Will you/have you stopped buying “branded” food?

[BabyofMine]

I remember a few years back a nice thread about what branded foods were good and worth the cost. I remember a lot of people thinking Napolina tomatoes were really tasty compared to “own brand” tinned tomatoes.

With the price of food going up and up, I wonder whether the devotees of certain brands will be still getting them because they’re worth it, or making sacrifices to save some money?

So if you’ve been a devotee of a name brand food, are you giving it up?? What would you be really reluctant to ever compromise on? What’s a false economy? I’m not asking if you are going to be making savings/changes overall, but if you were really dedicated to one particular brand would you give it up??

My favourite “branded” thing is Hellman’s mayonnaise and I’m not planning on giving it up but I am using a lot less and being more careful to only put a little bit on my plate so I don’t waste it.

YABU= I will NOT be giving up my favourite branded foods.
YANBU= I will be giving up my favourite brands to save money.

I think probably the only branded food regularly bought in this house is Heinz ketchup. I can't think of anything else really so no, we won't be giving it up.

I won’t give up on chef ketchup and bachelors baked beans.
other than that, I making a lot of swaps lately in an effort to save money and a lot of them are just fine.

We haven't had to make any changes fortunately.

I have never been into branded stuff anyway. My dog, however.... I can not change her food to save money. It has taken a long time to find a food that does not give her the shits. If I have to eat cheap stuff so she is comfortable, then so be it.

Heinz ketchup and anchor butter .... everything else we giving swapping a go!

I've always looked for cheaper brands. So I'll stick with those and the brands I can't find a cheaper version of, I'll just have to eat less off.

Morrisons own mayonnaise is just as nice as Hellmans - but it goes off quicker so it can be a false economy.

I keep trying different stuff! Really like Heinz mayo but found Lidl own brand weirdly is v similar
Baked beans have to be Heinz, and I like fage yoghurt. Apart from that I eat mostly own brand stuff
Oh and pickles have to be Sainsburys crinkle cut they emailed to say I bought the most in our city

Aldi hula hoops are incredible
I'm the same as pp I won't change my beans or tomato sauce. Or wheatabix

I don't care about the label. I'll buy whatever tastes/performs best. I don't buy a lot of packaged stuff in general.

Kids crisps, they can be anything...my kids aren't too fussed. Tomatoes, though. I only buy whole plum tomatoes in tins, and usually only Mutti, Cirio or Napolina.

I’ll stick to branded coffee, teabags, butter, beans, soups and crisps whilst I can afford to, but I’m happy to try own brand versions of most other items. I’ve just had an Aldi open up by me recently and it’s been an eye-opener! Their bread and hummus is delicious and half the usual price.

I will compromise on absolutely everything.... except marmite. Own brand "yeast extract" is disgusting and should be banned.

I swapped from shopping from Tesco, when a Lidl opened in my town. I end up spending far less, even with the occasional random middle aisle purchase, and buy nearly all their own brand stuff.

Their own brand mayo is a close enough substitute for Hellmans that I don't mind it.

Have avoided buying “brands” for a good while now, can’t say its bothered me much, however the cats weren’t overly impressed!

I thought i couldn't give up Heinz ketchup but bought Asda brand, it is different but we soon got used to it.

Lidl Danepack isn't as nice as Lurpak but is half the price so we will keep it.

Asda beans and sausages were disgusting, I'll be trying other brands before I go back to Heinz though.

Tesco own tomato soup was very similar to Heinz, but Asda's one was bitter and not as creamy.

I now need to find a cheaper decaff coffee.

We've always had a lot of own brands anyway and don't like Heinz beans, Branston are far better.

For mayonnaise we get it from Aldi and I saw a taste test recently that said it was most like Hellmans.

But I don't understand what people are doing with all the ketchup. A bottle will last us for about 2 to 3 years yet some people seem to be buying it nearly every week

There are only two things I won't compromise on, everything else I've not bought branded for years:

• Cola. Would never buy anything other than Coke/Coke Zero.

• Baked beans must be Heinz or Branston. Own brand beans are disgusting and I always feel like I can actually taste the sugar in them

Heinz spaghetti hoops.Have tried loads of options and serve them up to family without telling them and they won't eat others because they are crap. Most alternatives are identical but surely there's a cheaper can of hoops around !

I used to think that, then we got given Tesco own brand as a substitution, and it was fine . I can tell the difference, but it's amazing how quickly we got used to the Tesco one.

Probably about half my food shop is branded and half own brand. I agree about Hellmans mayo, I've never found an own brand that is half as good. We also always have Hovis 7 seed bread as our regular sliced loaf and I've never found a decent substitute for it.

I think we will move to more own brands, but not the "value" range. Not yet, anyway.

The only items I won't give up are Tetley teabags and Lavazza coffee.

I dont buy masses of packaged food and never think there's much difference between different brands when it comes to (for example) flour or sugar or dried beans/pulses.

I do like lurpak butter but I suspect I would like other lactic butter too it's just that I don't see any other brand sold in the supermarket I usually go to.

We are on v high incomes so won't make any major changes to what food we buy. We have become over recent years much more waste conscious though and eat less meat than we did.

We have given up lurpak more for the principle I've noticed the price has since come down! So lots of people must have decided they didn't want to pay it greedy company. I love Hellman's mayonnaise I can't give up branded crisps they just taste a lot better. I can taste no difference in ketchup I normally just get the Sainsbury's own brand.

Ergh! I can't believe ho many people like Heinz ketchup! The last time I had it it was all watery and far too sweet. I like nice rich, thick tomato sauce.

I've not bought branded stuff for years. We buy it on occasions like if my DSC are coming for the holidays I might buy some branded cereal but I think that's just about it.

I think if I were having guests round and cooking I might go for the fancier tinned tomatoes though

I tried to give up cathedral city cheese but the alternatives are horrible. The Lidl brand one is probably second best so when I do get to a Lidl I’ll buy that.