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Name Brands??

jenn mccabe said:
I am with @cfile and others on the ketchup and mayo. When I first moved from east to west coast i nearly had a heart attack when I couldn't find Hellman's mayo. I quickly learned that Best (I think that was what it is called out there, I'm back in NY now so I forget!) is the west coast counterpart. whew!
I prefer Dawn too but my hubby went and did a big shopping trip months ago and bought tons of cheaper dish detergent. We still have 2 bottles of it - so I have to use it bf I can buy Dawn again. We prefer Tom's toothpaste and Mouthwash but I do sometimes buy other brands. My daughter will only eat certain brands of a lot of different things. And we only buy seafood from one small local grocery chain here. I don't buy it from the big grocery stores at all.
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Yes I think you are right Jenn.. Best Foods is the Manufacturer for Hellman's ... funny I tried Heinz Mayo and Hellman's Ketchup when they both came out with it 2 years ago... not liking either rendition... they need to stay with their own LOL... If the store is out of regular Hellman's (I don't like the other versions like Light or olive oil etc etc) Then I will get Dukes as that is the same thing as Hellman's... the down south version.

I was excited when our store started carrying Polly-O mozzerella and ricotta cheese... that is what I grew up with in NY .. hard to always find our NY brand stuff in Virginia :) I got over not having Ronzoni, although I can find that once in a blue moon :) I wish I could get the Freirich Porkette (pork butt) here too.. I did get it a few times here but they haven't had it stocked in years.. When I was growing up in NY, Mom would always make that for St Patrick's Day instead of making Corn Beef as it was easier, and we would still have it with the boiled potatoes, carrots and cabbage. I think because my Grandmother did that too :) The things you are used to :)
 
I think I used to be more brand loyal, not so much anymore and I'm trying to think of what new things are: primarily I like Organic Valley raw grass milk cheddar cheese and either their grass fed milk or Maple Hill. Ketchup used to be Heinz and I still have a taste preference for it, but I try not to buy products with high-fructose corn syrup. Toilet paper, there was one version of the Target up & up brand that I liked (I think it was a knock-off to Northern), but haven't been able to get that same package since the pandemic. I've been loyal to Erie Coffee roasters for a few years now -- I hate paying for shipping, but I love their coffee. Laundry detergent -- I have to have an unscented one and we seem to do well with either All or the Target brand. I had a grocery order one-time and they gave me Tide instead of the unscented that I ordered -- I had to give it away.
 
elseepe said:
I had a grocery order one-time and they gave me Tide instead of the unscented that I ordered -- I had to give it away.
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This is why I still do my own grocery shopping. Substitutions would not be good. If I'm at the store and they don't have exactly what I want, I just don't buy. I put it on my list for the next time.
 
I'll admit to buying mostly name brands - two must-haves are Kleenex brand facial tissue and Skippy Peanut Butter.
 
HavaDrPepper said:
This is why I still do my own grocery shopping. Substitutions would not be good. If I'm at the store and they don't have exactly what I want, I just don't buy. I put it on my list for the next time.
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It was one of the few times I had used that store and have not done an on-line order with them since. I am still not ready to shop in a store.
 
elseepe said:
It was one of the few times I had used that store and have not done an on-line order with them since. I am still not ready to shop in a store.
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I do live in a small town and since I'm retired I can do my shopping before it is real busy, mainly before 10 a.m. And, I've used the local grocery instead of Wal-Mart most of the time. They've been very good about following all state protocols. When I do go to Wal-Mart I try to get there before 9 a.m. and it is not busy at all. In fact, I had to do in person shopping for the first few months because no online ordering was even available in my town! So I've just stuck with it and probably will even in the future.
 
bonnenuit said:
I'll admit to buying mostly name brands - two must-haves are Kleenex brand facial tissue and Skippy Peanut Butter.
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We were always skippy growing up.. hubby doesn’t eat PB so I no longer buy.. boy do I miss a good pbj!!
 
I have a hard & fast rule about buying name brand for anything that contains waste: diapers, sanitary products, trash bags, etc.

I buy the bulk of our groceries at Aldi (does it count as name brand if it's their brand??) and then supplement with name brand things at Walmart. Off the top of my head, I can think of Kraft mac 'n' cheese, Ragu spaghetti sauce, Dean's cottage cheese, Walmart-brand pasta, Charmin TP, Oreos, and Diet Coke.
 
Brand names for the boxed cereals for sure - the generic is not the same.
We have all gold tomato sauce and Krosse and Blackwell mayo, Mrs Balls Chutney and Baby soft TP.
I imagine these are all SA brands but I am a brand snob often - hubby will be more likely to get generic.
 
