stigma of buying store brand products are prior experiences that were negative. Almost all supermarkets now have money back guarantees on their own labeled products. And gone are the days of the “No Frills” boring all white generic labels. Most of the store brand packaging looks very similar, especially in color, to their brand name equivalent.

Here are the results of the Consumer Reports test:

Soup – Cambell’s Chicken Noodle vs. Food Lion
The winner here was the Food Lion soup. It didn’t seem as fatty and it has more distinctive flavors.

Hot Dogs – Oscar Mayer vs. A&P’s America Choice
The winner was America Choice…full of flavor and juicy, compared to the Oscar Meyer brand being rubbery and having a slight ashy-taste.

Ginger Ale – Canada Dry vs. A&P’s America Choice
This was a tie. Having very similar taste and quality.

Cheese Slices – Kraft Singles vs. Kroger American Singles
This was also a tie. Both had the same consistency and taste and someone probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference in a sandwich.

Peanut Butter – Skippy Creamy vs. Albertsons Creamy
Tie. Both had a good taste. The Skippy though had more of a deep roast taste where the Albertsons brand had a slight hint of molasses flavor.

Frozen Peas – Birds Eye vs. Wegmans
Birds Eye was the winner. Their peas had a sweeter fresher taste.

Butter – Land O’ Lakes vs. Wegmans
Land O’ Lakes wins. On their own, Land O’ Lakes had a slightly better taste with more of a touch of that sweet-cream taste.

Canned Tuna – Bumble Bee vs. Target’s Marget Pantry
Bumble Bee was the hands down winner. The Market Pantry brand hardly had any tuna taste and seemed more like chemicals in a can.

Which one do you prefer to buy?

[Source: Consumer Reports]