Branded versus non-branded cupboard staples

[artsperson]

AIBU to think folk that buy branded goods in preference to supermarket own brands have more money than sense. Why do it? I mean boring stuff like baked beans, tinned tomatoes, sardines, flour, sugar, pasta, most breakfast cereals and rice etc. Does anyone really think Heinz beans are worth the premium?

During covid, while home teaching, I did a science project with DS on taste.

We blind tasted various major brands against the supermarket's own repeatedly over seven weeks, including baked beans, mayonnaise etc,

The only products where either of us could tell the difference consistently were Lea & Perrins, one of the wholegrain mustards and Robinson's lemon barley water.

It was a real eye opener.

I like walkers crisps best so shell out for those.

Diet Coke, never found an own brand product that tastes right sadly.

I buy own brand for most of the items on your list, but I do think that Heinz beans are worth the extra money.

I think it comes down to the quality, and therefore the taste, of the food most of the time. Cheaper brands are often full of additives. I always look at the ingredient list before buying food rather than the brand. Cheap supermarket brand pasta sauce for example has tons of ingredients I've never even heard of plus sugar, but if you buy a good branded one it's closest to homemade and better for you

I'm a self confessed brand snob btw so I'm biased

A great many own / less well known brands are very good, if not better and I far prefer M&S English Mustard just as one example (like Colman's used to be), but it is also about the fact that many own brands are less processed, less artificial fillers and chemicals. Read the labels and you'll be shocked that staying away from the 'big brands' is often better for you, with expensive branded goods filled with all sorts of nasties in pursuit of a £, at the expense of our health too. https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/1btwz51/these_12_companies_together_own_550_consumer/#lightbox

Worth checking out just what the big brands do to make their foods addictive!

I can taste the difference in branded and non branded.
DS is ND also and can taste a brand substitute immediately and will refuse to eat it.
I know people roll their eyes at this, but the food would just be thrown away. ND kids, ime, and I was one, would go hungry rather than eat something they don't enjoy.

How does he cope when they change the recipe?

Have you ever done blind taste tests?

Most people cannot tell the difference, even though they're adamant they can before hand. Also they aren't willing to try other items because "branded is best" and they're often surprised.

I think it was Eat Well For Less that did this and loads of people found cheaper and tastier alternatives.

Accuses me of sneaking in a different brand, and then a meltdown 😏

I have made some swaps i.e to supermarket branded ketchup and Weetabix. I don't think it's just about taste though but quality also.

With wraps for e.g I will only buy the organic crosta mollica ones which contain flour, water, olive oil and salt compared to the Sainsbury's own which contain all of these:

INGREDIENTS: Fortified British Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin), Water, Palm Oil, Humectant: Glycerol; Raising Agents: Disodium Diphosphate, Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate; Sugar, Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid; Emulsifier: Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids; Preservative: Calcium Propionate; Salt, Wheat Starch, Flour Treatment Agent: L-Cysteine.

As a bonus the crosta mollica wraps taste amazing 😍 but the downside the cost obviously!

Although he will still only eat Cadbury chocolate, I can't stand it since the recipe change.

I don’t buy cheap food because I don’t have to. I realise how incredibly privileged that makes me, especially as that is not how I grew up.

I'm lucky to have choice too and not something growing up, but then food when I was small was not about getting me addicted to it and consuming chemicals that we are finding out are damaging our health! Not all cheap / affordable to our budgets is worse for us or indeed has a poorer taste or feel, although some does and sell by dates often give another clue to chemical loads! Many of the large multi-nationals load their food with sugars, of some 'kind!' and know how to get their consumers addicted to their products. Check out who owns food companies and how they work to get you addicted to their products and I'd say, for many, it is working! This is from the US, but these companies operate over here and lobby very hard to get their products onto our shelves! www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2879177/

I pick and choose. Absolutely don't care who made the stuff.

But wouldn't pay more for washing powder or dish washer powder buy the most basic available. My machines cost a bomb ( imho )and they do the work.

Four rugby players in this family and we're as clean as the next person. Do stains and washing up with Fairy Liquid as it's the only washing up liquid I can stand the smell of.

I am a high earner, but really don't see the point if paying over £1 for a tin of baked beans, I bug the 30-50p ones.

This way there's more money for holidays, days out, good quality clothes/bikes etc.

And lots of people CAN taste the difference, I certainly can in lots of things.

They are THE best wraps!

Yeah, I have way more sensitive tastebuds than my DH.

Some cheaper versions taste about the same (Sunpat peanut butter versus own brand is a good example) but shreddies versus malted wheaties is like an entirely different cereal.

Yep. They can. Never said they couldn't....

But many people can't tell, especially if they don't know if it's been swapped or not 🤷‍♀️

But then what? He adjusts or finds a new one he likes? Or stops eating that food stuff?

Sorry, I'm not having a go or anything, just genuinely curious how things like this affect people who struggle.

I sometimes do a taste test - buy both and see if I can tell the difference. If I can't I buy the cheap one from then on. With coffee and bacon you can really tell that the more expensive one is better, but I've found biscuits where the cheap one is absolutely fine.

It's a constant battle to find an alternative. Or a week of baked potatoes until a new meal is accepted!

Ssshh they'll be out of stock in all the shops! 🤫

<off to buy Crosta wraps>