Are you a slave to name brands when you shop or do you buy generic?

You learn to see through the hype when you have a limited budget. I learned this many years ago.

Depends on what I’m shopping for. For medications it doesn’t matter.

Brand labels? Ha, FCUK that…err, I mean no, not really.

After comparing brands and generics, I decided there wasn’t a lot of difference. Cheaper canned fruit is NOT as good; fruit is smaller and not as firm, so I buy brand for that unless it ends up smooshed anyhow in the dish I make. I’ll try the non brand name first now and go back to the brand if I’m not satisfied with it. Budget is more important than it used to be.

Some things yes, some no. Depends what kind of things you are talking about, clothes, food?

I’m not a slave, but I can be extremely brand loyal. In fact, there are some products that people tend to be very loyal about. Mayonaise is one. In America you are either a Kraft, Hellman’s or Miracle Whip person for the most part, and you don’t crossover.

But back to me. I often try a store brand to see if I like it. I will give it a chance. Sometimes they are as good, sometimes not. Once in a while I like the private label better. Nothing, nothing can ever replace Coca Cola! It’s the real thing after all. Now I don’t drink it except a few times a year (I don’t drink caffeine anymore) and if I am drinking caffeine free soda I don’t care what brand it is. I will only use Hellman’s mayo, Stouffer’s frozen food is the best, unless I am looking for vegan meals or seafood then I seek other brands. I could go on naming foods where I am very brand loyal.

As far as medication, I stick with brand for ibuprofen, because Advil puts a nice candy coating on the pill that makes it easier for me to swallow, which matters a lot to me. I also demand brand for the thyroid medicine I take now, because the generic falls apart easily and I am so sensistive that leaving a little bit of the meds behind in the bottle can affect me. However, my old thyroid med was generic and it was fine, I was allergic to the brand. Many many generics are not coated well or are larger than the brand pill, which I find annoying because of the trouble I have swallowing and also with some drugs they get all screwed up looking on the shelf. They burst open, or crack, or look like they were in a very humid environment when they weren’t and this is a problem for drugs I take as needed, because it’s nice to have a small stash kept at home. Most medications I think it is fine to take the generic though. Especially things like pain meds or anything that it doesn’t matter if the dose varies a little. I recently took half generic and half brand for shingles, because the pharmacy ran out of the generic.

With clothes, I but what I think looks cool, and prefer no name brands. And 90% of the time that I’m shopping for clothes (a rare occasion), it’s at a thrift store.
With food, I buy the least expensive, but without risking too many nutrients. For example, there’s no difference between Hood milk and generic milk, except for the price obviously. However, Cabot yogurt is a bit more expensive but has much more protein and less sugar than the generic brand, so it’s worth it in that case.
For medicine, I always had the CVS brand. I talked to a pharmacist about the difference once about one of my grandmother’s meds, and the pharmacist said that the only difference was the name on the package, same exact active ingredient.
I do, however, like name brand shoes, but luckily my taste in shoes is that of older styles so I buy them at thrift stores for somewhere around $10—$20.

I buy Kirkland brand often, which is Costco generic. Some things I buy name brand, some generic, depends on what it is. It would be a very long post to go into each and every item that I buy and what it is, but no, I am not a “slave” to name brand anything.

It depends. I do buy generic canned beans and tomatoes, but I buy brand name coffee. There is a difference in quality.

I tend to buy brand name clothing (again, a difference in quality).

I tend to buy Meijer brand (the store’s own brand) They’re not terribly expensive and it’s good stuff.

I need good coffee and tuna, though (no-name tuna takes like ass). Other than that, name brands are not important to me.

I used to buy only brand-name clothing and food products, because I think the quality is generally better and also I’m a bit of a brand snob. Increasingly, however, I find myself satisfied with generic brands. One exception: Ralph Lauren Polo shirts. I know they’re turned out by a variety of manufacturers all over the world and also ridiculously expensive, but I’ve never found another brand that fits me as well.

@JLeslie You are dead on about mayonnaise. I always used to buy Hellmann’s, but recently I’ve been buying the Hannaford brand mayo(Hannaford is a northeastern US supermarket chain). It is much cheaper and tastes exactly like Hellmann’s.

With soda it is a whole different story. Coca Cola is one of those things that can’t be reproduced because it has a secret formula that no one except the company knows.

I used to work retail and would suggest the generic meds like ibuprofen, generic tums, pepto etc, and people would insist that they didn’t work. It is all in their head. I always use generic and they work just fine.

