Big Brands vs Own Brands

mon1o

oooooh thankyou rosie! looks like that might be just what i need!

WestonDave

Not sure the extent to which other supermarkets are doing it, but Tesco are "making up" brands so they can sell effectively own brand stuff without it being so obvious. For example in terms of washing powder etc, they sell things under the "Daisy" brand, but when you look closely at the packaging it states it was produced for Tesco. That might be a way to wean off the big names without necessarily having a big "Tesco" logo on the table etc. Its not just the washing powder - all sorts of stuff comes under names but is really Tesco own brand!

rosie383

I think you will love it! You will definitely learn lots.

squeaky

This thread is well worth a browse... What Value things have you tried and liked?


Must admit I thought that there would be some things I thought I'd never "step down" on - like Heinz baked beans for example. Every alternative I tried was 'orrible. Until the day I tried Arsda's smart price ones. They seem to be only slightly different, very edible, and the adjustment wasn't at all hard to make. Of course personal tastes vary - but anyway, that one was a win for me

shandyclover

We buy almost everthing own brand or value. We made a rule in our family everyone is allowed 1 brand each. For e.g. I get Twinnings Earl Grey, hubby likes real Tabasco, DD2 Arm and Hammer toothpaste, DD3 Tampax Pearl, DD4 Patterson Oat Cakes!
If they want to have a new 'brand' put on the shopping list they can - but must give up the present one in favor of a supermarket brand or value brand. Seems to work quite well as it encourages brand obsessive teens to be willing to experiment with other options if they decide there is a new branded product they can't live without. To be a good example I am currently trying the Tesco discount brand of Earl Grey, and hubby is trying a new hotsauce from Home Bargains - suprise, suprise we have both decided we like them better!

building_with_lego

...And when you get all the way down to trying the value ranges please remember this:
supermarkets have designed the value range packaging to be garishly, obviously cheap and therefore shame you into spending more on the own brand/ mainstream branded equivalent. Deny the shame! Often it's pretty much as good as you need. Good luck

nannygladys

Hi
Im another one who shops mostly own brands but wont compromise on coffee, I have tried, but it doesnt do it for me. I also shop at Home B's for t paper, shampoo, eggs, toothpaste and also roasted peppers and toms in jars, much cheaper than SM's I only started going in there recently when my daughter told me about it, they have all sorts of things there and I have to be careful not to buy things I shoulnd
Jxxt:)

angeltreats

We tend to do most of the shopping in Aldi/Lidl so we buy their brands. DH unfortunately likes branded breakfast cereal, but buys them exclusively when they are on offer. I absolutely refuse to scrimp on tea (PG Tips and Twinings Earl Grey), coffee (I buy Nespresso capsules, and Illy ground coffee when it's on offer and Douwe Egberts when it isn't, and I never ever drink instant), kitchen roll (Plenty, I buy lots when it's on offer) and a few other things.

I highly recommend that you give Lidl and Aldi a try if you haven't already. Some of the products are fantastic - for instance I would go out of my way to buy the parmesan and chorizo and other charcuterie, and the olives are gorgeous.

LondonDreamer

There's a thread (it may be in the Food Shopping forum) which is the "great disguised brand hunt" - basically a lot of tips for what own brands are actually made and packaged directly by the big brands themselves. I used to work in product production (although not food) and can confirm that some of our goods were sold unlabelled to generic suppliers to rebrand and resell. Exactly the same except for the label on the front, but about a 10x price difference!

So, knowing that - I always buy either own brand or value/basic level for almost everything. Having said that, I tend to have quite a few branded items in my trolley each week but this is ONLY because I shop offers and branded items go on offer more often. So if they're cheaper than the own brand equivalent, they'll get purchased instead.

The only things I can think of that I regularly buy branded are...
Dairy free spread - Only a couple of brands available
Tea - DH only likes Tetley, I've tried him on others
Soft drinks (except lemonade) - Don't buy often, but prefer the taste of branded
Toothpaste - only due to taste, not effectiveness
Bisto - again for taste, love the Favourite granules

All of the above (except the spread since it rarely goes on offer being a specialist product) only get purchased when they're on at least a half price offer. I have to admit though that the last two are actually a habit. I stick to the brand that I know I like the taste of as I'm quite fussy about them. Will try an own brand again next time though, out of curiosity.

FairyLight

Hi mon1o!

Firstly, I would say don't be aiming for £30 a month like in ILoveEoins thread! That's a short term solution just to fill their empty bellies and have something to wash with, but not really very healthy in the long run...

What I would say those is it generally doesn't hurt to try the own / value brand stuff - OH and I buy value where we like the item (the majority of things), and normal supermarket brand where we don't like the value version (eg shower gel, coffee). The majority of basics things are worth a go and you'll soon learn what suits you. Stock up on branded things where you dont like the value version when on offer and it doesn't make much difference (recently our local shop was doing Blue Dragon sauces e.g. sweet and sour for 29p so we stocked up, for example).

Good luck!

FairyLight