Shopping Pros and Cons of Choosing Generic over the Name Brand in the Grocery Store
posted in Uncategorized |Quite possibly the age-old question when going shopping for groceries revolves around the idea of generic versus name brand foods. Which are better? Which are better for you? Are generic groceries as good as name brand groceries? Are name brand groceries tastier? Here are some shopping pros and cons of choosing generic over the name brand in the grocery store.
Pro: Brand name groceries are usually more expensive because the manufacturers are spending huge amounts of money to convince you that their products are the best on the market. This automatically adds a large advertising overhead to the product that is passed on to you, the consumer. Did you know that in some cases the generic item and the brand name item are coming from the same factory? Case in point are ovulation predictors – the little sticks that tell women when they are most likely to conceive – which are manufactured and packaged at one or two manufacturing plants, yet sold in a variety of packages and under a variety of names. Some are markedly more expensive than others, even though they are exactly the same product.
Con: If you have a coupon for a brand name item, and if your store doubles coupons, you will frequently come out ahead if you purchase the brand name item. You will need to carefully compare prices.
Pro: Substitute brand name ingredients with like generic ingredients. Take for example your bread machine recipe, which calls for bread flour. This flour can be had as a brand name item and is somewhat expensive – as flour goes. On the other hand, did you know that you can substitute it for a similar item, namely all purpose flour, which is available as a generic item and will thus save you lots money? Product substitutions with generic items are a great way to stretch your food dollar.