It honestly depends on what it is. For medication, I could care less whether it is brand name or not so long as the active ingredient is the same. Food, it depends because certain non brand tings don’t taste as good. For example, I can’t stand store brand ketchup. It’s disgusting, so I’ll stick to my brands (Hunts) for that. Same as JLeslie said about coca cola <—nothing tastes the same. For clothes and shoes, I’m pretty brand loyal because a lot of lower brands I have discovered don’t last as long. Certain clothes I can deal with like dresses and top from Charlotte Russe, Forever 21, etc. But jeans I must buy from Lucky or Guess for them to fit me properly and last a long time. I buy crappy brand shoes but the shoes that last me the longest are always the most expensive ones for some reason yet I treat them all the same.

I almost always buy the store brand or the generic version.

Paul’s extremely fond of Heinz ketchup and won’t use anything else, so I buy that name brand. Just about everything else, however, is the same regardless of its label.

It’s not a matter of being frugal; it’s just common sense. Why spend more for “a trusted name” in aspirin when the generic bottle contains the exact same product?

I buy the cheapest version possible. I always read the labels, even on products I am used to buying, since they often change with no notice. There are a few times when one brand tastes better than another, or performs better. Just last month I bought a really cheap sandwich margarine. It was worse than using salad oil on our bread, so I went back to the more expensive one.

Hunts? No no no. Must be Heinz. Heinz, Chrysler, Hershey’s, Hellmann’s, Coca Cola, Hebrew National, Entemann’s…well, in the old days, my mother’s day, those were the brands of my “group.” Personally, I don’t love Hershey’s, but it is like home to me; and I was pretty Japanese car loyal, until I let me husband take over the car choosing, and he is partial towards German cars, which back in my mother’s day my “group” would not have bought for all the tea in China.

Generic or store brands as often as possible.

I am a slave to a fixed income!

Totally depends on the product. In my experience, generic canned fruits and veggies aren’t as good as the name brands, so I shy away from those. I’m a total slave to Sprite Zero, Heinz ketchup (Hunts is a no-go!), Hellman’s mayo, Bounty paper towels and Charmin Ultra Strong toilet paper. For just about everything else, I’ll buy generic, including medications.

I was just cleaning Martin’s bathroom (i.e. scrubbing his empty litterbox and refilling it). I realized that I always buy overpriced, brand-name kitty litter. I’ve tried the store labels, but they’re simply not any good. Inexpensive clumping litter usually doesn’t bind; the clumps break up when scooped and fall back into the litterbox, creating a mess and a reeking smell of ammonia. Yuck!

@SadieMartinPaul I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re totally right. I always buy good name-brand litter.

There are a few things I didn’t think of. Kitty litter, dog food, shampoo (Aussie is my fave), coffee and ice cream. I guess I am a bit of a slave.

It depends what it is. Certain food items I go with brand names because they are simply better tasting products. When it comes to clothes though, not at all. I’m actually really against the idea of wearing brand name clothing. To me it just doesn’t make sense, I need to pay Company X $20 to wear a shirt around with Company X’s logo or name written across the front. Shouldn’t they be paying me to be a walking billboard?

Generic unless it’s a great sale price…lol

I read the ingredients and decide which item to purchase based on which has the best content, depending on what I’m looking for. Some generics are less processed than the name brands, while others have more artificial ingredients.

It’s the same thing, but cheaper. I buy generic.

I only buy name brands for specific things like toilet paper, coffee, chocolate, cat litter, cigarettes… you know, the important things, haha.

*meant heinz. had to check the fridge lol. knew it started with an “h”. I’m one of those people that just recognizes the bottle design lol

I don’t think I do buy brand stuff specifically. On a night out at the pub, I might drink Peroni mostly, because it is a bloody nice beer even though you’d need a second mortgage on the house just to pay for a pint of the stuff in some places. I’m not too fussed.
Beans…Heinz is the way to go as far as I’m concerned. I’ve tried some generic stuff – the own brand variety – and one or two times it’s lead to a very dodgy stomach so if a brand is better than a generic, for whatever reason so long as it doesn’t make me feel like my stomach is being put through a vice, then I’ll get it, otherwise food is food, drink is drink and medicine is medicine so long as it works.
Anything else not related to food and drink and medicine, well, for software (mostly games) I used to get E.A. or nothing, but Electronic Arts has done so many bad things in the way it does it’s business within itself as well as with it’s consumers that I don’t much care for them anymore. Or Microsoft for that matter. I’m partial to Henley clothing (even though some cheeky sales assistant bint from an H&M said they were so last year that they hadn’t got any of their stuff in), and most of my sportswear is Puma gear.

@SamandMax “Otherwise food is food, drink is drink…”

Blasphemer! Only Dr. Pepper is Dr. Pepper! That you could even suggest…..... oh, dear me, I’m having an episode over here!

@WillWorkForChocolate well mr. pibb will do in a pinch for dr. pepper lmao

No, no, no! The Walmart brand substitute isn’t the same, either! Just no! The both of you, ugh! :D