Generic vs. Name

[Andara Bledin]

Some things for me - dish soap. I need to get Dawn. anything else and it's just awful. i could dump the whole bottle in and still not get any real good suds.

As mentioned, suds are useless. Who cares how much sudsing action you get as long as the soap makes it easier to get the dishes cleaned? I actually use a store-brand dish soap (Kroger), and it is way too overactive in the suds department. Thankfully, it's also a decent soap.

Although I'm not sure if this is fair - I think they can mark the products down not because the food is inferior but because they don't waste millions of dollars coming up with catchy designs for the packaging.

This is true. And it's no just the packaging, but the lack of millions spent on advertising for the products.

Most major cereal producers have two lines - One for the name brand box cereal and another for the generic bagged cereal. It's the same exact cereal going through the same exact production facility, but packaged in different containers and given different labels. They sell the generic version for about half to 2/3 the price of the brand version, and still sell more of the brand version because people are afraid of the unknown. The trick with this is to not get the store generics, but the generic generics.

Generally, generic is no different than name brand except in name and price. A lot of people will claim that the name brand is better but that's all in their head. For things like food, drugs, etc., generic is the exact same thing, only cheaper.

Actually, not so with most drugs. There are fillers, colorants, and coatings and other ingredients that don't get listed on the labels for drugs that can have different effects on people. In some cases, the generic will cause problems that the brand doesn't, and sometimes it's the other way around. I don't have problems with colorants or other fillers, so as long as the active ingredients are identical, I always go with the generic.

Saltine crackers are one where it depends on the use. For putting in soup, the store brand is every bit as good. But if I'm just going to eat crackers, the Nabisco ones are tastier. But for a lot of things it doesn't matter.

Saltines are a special case. For whatever reason, Nabisco really knows how to make a cracker, and I have yet to run across a non-Nabisco saltine cracker that wasn't inferior, and you'd think it wouldn't be that difficult to replicate.

I don't eat Sunshine anything if I can avoid it. Their versions are always bland and mostly-flavorless... like eating processed and flavored sawdust. This is a case where the generics are usually better.

^-.-^

[DrFaroohk]

Kinda like the old fish plant I worked at. We had different labels to slap on the boxes but they were all the same fish, same weights, sizes, and cuts. Came from the same ocean, same net caught them, same boat hauled them in. Difference? Price.

I was surprised about the soap thing - I aways thought the suds were better. I like there to be a real thick oily feel to the dish water. Made me feel like they were getting extra clean.

[Ginger Tea]

Having worked in a cake bakery for almost 4 years in the late 90's, I in the oven end of the bakery had no idea who what where or even when they would go to customers. I spent a few days in the packing room where our slabs were cut into slices ready for sealing in wrap and after X boxes for shop A were done, X boxes for shop B were then done, same cake different store brand lable. Now they as I recal didn't have a brand name themselves, but if they did it would possibly be very similar.

So it's no stretch of the imagination to think that some name brands also supply shops with generic, just maybe skimping on some ingredients.

I eat Sainsburys and Tescos fig buiscuits as they are way cheaper than Jacobs although they did jump up from 34p to 44p within a short time frame so I don't buy as many (yes it is only 10p but what seemed like 34p sunday and 44p monday is a bit to ask)

Jaffa Cakes McVitties all the time. although I don't eat them as much as I used to, a 12 pack could last a tea break.

Cola's and other soft drinks I normally go for brand name
I used to drink Sainsburys at one time when at the bakery but as coke and generics change all the time the sainsburys one started to taste off to me, but never as worse as Panda Cola.
Mind you are there generics for Tizer Irn Bru and Dr Pepper?

And I'm glad Brad Jones AKA the Cinema Snob got his wish for Christal Pepsi to come back. even if it is called Not See Cola

[Boozy]

Some good things to buy generic (in my experience):

Batteries
Mouthwash
Most canned goods
Rice and other grains
Club soda
Frozen veggies

Some things I always buy brand name:

Colas (Coke)
Facial tissue and toilet paper
Most detergents (hard to find the super-concentrated stuff in a generic)
Shampoo
Coffee

It seems that generic products are of lesser quality in these cases.

[ExRetailDrone]

I tried a generic brand of garbage bags once, and I will never do that again. Even for garbage loads that didn't have a lot of corners and such included, the bags were still ripping all over the place and I had to double or triple them up just so the contents of the bag wouldn't explode all over the place. In the long run, I definitely didn't save any money.

[Boozy]

*fun fact-sodium laurel sulfate/sodium laureth sulfate is what makes food taste strange after you brush your teeth-it's in toothpase for the same reason, people think foam=cleaning, it doesn't, baking soda cleans just as well as commercial toothpastes yet doesn't foam at all.

Except that you shouldn't use baking soda for everyday brushing because it's too abrasive. You'll start to erode your enamel.

[BlaqueKatt]

Some things for me - dish soap. I need to get Dawn. anything else and it's just awful. i could dump the whole bottle in and still not get any real good suds.

suds don't do anything, they're created by a specific surfactant chemical(usually sodium laurel sulfate*), because people think soap doesn't work without tons of foam.

how soap works-chemistry is fun.

*fun fact-sodium laurel sulfate/sodium laureth sulfate is what makes food taste strange after you brush your teeth-it's in toothpase for the same reason, people think foam=cleaning, it doesn't, baking soda cleans just as well as commercial toothpastes yet doesn't foam at all.

[HYHYBT]

Well, yes and no.... there are usually differences from one brand to another already. Coke and Pepsi don't taste the same, for example, and many people prefer one over the other. A store brand would be no different, for many things.

Honey Nut Cheerios are much better than whatever store brand version I had last, which was even sweeter and without much other taste. (I think it was from Ingles, but I'm not entirely sure.)

I love the instant iced tea from Wal-Mart.

Saltine crackers are one where it depends on the use. For putting in soup, the store brand is every bit as good. But if I'm just going to eat crackers, the Nabisco ones are tastier. But for a lot of things it doesn't matter.

[Greenday]

Generally, generic is no different than name brand except in name and price. A lot of people will claim that the name brand is better but that's all in their head. For things like food, drugs, etc., generic is the exact same thing, only cheaper.

[DrFaroohk]

A two parter....first: What are some products where the name brand is vastly superior to the generic to the point you just can't use it...

Some things for me - dish soap. I need to get Dawn. anything else and it's just awful. i could dump the whole bottle in and still not get any real good suds.

also toilet paper/paper towels. the cheap ones disintegrate and you actually use more than you would if you bought the good kind.

I'm typically a generic brand guy though...I always buy the local store brand of ketchup rather than the Heinz, for example...or the canned veggies. Or the milk.


Part 2 - things where the generic brand is vastly superior to the name brand?

there's a type of soda the local grocery store sells that's basically a generic mountain dew, but I think it tastes 100 times better.

pretty much all of wal-mart's Great Value foods I think are better. Especially the frozen pizzas. Although I'm not sure if this is fair - I think they can mark the products down not because the food is inferior but because they don't waste millions of dollars coming up with catchy designs for the packaging. Just a plain white box with a picture of the food on it.

continue!