I insist on buying Cheerios, Ziplock Bags, and Silk Almond Milk because I can TOTALLY tell the difference in quality to the generic/store brand versions.
Which items do you think are worth the price to buy name brand?
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Cheerios, garbage bags and paper towels
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Best foods mayo. Tillamook Cheddar & ice cream.
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OJ: Only Simply Orange, Florida's Natural, or Tropicana
Cereal: Quaker Oatmeal Squares (store brand is not as good)
Frozen Broccoli (store brand tends to have more stalk in it)
Pizza Dough (Pillsbury)
Paper Towels (Viva)
Toilet Paper (Scott's Extra Soft) -
Saran Wrap. The generic makes me ragey!
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Heinz, Claussen and cereal
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My peanut butter absolutely must be Jif!
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Graham Crackers: Honey Maid.
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stretch-tite plastic wrap, i hate all other plastic wrap!
viva paper towels, so rarely do i use paper towels, but when i do, they must be viva
puffs ultra tissues
quilted northern ultra plush TP
tampax pearl or U by kotex tampons, but never generic!
claussen pickles
jiff or skippy PB, but not the store brandi skip store brands often because i can generally get name brands for less when matching coupons and sales. although target often has coupons for their own products and i'm often happy with their stuff
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Cat food, tampons, and ketchup. Everything else is fair game for generic.
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Heinz ketchup. Other than that I'm pretty willing to experiment!
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@2PeasinaPod: me too!
We are loyal to Teddy peanut butter and Benjamin Moore paint. Most food items I don't have much preference between name brand and Trader Joes brand.
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Cheerios and Kraft Mac-n-cheese are what come to mind first. Oh, and Campbell's soup (for actual eating, the ones I use in casseroles are fine generic). But that's when I'm eating unhealthy. I try not to buy those things at all, since they're so processed. Oh, and pop-tarts. Generic pop-tarts are not the same!
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@skipra: i wasn't sure what trader joe's would be considered, but i love almost everything they make, in fact i only buy their ketchup and turkey meatballs, all others are inferior
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OMG, YES to Heinz, Simply Orange, Kraft mac n cheese, Tampax and Honey Maid!
Also, Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil!
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@skipra: Oooh...paint too. We only use Behr paint. Used Olympic for our powder room and it was the worst paint ever!
And I also thought about our diaper geinie. The brand name bags are far better than the generic ones. We've tried several different brands including Target's Up and Up, and we end up wasting so much of the bag that we run through them faster. We now just get the brand name!
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ketchup (Heinz), trash bags (Glad Flex), Greek yogurt (Dannon's Lite and Fit), tampons (Tampax), toothpaste (Colgate)
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@2PeasinaPod: oh interesting. I was just using the target one but they filled up so up so quick I stopped using it all together. The name brand is better?
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nutella. i tried a generic once and it was awful.
in looking at what other people put, i agree with Heinz Ketchup, tampax, and Kraft dinner
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heinz and claussen
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@jedeve: Yes! I found that the target brand ones, the bag falls into the bucket entirely too much. With the name brand ones, I can fit way more diapers, and it has more of a grab so you're not wasting more of the bag when you start to stuff the diapers in!
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Bounty paper towels, Reynolds nonstick aluminum foil, Pampers diapers (tried costco and target...nope).
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@youboots: I
Tillamook Cheddar...can't find it on the east coast though. Miss it from my childhood! Cheese is definitely not a store-brand/generic item
Almond Butter: must be this kind with no added sugar from VT. The rest are so f'ing sugary sweet and gross.
TP: Charmin
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Heinz, Pampers, Tampax Pearl, Simply Grapefruit juice, Florida's Natural OJ, Thomas English muffins, Jif PB, Saran Wrap, Pepperidge Farm goldfish (my MIL gets these generic ones called "Whales" that are yucky!)
I hugely prefer brands to generics in most things. Not paper products though! I like Costco TP and paper towels
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@mrs. bird: YES to stretch-tite!
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@keepcalmcarrie: I also use Costco paper products. And Pepperidge Farm Goldfish are a MUST. The generic are GROSS!
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Heinz ketchup. For a lot of things, like yogurt, almond milk, and all other tomato products, I actually prefer the Whole Foods store brand (365) to anything else but I consider that more of a "name-brand" line than generic. Same with some TJs stuff (LOVE the brown sugar shredded wheats even though they're more candy than breakfast cereal...). I shop the bulk bins and do grind-your-own PB at WF, too, which I guess could be considered generic? I don't know. One of our local markets has some private label products that are awesome, as well (pasta sauce, wine, and chocolate mainly) but they're not the same as the true generic products they also sell.
We use Bambo Nature diapers and Seventh Generation wipes and don't mess with what works (though we have also used Honest in the past).
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Heinz Ketchup, OB tampons, Pampers Swaddlers
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@keepcalmcarrie: YES to Thomas English Muffins! I've tried various store brands are they are all awful in comparison. I also only buy DiGiornio's frozen pizza, Cheezits and Simply Orange juice.
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@yoursilverlining: have you tried Whole Foods for Tillamook Cheddar? My husband got it there last week as a Valentine's treat. We live in NC. A couple other grocery stores here sell it too.
My husband rejected the Aldi's strawberry jam last week saying he'll only eat Smuckers.
I agree Cheerios definitely tastes better than store brand versions. -
For me, it's not so much the item as it is the store brand. For example, I trust almost everything Kirkland brand - the only thing I really don't like of theirs is shampoo (can't stand the scent) and their diapers. Otherwise, almost everything Kirkland I've tried has been as good as the brand name.
Lucerne (generic Safeway brand) is pretty disappointing. Up&Up is usually OK (their tampons suck, though).
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Heinz Ketchup, Peter Pan peanut butter, Charmin TP, Simply OJ and lemonade, Reynolds wrap aluminum foil, Glad trash bags.
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Tillamook cheddar cheese
all breakfast cereal
Claussen pickles
Newman's Own salad dressing
Annie's macaroni and crackers
Darigold sour cream -
Cascade, Windex, Saran Wrap, Tide, OxyClean, Dawn, Glad, Tampax, Huggies or Pampers, Heinz, Claussen, Hidden Valley Ranch dip, Swiss Miss, Thomas English Muffins, Food 4 Life sprouted bread, and Amy's frozen meals. I'm sure there are others!
I mostly shop at Wegmans, and I do like all their store-brand products.
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Dh calls me a brand snob. I buy pretty much everything brand name because I haven't been real pleased with generic.
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Hellman's mayo and Heinz ketchup. Those are non-negotiable for me!
Also Bounty paper towels.
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I buy a lot of generics but bandaids? No way. Gotta be bandaid brand. Same for Kleenex....I do a ton of store brand food items and medications, though. DH won't let me bring home anything but schmuckers grape jelly.
@looch: my husband brought me home nabisco Graham's a few weeks ago. Not the same! I love the cinnamon honey maid
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Most of mine are local brands- better ingredients and supporting local businesses and farms!
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Tampons- tried generic. Bad idea
Chips- Hate the generic copy cats.
Bath stuff- Johnsons for the kids, Suave and Bath and Body works for me.
Cheese slices- I only use Sargento.
Miracle Whip -
Not all of my preferences are "name" brand, but, there are some things I'm devoted to.
IKEA zip top baggies
Harris Teeter (supermarket) branded Crispix (gluten free, which the brand name ones aren't)
Brianna's salad dressings
Pictsweet frozen brussels sprouts
Tillamook Cheddar...can't find it on the east coast though. Miss it from my childhood! 
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