I Can. Not. Stand. store brand dry cereal. It's make out of some weird Styrofoam that sticks to my teeth. The texture is totally WRONG!

Also - ice cream. I've been spoiled here in the South by Blue Bell. Store brand ain't got nothing on Blue Bell.

Heinz ketchup or - before they were bought by Whole Foods - Wild Oats organic ketchup. Even good store brand ketchups can't match Heinz taste, and the WO organic actually tasted like tomatoes; it was amazing (and I bought it instead of Heinz).

Hershey's chocolate syrup. Haven't found a store brand yet that mixes as well, gets a chocolate flavor without using twice as much, and doesn't have a weird aftertaste.

Since I'm changing my habits now I try to buy everything fresh. In certain way I'm luck because the corner store right beside of my home have fresh products everyday, so I'm not into those kinds of products.
But seriously jarred garlic? It doesn't take more than 2 minutes to chop the garlic!!!
Whatever, I like the site I will be checking out.

I buy the jarred garlic too. Sue me.

I only buy the orange juice that's not from concentrate. Sure it costs about a dollar more and you get a little less, but for me, the taste outweighs the monetary difference.

The store brand Special K tastes just as good as the name brand so if Kellogg's isn't on sale, I get store brand. I also buy store brand of most canned goods. They taste the same to me.

Oh, and since I have a 2 year old, I always make sure to buy juices that are 100% juice. No blends or juice cocktails.

I try not to scrimp on anything at the grocery store - good food matters. One thing I consciously avoid is the 'own brand' stuff that stores do.

Store brand canned beans/tomatoes and store brand plain oatmeal are about the only store brand things I buy. Only because it seems like they make less and less stuff in store brand. I do work for a company that automates warehouse operations and I can tell you that we have worked at places that can tomatoes and put different labels on the same tomatoes for different store and name brands! But I agree about the cereal...my boyfriend still eats the sugary kinds that kids eat and he wont let me try to be cheap and get him store brands anymore :)

Growing up with the name brands on most stuff, it's what I still grab and my current list of must haves:

Kashi Trail Mix bars--a bit pricey but SO good & a great work snack

Brand name cereals, like Honey Nut Cheerios. Tried the generic stuff--BLECH!

Starbuck's coffee in bean form--current fave: Kimodo Dragon

A local restaurant's marinara sauce--$4.50 for 12 oz. but OH SO GOOD!

100% juice is a must, as is farmer-pledged milk. Real PB kicks Jif to the curb any day of the week. If it lists any ingredients other than "peanuts" - no way! Other than that, it's sales, coupons and store brands for me!

Silk Soy Milk in Vanilla and Chocolate. No other will do. Daisy Sour Cream, Smuckers All Natural PB, and Stonyfield Organic Yogurt.

Storebrand stuff? Not much, but I do buy their Organic Chicken Stock because it's much cheaper than the name brand. I never ever buy store brand meats (especially lunch meats) it just seems too risky.

The only ones I would have to agree with you on here would be 1. cheese, 2. Pickles, 3. Beer, 4. Chocolate, 5. Coffee.... Garlic and Lemon Juice need to be fresh (and they're cheaper this way anyway). Fish...well, I never really considered the fact that there might be 'good' fish and 'bad' fish, just that there were different species. Pre-made pasta sauce or salad dressing - YUK! It's not hard to throw together a tasty vinaigrette or fresh bolognese. As for the pasta, there really isn't much difference between the .99 cent stuff and the $1.49 stuff.

Here's 5 others...

1.Steak
2.Yogurt (I like the no-added sugar all-natural shit)
3.Nuts (almonds, pistacios, cashews...yum!)
4.Wine (and extra few dollars can go a long way to making a nice all that much more enjoyable)
5.Ice cream

Great topic!

Butter. I spend the $'s needed to buy real butter, not margarine of any sort. I also don't buy the "store brand" butter - it's not the same as Land O'Lakes. Since margarine is supposed to be 1 chromosome or molecule away from plastic, I decided to just go with real butter. Noticed I was using less and less - no more than about 1/2 pound a month - sometimes more, sometimes less. I was using 1 pound of margarine a week before. Go figure. Also, store brand canned veggies, mushrooms, etc., save many $'s and no one notices when you put them in a casserol.

I buy some name brands like, folgers for coffee, I never buy the store brand coffee, or i never buy the store brand rice, condiments, but I do buy the store brand beans, The only store brand icecream i like is the stop and shop, with 3 kinds of icecream(coffee,vanilla, and orange sherbert) but most of the time, i have to admit , since i have been buying Ben and Jerrys icecream and Haagen Daz, We have gotten spoiled by eating it, and the others don't taste so good! its a great treat! Especially the coffee heath bar crunch, and the Phish Food, and also the hagen daz chocolate chocolate chip;!

