Store Brand vs. Name Brand

This seems to be the big debate these days. Do I buy the store brand or the name brand? Is the cost savings worth the risk of bad tasting foods? Well, I'm here to tell you that store brand on almost everything is worth the savings. Currently, in my pantry and refrigerator, 75% of the products are store brand. Certainly things like rice, vegetable broths and beans are easy to put in the store brand category. However, there are many items that most don't even think of store brand for that are quite tasty. We purchase store brand soy milk, sparkling water, frozen vegetables. All taste great. My shocker was when I bought store brand Chex and Krispies for some reason I thought they wouldn't taste right. For a 50% savings on cereal, we have great tasting store brand products.

Now, there were a few things we didn't like. Cola wasn't the same as Coke or Pepsi and the Taco seasoning packets didn't have any flavor. So we have had a couple of not so great experiences with this but in the grand scheme of things, they are minimal. The one thing I would say is don't save on the spices. We get our spices from a local place Pensey's Spices and they are phenomenal. I only buy the small 3.2 oz size so we always have fresh spices and it makes a big difference in the taste of our foods.

My challenge to you is to try one store brand item a week and soon your grocery bill will be reduced by 20 - 30%. Even if you have a crazy allergen free diet like ours! Let me know how it goes...

God Bless.