Ford swaps are there any you just won’t do.

[Geekster1963]

A bit like on the TV programme live well for less we have been trying to swap some of our brands to cheaper ones.

I like golden syrup on my weetabix some mornings for breakfast. We got the supermarket own version instead of Tate and Lyle and it’s horrible. Tastes nothing like golden syrup. Yuk, won’t buy that again.

The only thing I can think of is PepsiMax.

Jaffa cakes and Daz washing liquid.

Fairy liquid because a big bottle lasts months. Everything else I'm not bothered, but Heinz ketchup tastes like metal to me so I always buy Aldi own.

Yorkshire or Ringtons tea. Fairy liquid. Sheba cat food, Puss won’t eat anything else. Lurpak spready butter, although President is my real favourite. M&S grapes.

Agree with PP about Lurpak - tried Tesco, lidl and aldi version. None of the are as nice.

We use mostly supermarket own brands as opposed to big names, but have found a lot of 'value' items aren't worth the saving. Value kitchen roll and toilet roll in particular are a false economy as you end up using more. Value baked beans aren't great - will eat Asda's own (non value) ones at a push, but really prefer Branston. Value peanut butter is rank.

I recently had the misfortune to tasye Heinz baked beans. They were utterly fucking disgusting. I usually have Sainsburys own beans and they're waaaay nicer.

Our palettes get used to the tastes we eat regularly so new flavours often taste nasty just because they're unfamiliar.

At the end of the day, they're just beans in a salty-sweet sauce.

I usually buy own brand - I don't think I have a very discerning palate. Recently bought own brand spaghetti hoops for my 6 year old DGD, instead of Heinz, and she immediately said they smelt different, then said they tasted yuk!

Lidl diet lemonade is lovely. Really lemony.

I cannot tell the difference between Heinz ketchup and own brand

Heinz ketchup and Branston baked beans.

Not really fussed about other brands (love a bit of Aldi/Lidl!) however I can taste the difference, but it's not enough to bother me.

Although I do tend to buy Old El Paso mild Fajita kits when on offer, since all other ones I try seem to be a seasoning with salsa to add, whereas OEP is a sauce and much nicer imo.

Whole Earth peanut butter. We've tried others and no thanks.

Fairy liquid definitely lasts longer.

We have to be careful with washing powder / liquid with DH's eczema - a lot of 'own brands' really irritate him.

Cats won't beat any own brand cat food (fussy buggers)

Cornflakes. Nothing else tastes anything like Kellog's.

Branston beans
Pepsi Max Cherry. No other cherry cola is anywhere close!

I do like the ALDI version of Pringles. We don’t have them very often but I do prefer them. ALDI chocolate is nice too.

I agree with you on baked beans-we never like Heinz, too watery and tasteless. We also like Sainsbury's. I used to get Tesco's when we shopped there; theirs were very good as well.

Dishwasher tablets, washing up liquid, baked beans, ketchup, mayo, toilet roll, brown sauce.

When I had a dishwasher, the tablets - only Fairy or Finish left everything, including the machine, absolutely clean first time. I actually hate Fairy liquid, as it's so heavily scented, I can taste the smell hours later, even when everything's been rinsed in clear running water (which is a bloody waste of water, IMO). I cannot stand a lot of soap powder and fabric softener smells, either, but I get around that that with big box Daz and Coop white, which smells a lot like comfort Pure, but is less likely to clog up the drawer.

I used to use Ecover washing up liquid, powder and softener, but they've gone down the same route of stinking the house out with their 'NEW IMPROVED' versions, so I can't use them anymore. They'd have been non negotiables previously.

Other than that, posh eggs, as they genuinely taste nicer - the blue ones from Waitrose, or Sainsbury's Organic.

The DTwatCats have to have wanky crunchies that cost a fortune, as one has guts of evil if she's swapped to anything else.

Other than that, I'm not particularly fussed about brands.

spiderlight
We bought some cornflakes in Spain while self-catering. They were supposed to be Kellogs, but tasted like cardboard.