My kids never knew or cared that most of our staples, mostly fresh or frozen produce, lean meats and pasta-cheese spaghetti stuff came from Aldi's. The store even has wine, and choice gourmet items as well as fat conscious items. So the money that I saved using their store was trully helpful. I was a single mother of 2, going to school, always repairing the dumb old car etc. I never minded bringing my own grocery bags or boxes because i knew recycling was good for everybody.

But more to the point, now that I can afford nice things, I love a simple plain Vanilla Ice Cream and Breyers has my loyalty. I also buy Gevalia coffee, they give you the store just to try the coffe that is delivered by UPS. Newman's anything is better than the competition for me anyway.

If we all love shopping but want to save the most money, go to the clearance for the greatest savings. It's a better rush than playing the lottery. Thanks for letting me talk. This seems to be a nice work going on here. BTW, I like my ass but I don't trust it to keep fit. Do you have work-out ideas for wanna be little butts?

My kids never knew or cared that most of our staples, mostly fresh or frozen produce, lean meats and pasta-cheese spaghetti stuff came from Aldi's. The store even has wine, and choice gourmet items as well as fat conscious items. So the money that I saved using their store was truly helpful. I was a single mother of 2, going to school, always repairing the dumb old car etc. I never minded bringing my own grocery bags or boxes because i knew recycling was good for everybody. And no cars were ever damaged by stray carts. Know why? You get Your 25 cents back when you return it or let someone else get it from you. Smart money in my book.

But more to the point, now that I can afford nice things, I love a simple plain Vanilla Ice Cream and Breyers has my loyalty. I also buy Gevalia coffee, they give you the store just to try the coffe that is delivered by UPS. Newman's anything is better than the competition for me anyway.

If we all love shopping but want to save the most money, go to the clearance for the greatest savings. It's a better rush than playing the lottery. Thanks for letting me talk. This seems to be a nice work going on here. BTW, I like my ass but I don't trust it to keep fit. Do you have work-out ideas for wanna be little butts?

Hagen Daas Ice cream or Ben & Jerry's. Absolutely nothing less will I eat. I am Diabetic so I can really only have like 3 oz of ice cream every other day or so. I make those 3 ounces count!

omg you people need to get over yourself when you make less than a dollar over mimimum wage you buy store brands even if the choclate taste waxy or the cereal sticks to your teeth that is a mental thing if you have ever worked in a warehouse you would see most manfactures make the same items for national brands as store brands they just change the box or label for that day. As for peanut butter as long as has peanuts and no additives it taste the same wish i had the money to be this whiney and picky when you have 35 bucks to feed 2 people for a week you will buy and eaqt anything that is filling again people get over yourselves

With a man and a kid and low income, bills to pay, car to fix, I buy whatever is cheapest/on sale/store brand, as long as I havent tried it before and disliked it or it looks totally gross.

Store brand I find, is the same damn thing.

This week I waited two extra days to shop because of a sale that starts today.

I make it a combination of the healthiest and the cheapest available product.

I shop weekly at our local farmers market for fresh produce and milk. I costs about the same as the grocery store, but I know where it came from and it supports our community. I do have some favorites - Kashi Cinnamon Shredded wheat with fresh berries(when on sale), Kashi crunchy Pumpkin spice granola bars and Kraft Mac-n-cheese (the store brand cheese always tastes metallic to me). Other than that what is on sale is what we buy - always looking for those buy one get 2 free on meats and other things we use often - Love our deep freeze!

I shop weekly at our local farmers market for fresh produce and milk. I costs about the same as the grocery store, but I know where it came from and it supports our community. I do have some favorites - Kashi Cinnamon Shredded wheat with fresh berries(when on sale), Kashi crunchy Pumpkin spice granola bars and Kraft Mac-n-cheese (the store brand cheese always tastes metallic to me). Other than that what is on sale is what we buy - always looking for those buy one get 2 free on meats and other things we use often - Love our deep freeze!

Pepsi regular, never diet or Coke or RC or store brands (though I will occassionaly enjoy various non-cola sodas). Probably the only other thing that I am the most brand picky about is peanut butter, nothing but Jif creamy. I don't eat much dry cereal but always go for the "real thing" - Cheerios, Rice Krispies, etc. A lot of stuff like canned vegetables, I've bought generic or store brands for years, whatever is cheapest, but finally about a year ago switched from Campbells soup to store brand. I still wait and stock up on Nalleys chili when it's on sale, and also buy genuine Miracle Whip.

I would not even consider any artificial sweetner but Splenda!! I use it by the bag full! Any other is just aftertaste city!!

Bread!!!!!!!!!!I ABSOLUTLY CANNOT COMPROMISE ON BREAD. In the past year bread has gone up so much, so I have given in and bought the cheaper store brand. Ugh!!! What a mistake. It's hard, thin, falls apart and has no flavor. I make up for it on other items.