Condiments: Hellman's (Kraft as second runner up), French's mustard, Heinz ketchup, Daisy sour cream
Sodas: Diet Pepsi or Canada Dry Ginger Ale
Fruit Juices: Welch's
Toilet Paper: Charmin or Sam's Club Members Mark brand (it's really close to Charmin and actually has less dust)
Paper Towels: Sam's Club Members Mark brand or Bounty
Soaps: Caress for body and Dawn for dishwashing and Cascade for dishwasher and Gain pods for laundry

I will use store brands for milk and butter and sliced cheese (for our mac n cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches).

I am willing to try a store brand to save money, but if it isn't up to snuff, back to the brand name we go!
 
Household: Either Dawn or Sunlight dish soap; Tide laundry detergent; Cascade Platinum dishwasher detergent (it really is the best!); Glad Cling-Wrap; Alcan aluminum foil.

Groceries: Hellmann's mayonnaise; Heinz ketchup; Fry's cocoa powder; PC Black Label Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract (= Loblaws' version of Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract, but at about half the price).

I shop at Costco, and buy a lot of Kirkland products (toilet paper; paper towel; dog food; olive oil ... )

I shop store-brand for eggs, milk, cheese, butter, dairy ... unless I'm buying cream cheese, in which case, it's Kraft's Philadelphia cream cheese. And St-Albert cheddar is always a special treat!
 
Hellman's, Heinz, Dawn, Ken's Olive Oil & Vinegar, California Olive Oil Co, Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi, and Land O'Lakes Hot Chocolate Packets

Then mostly Stop & Shop Brand items (Esp. toilet paper), plus I love Kirkland (Costco, and esp Paper Towels) items.
 
I didn't know I was a charmin girl until this past week. When I got some Charmin because it was on sale and we had finished the Cottonelle we usually get and I was LIKE... OMG.... THIS IS SO SOFT!!!!!!!!
 
We don't stick to brands for food, but we buy everything that is organic, national and grow up nearby, so we can investigate, I think we are very severe about what we eat. At this moment we're living nearby a farmhouse that brings to our house 2 buckets of chicken eggs every 2 weeks (I'm going keto, so I need eggs), some chicken and turkey meat and even fishes that are growing in a nearby lake. I buy organic coffee grains from a local coffee shop, also they bring the sack to home, and from the supermarket I get Lotus Embo toillet paper, that has become our trade mark, since we visited at the factory and watched all the process and they told us about their compromise with nature. Our laundry liquid, shampoo and dish washing are always Neutral, a cheap trade that made everything for allergic people, products that are free of parabens, smells, chemicals, etc,, and a very fair price. Also from the supermarket I get coffee cream and some extras. A finn company that is growing up olives in Spain, sells to us Olive oil and olives, and we were told they are organic, although the owner invited us to visit his farm, but due covid is impossible to visit his farm, we have to trust him, this same man, during summer and part of our fall, send as well avocados to our house. And we've tried to grow up our own strawberries, blueberries and some other berries, cucumbers, onions, garlic and tomatoes, and actually we did pretty well last year.
 
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I completely forgot to say that I grow up our own condiments, such as parsley, basil, coriander, etc., And also some type of lettuce and celery. The herbs as autumn approaches I wash them well, shake them lightly and store them in paper bags, in the shade, for around 2 weeks, then when they have dried well and completely, I store them in hermetic glass jars. Strawberries and all kind of berries, I frozen them, so we'd have berries during the winter. Same thing with the celery, I wash, clean (taking off the back side, some kind of threads, with a veggie cleaner) then I chop, and to the freezer.
 
dotcomkari said:
I call soda pop too. Wisconsinite here...lol
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Ohio Buckeyes call it "pop" too.
For me it is Hershey's cocoa, Lays potato chips, 1. Bertolli or 2, Prego sauces, Stewart's Root Beer, Jiff peanut butter, and Walmart brand Strong bath tissue. Not too bad of a list, I think?! lol
 
cfile said:
I wish I could get the Freirich Porkette (pork butt) here too.. I did get it a few times here but they haven't had it stocked in years.. When I was growing up in NY, Mom would always make that for St Patrick's Day instead of making Corn Beef as it was easier, and we would still have it with the boiled potatoes, carrots and cabbage. I think because my Grandmother did that too :) The things you are used to :)
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I scored today when I was at the grocery.. I found a Freirich pork butt and we will have it with boiled potatoes cabbage and carrots on Sunday!!! :banana:banana:byay:bwave
 
Everything I buy is a brand. I'm shopping to feed a family of five -- two teenagers! -- and I can't stand around all day trying to decide between brands. So everything I get is branded, so that I only have to look for the one thing to see if it's on sale and worth getting a couple extra.

Reading through the thread, it looks like I approach "brand" differently. I consider Kirkland (tissues, paper towels), Member's Mark (toilet paper, vinegar), and Meijer (milk, black olives) to be brands just like Dawn or Tide; for specific items, I will only get a particular store's branded product. It's rare for me to try another brand, once I've settled on something.
 
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