I’m on a budget so mostly buy own brand or even budget range.

But there are some things that really just don’t cut the mustard:

Scottish blend tea bags - all others are either insipid and weak or not strong but stewed.

Diet Coke - on the very rare occasions I’ll have it, had been caffeine free over a year but I don’t like the caffeine free version and a special offer on the 150ml cans appealed and ill sometimes have one of those. The WORST cola is Morrison’s! Absolutely vile!

Irn bru - have to agree Barr’s is the best, they do the best limeade and cream soda too.

But I actually mostly drink water, sometimes milk.

Not food - but yes fairy liquid AND only the original green one. I’ve tried own brands, other branded washing up liquids, and even the different “flavours” of fairy and NONE have been as good at steaming through even the most dried on, cement, greasiest dishes and pans and gets my tea cups properly clean.

“Butter” wise I get Sainsburys version of lurpak spreadable - buttersoft - and it is perfectly acceptable imo. I’ve tried Tesco, Morrison’s and Asda equivalents and they weren’t as nice.

But...

I also draw a line on certain budget range items:

Budget cereal is rank! Often stale/chewy

Budget cleaning products (I have ocd/am a germophobe so something of an expert here) and they’re crap, just very watered down often.

Budget baked beans/tinned spaghetti - WAY too much sauce and usually bitter tasting

I do find it very amusing on “eat well for less” when they declare something horrible, not their usual etc...and it is! Just goes to show the mind is a powerful trickster!

We have to be careful with washing powder / liquid with DH's eczema - a lot of 'own brands' really irritate him as an aside, may not work for him but dd and I both cannot use bio detergents and are allergic to fabric softener (which is often crazily heavily perfumed!) is it possible that’s the case for him too?

@mitzik I DREAD seeing the words “new and improved” or similar especially on stuff that’s going to likely affect my skin. I’ve bad eczema and have spent decades working out what I can and can’t use, when a favourite product is changed my heart sinks! LEAVE IT ALONE!

I'd actually genuinely like to know if the new customers outnumber the old ones they lose when this happens? Possibly skewed as "new and improved" often happens with a shit load of vouchers/special offers included! If you have to do that to get people to buy it it's NOT improved!

Both of us have Psoriasis, @Graphista - the main brands, with the exception, strangely, of half an espresso cup of Daz and the occasional use of dilute Comfort Pure for items that don't actually touch the skin, all worsen it dramatically, which I attribute to the godawful smells.

The Ecover original versions were so good, I could even wash my hair with the washing liquid when my scalp was so bad that I looked motheaten with great clumps falling out with the scales, as it cleaned and soothed skin as well as being great for washing up. So, after somewhere in the region of twenty years of use, I don't buy a single Ecover product.

I reckon that the Eat Well For Less tests and the entire show are all fake, though- if it isn't entirely pretend, they're telling them the vile concoction they've just spat out is Yorkshire Tea when it's actually ASDA's cheapest dust from the tea warehouse floor and vice versa, depending upon what has been scripted for that part of the show.

Coca Cola - none of this supermarket brand or Coke Zero nonsense....if I want a coke I’m having a real one!!
Also since going dairy-free to breastfeed a baby with CMPA, I can’t handle any cheese alternatives if I can’t have the real thing, I’d rather just go without because none of the dairy-free ones can measure up

Yorkshire Tea, Meridian Peanut Butter, Ariel Pods, Pampers Nappy Pants, Yazoo Milkshake

Teabags have to be Yorkshire tea for me and twinnings for dh

Got some own brand crunchy nut once from Sainsbury’s and nearly broke a tooth it was so hard,so stick to Kellogg’s now

Other than that I don’t mind own brand if it saves me more pennies

Only two I think ; Quaker Oats & Skyr/Yeovalley yoghurt.

Oo and toothpaste. (I have regular nightmares about my teeth falling out as it is!! )

But I'm happy to try anything else!

@MitziK - wait do you like, or dislike Ecover?

(can say I'm particularly partial to an Ecover product, even though I know they're not any more eco-friendly than anything else!)