My husband insists on buying name brand foods, etc. He thinks the generic brand of food is "nasty tasting". I can agree with him on a few items (very few), but I am a penny-pincher!
I have learned a few secrets from being a cook's assistant at a couple restaurants, and I brought them home to try out on my husband. (Sad but true that many restaurants do just what I am about to tell you).
I buy a bottle of name-brand ketchup to put in the fridge and a couple of store brand bottles to stash in the cabinets. When the one in the fridge is about empty, I fill it up with the store brand. I rarely have to purchase name brand items this way. I just keep refilling with the store brand. No one seems to notice!
Ketchup is just one example. I do the same with flour, salt, sugar, mustard, mayonnaise, etc. I also add a few instant potatoes to my mashed potatoes, and no one ever knows the difference.
I will admit that there are items we buy that cannot be generic. Almost everyone will agree that toilet tissue and coffee are two such items. But, I buy the cheaper toilet paper and put it out for when guests are here - stashing the good stuff for my husband and me! I know this seems a little mean, but it is just how I do things.
In this day and age when prices are sky-rocketing, and yet you live with a picky person, you have to figure out ways to save.
By AuntieAnn from USA
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I like to clip coupons for products I use regularly. I've noticed that even with a coupon, the name brand item may still be more expensive than the generic store brand.
When my 3 boys hit puberty, they wanted name brand hair products. I bought one bottle and as it emptied, I added about 1/4 cup Dawn regular dish detergent and then filled with water.
I just wanted to throw my two cents in about the generic Zyrtec. My husband does real well on Zyrtec, the allergy medicine. Well we tried to save a little money and bought the Walmart brand equate, there are some differences in the ingredients but we didn't think a lot.
Does everyone know that there are generic heartworm pills? Just ask your vet and you will be very pleased with the price difference between generic and name brand...
A generic just became available for the brand name Allegra. The generic name is Fexofenadine and it comes in the 30mg, 60mg and 180mg.
Del Monte is the producer of Great Value canned fruit, I worked for a trucking comapny that hauled it, and it comes for various DelMonte plants around the country but, a lot is from California.
At least once a month, name brand stuff is on sale. I buy brand name products like; dish liquid, laundry soap, cereal; then I mix it with my generic.
Most generic cleaning products contain the exact same ingredients in the same percentages, making them typically interchangeable. This is a page about generic versus name brand bleach.
