Are discount brands "just as good" as regular/premium or is that just something the working class say to feel a little better?

[Cane Skretteburg]

I’ll add one more voice to the thread saying that, in the case of goyslop, branding does not really matter to me. Some of the Aldi snacks are noticeably different from the brands they imitate, for example, their Slim Jim ripoffs are a bit greasier than a regular Slim Jim. That being said, however, it doesn’t really matter to me because Slim Jims are low quality junk food anyway.

In the case of non-food products it’s more hit or miss. A rule of thumb that I use is this; the more moving parts, the better off you are buying a reputable brand and the more likely you are to get what you pay for.

 

[Hamstirer]

I'm not gonna take my chances over drinking straight from the sink in case there is something in it, at least where I'm at.

Can't blame him, somehow Dasani does taste like ass despite the few minerals they put in it for "taste".

Double post but I gotta water sperg.
Disani is always my last choice besides no name spring water. It just always tastes off.


That being said, most bottled water comes from public sources that is then filtered or distilled to remove most minerals and "impuritys". Now water without mineral may sound like a good thing but it absolutely is not. Water WILL do everything it can to get it's minerals back and that includes pulling those minerals out of your body or water piping. That's why you always see "minerals added to improve flavor" on the labels, it's a necessity and everyone has their own blend that's why you get different tastes between brands. Personally, I like Niagara and aquafina even though it's just random filtered city water.

I really am not a fan of spring water, most taste like dirt to me. I have well water and my house and it taste perfectly fine to me, but something about spring water just doesn't work for me. And if you are a spring water enjoyer feel encouraged to search what qualifies as "spring water". Basically if there is a barely functioning spring anywhere connected to a water source it qualifies as "spring water".

rule of thumb that I use is this; the more moving parts, the better off you are buying a reputable brand and the more likely you are to get what you pay for.

Like paintball guns and leaf blowers. You can't count on a great value paintball gun to shoot Bill reliably.

 

[Maker's Mark]

President’s Choice white cheddar Mac and Cheese is way better than Kraft Dinner.

 

[EllenDrawsRapeOfHerHaters]

Sometimes. Look at the ingredient list. I've had dollar store Oreos that were as as good as the real thing, and you got like fifty of them.

If you have time, just buy your own staples and cook yourself.

I've had cheap eggs and I was allergic to something in them. Never had that issue with hormone-free eggs. I love white label products. I'm not ashamed to say I love getting good stuff at cheap prices.

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

All microchips are made from only 2 factories in the whole world, so consider that before min-maxing costs on any computer stuff.

Even if the chips come out of the same plant, it doesn't mean the resulting product is the same. Cheaper capacitors, slower memory, more shoddy traces, poor physical construction, bad thermal engineering, etc, can all make the product much worse, even if the chips are the same.

 

[Grub]

Everyone's already mentioned the manufacturing part but there's another thing about store brands, depending on the store, they may be fresher. Years ago I worked at a grocery store and some brands actually have merchandisers come in and deal with their products. I remember the Christie brand stuff in particular, crackers and oreos and shit like that, was really bad for being expired. The Christie people only came in to deal with their stuff once every few months. We weren't allowed to touch any of it. It was almost always several months older than the store brand equivalents. Whenever Christie would show up there would always be several shopping carts full of expired shit they pulled off the shelves.

 

[Brackets]

I believe in Kirkland supremacy (for food products at least).

 

[Dawdler]

That being said, most bottled water comes from public sources that is then filtered or distilled to remove most minerals and "impuritys".

Minerals oxidize and foul the taste.

I really am not a fan of spring water, most taste like dirt to me.

That may be like surface runoff. Spring water tastes just normal.

 

[Town Drunk]

Every penny you save is a penny cut. Not to say the expensive stuff is always better, but as far as food goes, it's usually true. For example cheap mixed nuts, expect to get 90% peanuts, good luck finding an almond or walnut in there. Cheap frozen food, hope you love textured vegatable protein. Even something like milk, I can taste the diffrence from Walmart brand to the more expensive stuff. Canned vegtables are the same, the best stuff gets sold for more, and while the rejects are not inedible, they are not the same quality.

Not universal, shop around. Also you can improve some foods for a lot less than the more expensive counterparts. I used to buy jacks pizzas, and with maybe 50 cents of added motzerella cheese, and 10 cent worth of mushrooms, made a 3 dollar pizza into one that would cost twice that.

