Branded or Supermarket Own?

[Amiable]

Following some other recent threads I've been thinking there are some foods I buy that I will take whatever is on (special!) offer, but others where my family has specific preferences.
Branded - has to be Heinz baked beans, Kenco Rich Roast coffee and Aunt Bessie frozen roast potatoes.
But we actually prefer Tesco frozen mash, Tesco teabags, Aldi steak, and Stockwell (Tesco brand) pickles.

What about your household?

Hp sauce and Heinz ketchup. Marmite, Oxo.

Kellogg's cornflakes , I've tried lots of different ones but they are just not the same !

Marmite
Nando’s Mayo

That’s it’s really nothing else we are bothered about!

I can’t think of anything I have to buy branded.

I like Clipper tea but it’s expensive so I buy something else.

Only Diet Coke for me, I’m easy on ketchup, washing powder, coffee and all the usuals.

Generally, I think branded is better - it's whether you are happy with the trade-off between own brand and branded, and the price paid.

take Aldi. A lot of the stuff is good value, but not all.
I don't like their dry pasta and rice, or their bread, or their veg, except for a couple of things. I don't really like their frozen stuff.

I don't like non-branded coffee and tea from anywhere, although fresh ground coffee (for a coffee machine) is fine. I wait till I see branded stuff at £4.00 for 200gms, then buy a few.

A lot of Aldi stuff is excellent though, and half the price of most market leaders. Their ready done chilled coffee drinks are really good at 59p, and their ready to go sandwiches are as good as any.

In general, I can't stand supermarket "everyday value" stuff. I have never had anything basic from Tesco or Sainsbury that I would buy again.

A few things I only like the branded line. It has to be Colman's mustard, and it has to be Branston Pickle. I like Bottlegreen Elderflower cordial better than the competition, but I think 3.15 is too much - I buy it when it is on offer at 2.60.

Gth agree about Aldi veg, never lasts as long as Tesco or Sainsbury's.

We've been doing blind taste tests on biscuits at work (can't you tell we're in the middle of a restructure and all pissed off?). We've done lots of different types and brands and I can report Lidl Tower biscuits - e.g. Hobnob knock offs and the others, won hands down and are about a third cheaper.

Will always go for Heinz salad cream though :-)

Got to be hellmans mayo and Heinz ketchup.
Dp only likes Heinz beans and nescafe coffee.
Everything else is Aldi or Lidl brand.

We had Heinz this week and weren’t impressed. So much bean juice - you get more beans in an Aldi tin!

I’m a brand snob when it comes to margarine (the Aldi/Lidl go mouldy), bread (from having mouldy Tesco value sandwiches as packed lunches, vom) and I think that’s about it!

I prefer the taste of value brown sauce - I find HP is too acidic for me.

That said, our fruit and veg lasts a heck of a lot longer from Ocado than Aldi. Sometimes it’s worth the extra cost and sometimes I try to be really frugal.

Oh one thing I don’t scrimp on is free range eggs. I feel that it’s the least I can do.

Andrex
Fairy laundry capsules

That’s about it, we’re quite happy with own labels for everything else.

I was always a Heinz beans snob but have to say Alidi own think 89p for 4 large tins are rather nice

Has to be Clarence Court Burford Brown eggs. My supermarket randomly runs out of them and I always feel like having a toddler style meltdown when it happens.

I tend to buy branded over own brands. Actually, I prefer to buy from small niche local supplies than supermarkets so it's a sliding scale.

Not food but I did recently stop buying Andrex Aloe Vera toilet roll though and either buy Sainsbury's own version or Lidl's. Both are much better quality as well as being cheaper.

Branstons for beans

They get what they are given, my only red line is real butter, has to be salted butter.

pampers nappies. They’re the only ones that don’t blister our babies bum upon contact.
Everything else has to be own brand (lidl or aldi own brand) because we can’t afford anything else. (Not even tescos own brand. 29p for a tin of beans versus 19p! We have to take the cheapest)

Rice Krispies - nothing else matches the original

Most if not all of my shop is supermarket own brand. Not often the value lines, though, as I don't like them.

I used to do blind taste tests for a food magazine and most times the lesser known or own brands came out as the best tasting. The most surprising was the blind cornflakes test where the whole group of us preferred the brand that turned out to be Tesco's own. We all put Kelloggs in 3rd place. Bottom was Sainsburys value which were like polystyrene.

On another day, Tesco won the beans test too.

For supermarket own brands - waitrose marmalade, waitrose jam, waitrose muesli, lidl gin, lidl version of stork, lidl pastry, aldi tinned tomatoes

Kellogg's cornflakes.
Branston pickle.

Colman's mustard, Nescafé coffee, own brands for other stuff

Branded tea always and fairy liquid. I do buy quite a lot of brands but I make special trips to Lidl (it's not my closest Supermarket) for their own brand ketchup (prefer it to Heinz) and peanut butter. Tesco finest jam is the best.

Condoms. Despite being half the price just couldn’t risk supermarket own label

Cannot stand Heinz tomato sauce since living overseas. Now has to be All Gold Tomato Sauce (South African - tastes like real tomatoes and not so acidic as Heinz). I get from Ocado or amazon!

Has to be twinings tea. And DH buys coffee beans from a proper coffee wholesalers.

Mayonnaise - M&S own brand but co-op will do when we run out.

Cordial / squash - I'm trying to avoid sweeteners and I love the belvoir elderflower & rose cordial but it's expensive so I buy in special offer only.

Instead of sweetener laden squash we have switched to watered down apple juice. Co op Apple juice!

Has to be Colman's mustard, Branston pickle, Cadbury's choc buttons, Ella's smoothie pouches (kids won't touch the Lidl equivalent!).

Im on a gluten free diet & DC dairy free so that brings its own problem re cost so I buy GF pasta, bread and oatcakes when they are on special offer. I've also found Morrison's do the DF yoghurt pouches but no cheaper than Ocado so I buy them as a treat every couple of weeks.

Unfortunately most of the supermarkets, in particular, Lidl and Aldi, do not have a big enough audience so no point relying on them for GF or DF. My local co op is pretty good for GF though.

I find GF cereals super expensive so try to buy on offer and limit how often they are eaten!

We buy organic milk, real butter, organic free range eggs veg, fruit and meat from riverford every 3 weeks. Lasts well and we buy well but don't overeat. We also use up leftovers to reduce wastage.

Co-op is a good shop to stock up mid week if we run out but we rarely do.

My kids are used to things running out and not being replenished immediately. Too young to understand it's due to cost!.

Yes to Kellogg's cornflakes and Branson pickle.