Comments on: Managing Brand Creep in Grocery Shopping

By: Am

Am — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:01:59 +0000

Prices are changed daily in grocery stores. the cereal that was 3.65 Monday could easily be 3.89 Wednesday.

Just be aware of this.

By: superch665

superch665 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:51:15 +0000

Family was so happy when I bought Chef-Boy-R-Dee canned pasta instead of the store brand. It was worth the extra 10 cents (although to me they taste the same).

I’ve noticed that generic zip-top bags and trash bags do not have the same quality plastic or zips as name brand. To me this is also worth the extra money.

To me it’s trial and error to find what generic is just as good or better than the brand name. But definitely you can save some money if you at least try.

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:57:43 +0000

There are certain items – usually things that have a formula such as pop, hamburger helper, and those sorts of things. Food items like cheese, chicken, juice, etc. are exactly the same.

The things that I watch for most, and am willing to pay extra for, are fresh vs frozen, and with juices, whether they are made from concentrate or not. These are the things that affect quality…not the name on the package.

By: aaron 8 Pillars

aaron 8 Pillars — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:28:10 +0000

I would be interested to see how much money someone is saving from this approach to shopping. It always interests me when people get this specific to see how it really improves their bottom line or increases their savings.

By: Kevin@OutOfYourRut

Kevin@OutOfYourRut — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:20:50 +0000

If you’re brand loyal, try shopping at one of the food warehouses like Sams Club, Costco, etc. They have mostly brand names, but usually cheaper than store brands in the grocery chains. Right now you can buy Natures Own bread at Sams for less than the generic brand at the local grocery store. Thomas’s English Muffins too.

Regarding the grocery chains though, never assume store brands are always cheaper. At one of our local stores, 48 oz cans of Dole Pinapple Juice is 10 cents cheaper than the store brand and has been for a while. There are other examples of this.

By: tom

tom — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:40:10 +0000

I really think the brand name products in most cases taste better than the generic. I would, however, love to do some taste tests!

I don’t think most of the food brand names charge a higher price because of marketing. What marketing do they do? When was the last time you saw a commercial for Hunts tomato sauce? Or Dole canned fruit? Or even Heinz ketchup? There are many brand name product that do a lot of marketing, but they generally have intense rivalries with competitors like Pepsi, Gatorade, General Mills, Kellogs. I don’t know what would account for the higher price, because they can?

By: Keith Morris

Keith Morris — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:33:38 +0000

Great post! Can you explain how one goes about making and maintaining a price book?

By: tperko

tperko — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:32:47 +0000

There are some things that I always go for the brand on. I know it is ridiculous – I will have to focus on breaking the habit!

By: Tyler@FrugallyGreen

Tyler@FrugallyGreen — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:54:13 +0000

I think it’s actually a fairly common occurrence for the generic brand of a food to be packaged in the same facility by the same machines from the same stock as the brand-name foods, the difference, many times, being just the amount of money spent on advertising and marketing.

By: Blackie

Blackie — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:37:25 +0000

I have two brand allegiances;quality and price. Whomever can bring those to my table on any given day is the winner. Does any one recall in the sixties when Sears had a wonderful SLR camera at a very decent price? Turns out they were selling Nikons under the Sear’s brand.

By: My Journey

My Journey — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:58:33 +0000

In my MUCH younger days I worked for Vitamin Shoppe, and learned that their generic is actually made by the larger more known company, since VS didn’t even have a Manufacturing arm.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:21:38 +0000

Great read. I never understood the brand loyalties. I have been able to pay far less than generic brands for products by using coupons and sales. Only in these situations would I choose a brand name over a generic brand.