One of the great lines about the savings – and the stigma – of buying store-brand products comes from the old Rosanne sitcom.
Rosie is leading a home-ec field trip to the grocery store. She tells the girls about saving with store brands as she reaches for some Brand-X corn flakes. Her daughter is mortified. “But we don’t buy that…we use the good stuff!” Says Rosanne: “We use the BOX of good stuff. I fill it with this. It’s only SECOND best for MY family!”
Rosie and Dan scraped to get by during the good times. Well, times have changed. Now, it seems like many of us are scraping. Many of us will buy brand X, as long as it actually does save us some dough.
It’s generally accepted that store brands cost less than national brands, but how much less? A survey conducted for an association of store brand labels says switching to store brands could save the average consumer as much as 36 percent off their grocery bill. Consumer Affairs
The article describes a 4-week study where they bought 30 summertime items: hot dogs, condiments, charcoal, freezer pops, sunscreen, etc. One side bought brand names, one side bought brand X. They did all the careful science-y statistical stuff to make it fair. And they saw that a month’s worth of the good stuff cost $110.00, while the off brands cost $70.00. The big winner? Buns!
So, yeah, there are savings to be had, as long as the quality is there. That will definitely vary by product and by brand.
What about you? Do you have brand X fever? Across the board? Some things yes, some things no? Never ever ever? Let us know! Read the rest of the article here, and have a great weekend!
(photo: healthkicker.com)
store brands are getting better in quality all the time.
ther is a differance in overall quality in the products .but it is getting to be the norm. that store brand prices on many items are so attractive that it is hard to stay with the national brands . i prefer national brands but when i can save $2 on an item that is acceptable in price ,my pride has to be questioned . obviously there are some things that just are not as good but i see store brands rising to a level that makes them more attractive in today’s economy . it is getting to be very hard not to recognize the price differances between the store brands and the name brands these days
good points. in the article it say something like “ConAgra makes Jif peanut butter, but they also make Walmart brand.” So sometimes there isn’t a huge difference. Of course, other times, there iS! definitely a case by case basis. Thanks Brandon!