A Lesson in Generic v/s Name Brand

I've learned something very important in my quest to save money while feeding Glenn and myself incredible meals. Sometimes cheap isn't always better. Sometimes, it's okay to just set standards and spend a little extra money on the name brand. While I'm usually a thrifty person who feels generic is just as good, there are certain things that I feel it's almost sacreligious to go cheap on! This blog will exploit the name brand v/s generic controversy how I see it, and will include things that are not edible (so please, don't go chowing down on toilet paper...)

1. Macaroni & Cheese. I'm sorry but the store brand Mac & Cheese has the most disgusting cheese powder substitute. It's not the same and I'd rather eat cold/stale popcorn for days than eat generic mac & cheese.

2. Coffee. Okay, so I'm a coffee snob. Glenn and I have even subscribed to Gevalia so we get the best coffee delivered to our house once a month, or every other month. Once you taste this coffee, you realize just what crap Folgers is... even the "gormet" Folgers. I can't even imagine what the store brand stuff tastes like. Probably like the stuff they serve on an airplane... which, by the way, tastes like poison.

3. Wheat Bread. Sorry to break it to ya, but the store brands of "wheat bread" is just white bread dyed brown. You're not getting any extra nutrients and it doesn't taste nearly as good. If I can't see all the grains in the bread, it's crap. Period.

4. Brown Rice. Okay, I used to buy the store brand brown rice because I wanted the extra nutrients and fiber... woah and behold, it tasts like poo. Boiled grains of poo. Loading it up with butter and salt just to make it taste good defeats the purpose of going brown. Try Uncle Bens and you'll see what I mean.

5. Whole Wheat Pasta. Same as the rice. I hated the store brand kind so I decided to just go back to white. Then last night I cooked some of the name brand stuff and holy cow was it good!!!!

6. Spaghetti Sauce. I am a Prego-only woman. I hate sauce in the can... that is just wrong on so many levels. I like it in a jar and full of mushrooms. No brand makes sauce like Prego's Chunky Garden Mushroom. Otherwise, I make my own sauce...

7. Toilet Paper. I understand that for guys, this isn't as big of a deal. But come on, 1-ply tp isn't good for the ladies! We're sensitive, we need 2-ply for our "area." Charmin Ultra is my fave.

8. Ground Beef. Um... sorry, but there is a reason that Kroger brand ground beef is just $1/lb. It's loaded with fat, hormones, and who knows what was fed to those cows! If I need ground beef, I go ahead and splurge on Laura's Lean. It's all grain fed beef from KY and you can buy it with only 4% fat content. You can't get much better than that.

9. Chicken Breasts. Have you ever bought a bag of the Tyson's chicken breasts, and then turned around and bought Kroger brand? I can't believe the difference... the Kroger brand doesn't even taste like real chicken... it's basically a chunk of fat with a tad of meat. Lately, I've been buying the chicken breasts that are also fat free, hormone free, grain fed only, and individually shrink wrapped. Sure it's $6 for 3 breasts, but at least we're taking care of ourselves. I have enough hormones in my system going haywire, I don't need them from my chicken!

10. Fruit Preserves. I've tried it. I've tried buying Kroger brand raspberry and blackberry preserves for some toast... yuck. That stuff isn't made from fruit...

11. Soda. While I agree lemon lime soda isn't much different from one another, Coke surpasses Big K and Sam's Choice Cola by a landslide. They are not the same.

12. Orange Juice. The only good O.J. on the market right now is Simply Orange. I don't care what anyone says, it's even the better than running oranges through my juicer.

Now, there are certain things that tend to be just as good as name brand and I'll give them some spotlight as well:

1. Frozen Veggies. Seriously, they're just as good. Probably all from the same farmer.

2. Vitamins. While some people disagree, it's been proven that certain store brands of vitamins (Kroger) is just as good, if not better than some of the brand names. Boo-yah!

3. Blocks of Cheese. If you need some blocks of cheese to shred for those tacos tonight, just go store brand.

4. Milk. I'm not a big milk fan, but it's all the same. If I need to buy milk for cooking purposes, I go Kroger brand. Again, probably all from the same farmer.

5. Paper Towels. Unless you need a certain kind... for us, we have to buy the Kleenex brand because Glenn blows his nose so hard, he needs the strength and softness of the Kleenex brand. They're like cloth. If we don't buy those, he ends up looking like Rudolph. However, before we were married, I was buying the 50 cent rolls at Kroger.

6. Pain Meds. You do realize they're all made in the same exact factory, right? They're sorted and stamped with brand names in the same exact factory. You can't even begin to argue that there is a difference in name brands & generic asprin. Just save yourself some money!

7. Dish Soap. Come on, really? I mean, sure, I used to only buy Dawn brand, but that was only because they were giving a portion of all sales towards saving the ducks from oil spills! I remember those commercials of the environmentalists washing the baby ducks in Dawn soap to get the oil off them... made me cry enough that I started buying Dawn soap to do my part in saving the ducks. Well... that was a couple years ago and since they don't exactly promote their charity habits anymore, I've switched to cheap.

8. Sugar. Like most of the above, I guarantee sugar is all processed in the same factory. I always just buy the cheapest bag of sugar that I can find. It does the trick just fine.

9. Seasoning. Needing to refill your spice rack with dried oregano, rosemary, parsley, and thyme? Just go generic. Unless you're looking for fresh herbs, the generic dried herbs are just as good. In fact, many of them can be found at the Dollar Tree!

10. Eggs. Honestly, they probably all came from the same farm as well. Just check them for cracks and discoloration. Otherwise, one egg is as good as the next. Name brands mean nothing.