 

[Michael_Jordan_Peterson]

wouldnt know im not poor

 

[Caligura]

Personally, I believe in Kirkland and Great Value supremacy.

 

[Hepativore]

One thing that I do miss that Aldi used to have were its own versions of popular types of soda such as Plunge, its version of orange soda, and Mountain Frost, the Aldi specific version of Mountain Dew. The weird thing about both Plunge and Mountain Frost is that the sodas were completely clear instead of being colored orange or yellowish-green. However, Plunge was very good and tasted a lot like Mountain Dew Livewire, and Mountain Frost was even better than the Mountain Dew it tried to mimic as its flavor was even more concentrated.

Sadly, Plunge and Mountain Frost seem to have disappeared off of Aldi's shelves in my area three years ago.

 

[mindlessobserver]

It really does depend on the store tbqh. Food Lion, Costco and Wal-Marts store brands are pretty good if not better then the name brands. Publix and Krogers name branded stuff sucks ass.

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

It really does depend on the store tbqh. Food Lion, Costco and Wal-Marts store brands are pretty good if not better then the name brands. Publix and Krogers name branded stuff sucks ass.

Different tastes or different purchasing habits, I wonder. I don't think Food Lion stuff is very good, but generally think Kroger is pretty solid.

Meijer is also pretty good, although that's a regional chain.

Publix store brand stuff is usually ass though, I'll agree with that. Which is odd given that they're kind of a more premium store. But then again, Whole Foods' store brand is ass, too.

Sprout's store brand (The poor man's Whole Foods) is usually pretty good, although they don't have a ton of products.

 

[powdered toast]

For food manufacfuring you could be getting the literal exact same product between brands.

X brand wants Y manufacturer to make Z Food Product. Y manufacturing lab helps X brand develop Z Food Product and source ingredients.

Walmart brand contacts Y to manufacture Z also. Y says we already have a formula developed for that if you approve.

Manufacturer then makes batches of same product but half goes into X brand packaging and half goes into Walmart brand packaging. Both also have the same lot number stamped on back.

(The above scenario happened for those gross flavored protein gel pouches).

 

[Executive Petrel]

It really depends. I'm ARFID and very sensitive to taste. Some discount brands taste close and that's fine. I've found that Aldi and Walmart's lactose free generic milk tastes exactly like real milk, while all main brands like lactaid taste like parmesan cheese. If you're not sensitive to taste, just buy the discount brands since they're cheaper and have the same nutritial values. I bought some off-brand oreos from Aldis called Benton's the other day, they don't taste like Oreos, but they're close enough. Plus I have Oreo on permeant boycott due to that black santa ad they show every year around christmas along with this shit.
View attachment 7010408

The milk cream in oreos is ackchually transwomen cum

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

For food manufacfuring you could be getting the literal exact same product between brands.

X brand wants Y manufacturer to make Z Food Product. Y manufacturing lab helps X brand develop Z Food Product and source ingredients.

Walmart brand contacts Y to manufacture Z also. Y says we already have a formula developed for that if you approve.

Manufacturer then makes batches of same product but half goes into X brand packaging and half goes into Walmart brand packaging. Both also have the same lot number stamped on back.

(The above scenario happened for those gross flavored protein gel pouches).

This happens quite a bit with off-brands and knock-offs. The Dollar Store brand and the Dollar General brand oreo are probably exactly the same, for example.

But it's usually not true with the name brand.

 

[powdered toast]

This happens quite a bit with off-brands and knock-offs. The Dollar Store brand and the Dollar General brand oreo are probably exactly the same, for example.

But it's usually not true with the name brand.

It is for breads if I remember correctly. I know Wonderbread (are they still around?) shared a recipe and manufacturer with an off/store brand.

I don't know what kind of brand name baking powders there are but 'Karlin's Finest' is the same recipe and manufacturer as my local store brand, same package (not the label obvs), same lot number, and same issues with the product lol.

Also brand names of the same product can be exactly the same. I know some Plum Organics baby food products were the same as the Canadian brand Baby Gormet.

Many many moons ago I worked in the lab of a food manufacturer and many brands used the same recipes, the only difference was how it was packaged in the end. I have limited anecdotal knowlege. I do know that what we made was almost all sourced from the same places.

 

[BABANGUIDE64]

"Sam's choice" at home:

 

[Professor G. Raff]

70% of the time the generic is just as good. 10% of the time the generic is actually better. There are very few products I've found the generic is straight up worse, but it has happened occasionally.