I agree with Janet. I probably could afford the more expensive brands,but why? Nothing aggravates me much more than to be behind someone at the checkout that has all of those high dollar name brand items and is paying with welfare money. Guess they are spending OUR money to have the luxuries we won't allow ourselves.

I agree with alot of these comments.Heinz is the only ketchup my family will eat. My son went on a water sports holiday to Spain with his school and I packed a bottle as I knew he wouldn't get it there (food was provided).
Whole Earth peanut butter is the best but I do occasionally make my own - now that is really tasty but I can only do it when I have time.
Garlic- always fresh!
I shop at Asda (WAL-MART) and the budget range (Smart Price) is a no-no except for their milk and tinned tomatoes, no matter how much groceries increase in price - bread being the most notable item that has shot up in price lately. Cheap bread is a waste of money, as is cheap coffee.
I've never been to America so have never tasted Hershey's though I've not heard anything really good about it. Here in the UK it has to be Cadbury's though I haven't eaten chocolate for 3 years so don't buy it anyway.
Here is my list:

Bread
Coffee
Baked Beans
Sausages
Tea
Peanut Butter
Chocolate
Butter
Olive Oil

What are your must splurges at the grocery store?
My must buy items are the Oak Smoaked Haddock and Smoked Salmon fillets and salt and sugar free CRUNCHY peanut butter.

What wouldn't you even consider pinching for the sake of pennies? Margarine and cereals, I just hate cereals that taste like the cardboard box they came in.

Which products do you buy that are store brand versions of higher priced items? Milk, Some tinned foods.

What's going into your shopping cart?
Mostly I try and buy healthy foods, but there is a treat or 2 that finds it's way in my shopping cart. lol.

I've bee buying Farmer's COw milk for awhile now - it only comes in half-gallons and is probably only available in CT (as the milk comes from CT farmers) but I swear, 1% tastes like whole milk and I could be imagining this, but it seems to last much longer on the shelf. It's more expensive but supporting my local farmers and getting a better product is well worth it.

*Whole foods Peanut butter: freshly ground by me myself and I =) Not too expensive as you can choose how much you want
* Honey: but it locally or through whole foods and again, choose how much you want
* Cheese: Oh my gosh, I love cheese. As it is costly, at Whole foods, you can taste, just ask em =)
* Pink lady apples (at Whole Foods- I recognize I sound like an advertisement, haha): They taste amazing, are not double the size they should be, and simply hit the spot on what an apple should be to me.

Yummy!

Greek olives, olive oil, parmesan cheese,hard duram wheat pasta products and ice cream.

About 6 years ago when my husband and I got together, we were dirt poor and didn't have any money over at the end of the month. Luckily, I'm an excellent budgeter and a die-hard bargain shopper. I believe in buying in bulk and looking at the cost of a product per kilo rather than per packet. A 500g pack of pasta at a certain price is the same pasta that sells in a 5kg sack for about 4 times the price of the smaller pack but you get 10 times as much...do the math.

Now we're fortunate that my husbands career has taken off and we're doing well enough for me to stay home full time with our son and do a few days of volunteer work here and there -but we still put into practice the principles we relied upon in our leaner days.

Continued from above...

I also love to buy items with an approaching used by date and a slashed price. Buy a 500g pack of minced beef with 2 days to go and it still makes a brilliant bolognese (to go with all that pasta!), and a salad dressing on clearance because it has 3 weeks to go will dress a few salads and be empty before the used by date rolls around.

It might take 10 more minutes in the shop but it can save you a bucket load of cash which adds up over time.

Okay, I totally agree on the beer, chocolate, and coffee... well, I can't really afford to buy whole bean anymore, but the Folgers dark roast is loads better than the store brand.
I would have to say that soda is one thing I splurge on, can't stand the store brand stuff, everything else is pretty much trial and error. A lot of store brand products are just as good as the name brand, but you never know until you try them. Most canned goods are fine, cheapo pasta sauce tastes like home-made if you saute your own onions and mushrooms in some olive oil & throw them in. I don't eat cereal, peanut butter, or a lot of fish. Cheese depends on what you are making... I love grilled cheese with cheapo american cheese slices, but I'll pick up the real stuff (not wrapped in plastic) when I just want to eat cheese.

I shop Aldi's. Kroger's and Wal-Mart. Aldi's frosted shredded wheat is really good! Also their veggies are 1/2 the price of Kroger's or Wally world. My main concern is to the person who uses loads of SPLENDA . I quit using Splenda after realizing it was giving me migraines and other bad side effects. It is one molecule sugar and two molecules cholorine. Yup, you can clean your pool with this stuff. Look up Splenda allergies. My advice, use sugar or do without. Don't poison yourself to save 16 calories. Love the good advice from you all,
Lynn