To think that having to wean your children off 'brands' is wierd?

[Umleila]

My daughter heard one of her new university flatshare friends say that her parents had "started weaning me off 'brands' a few months ago" in preparation for university. My daughter thought this was hilarious as we do not give a monkeys which brand of baked beans we buy - it's all about cost for us. Then several of the other flat sharers said their parents had done the same! Turns out they thought we were positively common not to buy our child 'brands'. Are there really people out there who just buy branded food and sod the expense? The food industry must love them!

My mum insists on buying unbranded cornflakes which are 'reconstituted corn pieces' and minging. They must sweep the floor of the Kelloggs factory to make them.

DS could tell the difference between brands. He suddenly rejected a previously accepted product saying it was now horrible and when we checked they'd slightly changed the recipe. It's a pain in the arse.

I dont eat the things that most people are funny about, cereal, beans, ketchup. But I do buy Warburtons Toastie bread and their crumpets as they taste miles better than the cheaper ones, but there isnt much difference in price.

Everything else is Aldi!

Actually OP, for many people, it's all about the taste when food shopping.

Not everyone is on the breadline. Not everyone is poor. Lots of people will buy whatever they think is nicer (be it Heinze baked beans, daddies ketchup, tesco finest gravalax, whatever).

Although it is quite funny about the 'weaning off brands' thing. Probably not going to kill them to go cold turkey on basic beans.

I didn't quit my brands when I went to uni.

Most of them do taste better.

Surely most people are led by taste rather than by brand or cost? If you're not on the breadline I mean? I buy the brand that I like the taste of the most. I wouldn't only buy Heinz because it's Heinz, equally I wouldn't only buy Tesco value because it's cheap.

I saw someone with a whole trolley full of branded items in waitrose the other week- what's the point?! Buy it for half the price in Asda and stay rich for longer?! (We'd gone in for Christmas treats!)

I don't blindly buy all branded goods, I just buy what we prefer!

Hmm interesting.... I have been thinking about all food and what we buy/eat. I would have said that I am brand blinde and taste savvy.

However we only buy-
Nutella
Twinnings earl grey
Lurpack
Bakery bread
Mae ploy chill sauce
Siracha hot sauce
Franks original wing suace
HeiNz baked beans
Warbuton crumpets- all other crumpets are nasty hockey puck things!
Crespo Moroccan olives

Fucking hell! The list could go on! I'm a taste and food snob. I knew I was susceptible to some wanky food frippery and poncing it up. But I'm amazed.

In other words, being loyal to your own choice of brands = savvy shopping and a discerning palate. Other people being loyal to their choice of brands = wasteful spendthrift.

ahem, no. It's trying different brands and buying what you prefer. Who buys food they dislike (unless there is a valid health reason)?

Nothing savvy about preferring Coca Cola to Asda Own Cola, it's junk, but I still like it.

Oh yeah Diet Coke! No fakes!

I definitely buy for flavour. Also for ingredients, too. I like my jam to be made with actual sugar, rather than glucose fructose syrup, for example. If I go to the expense of buying a jar of pasta sauce, I want it to be roughly equivalent to what I can make myself, with a little more time and patience, rather than being sweet red gloop full of thickeners, emulsifiers and texturisers.

Some supermarket own brand things I prefer. I think Sainsbury's mayo tastes much nicer than Hellman's, which I find rather sickly. Ketchup has to be Heinz, though. It's that thickener thing, again. Sainsburys own brand bread flour gives by far the best results in my breadmaker - the only brand coming close is Doves Farm and that costs significantly more. OTOH, I tried Tesco own brand and the loaf was awful. I do buy DF plain and SR flour.

I do buy own brand butter, but the stuff I get for spreading, rather than cooking, costs as much as the main brands.

And DS2 likes ambrosia rice puds, but we get those from Poundland!

Never found a ketchup to match Heinz.

Try the Heinz organic one. It is so lovely and twice the price

well it is actually a lot more expensive. Own brand ketchup is 55p heinz is £2+ that 6p per 100g Vs 33p per 100g. For that bottle of heinz I could buy 1 loaf of bread, beans and apples

I think Senpai is in the US. Here, a store brand bottle of ketchup is typically less than $1 less expensive than Heinz. Plus, you can get coupons for Heinz that closes the gap even further.

Another reason I buy brands on some things is that high fructose corn syrup is in a lot of stuff in the US. I know it's not legal in some countries, but it is here. A lot of bread, for instance, has it. I know of three brands that don't use it, so I choose among those three, usually I get whichever once has the most fiber.

Try the Heinz organic one.

That's the one I get - again because of no high fructose corn syrup.

What I have seen is teenagers who will not accept anything else than x brand. So baked beans have to be Heinz and so is tomato ketchup, orange juice has to be , buiscuits have to be Fox etc... Same product from a supermarket brand is deemed unacceptable, not good etc etc (even though I also known parents who have transferred supermarket brand into branded packaging and the same teenagers didn't notice a thing).

I can see the same parents telling their dcs they will have to be 'weaned' from brands

What I'm is the idea that you have to be common not to buy brands...

I have to say though, things like orange juice are exactely the same taste wise if they are branded or not.

Creme fraiche, milk etc... why buying a brand unless just to 'show off'?
Same with tinned tomatoes, frozen peas etc...

'Prepared' products I think are different (eg tomato sauce, soups etc...). There is a difference both in taste and also sometimes in ingredients.

The issue for me is when you don't want to consider buy a supermarket brand and it HAS TO be a brand, which I assume is what the OP is referring to.

I think that there are people who only buy branded goods because of the perception that they're better - that they've heard of them so they must be 'good' or 'the best' - never mind that the price they're paying for the good is also covering the cost of all that lovely marketing. That's different from buying certain brands because you've tried the alternative and just aren't keen.

Martin Lewis on MSE has a whole article about saving money on your shopping, and the first bit of it is to swap your branded goods for the next level down - so brands for supermarket own brand premium. If you like that option, next time go for the next level down - supermarket standard. The time after that, try the economy. If you find you're not keen, then go up a 'level', but it has been demonstrated to work. And there has to be people out there who shop like that or why bother pointing out the obvious to the rest of us?!

I agree with WoodHeaven about OJ - I've not really noticed a difference between the name brand vs. the store brands, so I just get whatever is on sale. Most dairy products, I buy the store brand, but milk I get from a local dairy, that's non-homogonized. I'd like to get raw milk, but it's illegal here; you have to buy a share of a cow if you want it.

I dont get the idea of going to Waitrose and only buying brands, I know someone who does this too!

If you are only getting branded then go to the cheapest shop, you will get the same stuff for loads cheaper! Although the person I know (my mother) is convinced that Asda stock the near date stuff that Waitrose and Sainsburys chuck out as they always seem to have very long shelf lives. I thought she was joking, she wasnt.

Some people really are that daft! To put it into perspective, her weekly shopping budget is twice what mine is. She feed her and my dad and they dont over eat, buy alcohol or treats. I feed 3 adults, 4 kids and do indeed buy alcohol and treats. Frankly I dont what she spends it on, but she does.

that is, but she does spend it almost every penny and complains about the cost of food, which I no longer comment on!

I love Heinz ketchups but my next favourites are the cheapest Sainsbo or Tesco economy ketchups, they're nice and vinegary. I prefer them over the more expensive own brands from the same stores.

Ketchup, mayonnaise, beans - I'll take what evers cheapest. Things I keep are the more "proper" peanut butter's (cheap ones tend to have lots of sugar added), and I could never wean off fairy washing up liquid.
As an adult I shouldn't be buying coca cola anyway. No one needs that in their life, unless the toilet needs a good clean.

I only like kellogs cornflakes. no other sort will do. I eat aldi weetbisks instead.

I only like hp fruity sauce as brown sauce. only eat it it at mothers anyway.

linda mccartney veggies sausages as they do not have egg in.

like branston beans but only on offer and will only substitute with aldi value.

branston pickle when on offer or morrisons own. aldi's is grim but dd eats it.

I have fairy liquid as it works best. whereas I use aldi washing detergent.

I can taste the difference in long life orange juice. prefer the value ones though!

I don't get the brand snobbery though where people buy only brands as the others must be crap without even trying them.

Price isn't my key driver when I'm shopping. When DS went to university I did talk through with him about where was cheap and expensive to shop and also point out that some of the things he was used to always having available are very expensive, not just brands so much as things like avocados, out of season berries etc. He didn't need to be weaned off Heinz but he did need to be more mindful of the cost of things when shopping than we are at home if he wanted his overall budget to go further. Part of the pattern of student life! He might describe it to his friends as training in eating cheaper food or being weaned off brands, but I don't think he'd expect it to be taken literally or discussed seriously with their parents!

www.thevalueclub.co.uk/2014/11/lidl-vs-heinz-tomato-ketchup.html

For those who won't have anything but Heinz ketchup - it's worth trying the Lidl alternative. 6yo dgs, who covers damn near everything in the stuff, noticed no difference.

Actually tempted to try that one, hirples. Like I said - ingredients.