I have to disagree about ketchup. A lot of the store brands are gross, so I stick to Heinz.

OP, I've never had an issue buying store brand (any store) of the things you mention: pasta, flour, sugar, salt, condiments. Well, mayonnaise I wouldn't go generic for, I bought the Target brand once and it was NOT the same as Hellmans. But ketchup and mustard have been fine. Also never had a problem with canned goods such as tomato products, canned beans, stuff like that. I always buy generic for toilet paper, facial tissue, ziploc bags, and the like. Processed foods like cereal, waffles, instant oatmeal, granola bars, cookies, etc. I would definitely be warier of buying a store brand. I bought the Wegmans knockoff Oreos once and GROSS. Tasted nothing like real Oreos (my kids ate them but I wouldn't touch them, and that's saying something because I love Oreos). We don't eat much processed food anymore but from past experience there are often definite taste differences and it's just hit or miss. Occasionally I like a store brand better (Wegmans raisin bran is really good for example, and I've liked several generic raisin brans, and store brand granola).

I buy store brand for as many household goods as possible - paper towels, saran wrap, foil etc. Sometimes for store brands for things like foil, it feels like the product is too light - in that case, I find the heavy duty store brand is exactly the same as the Reynolds regular duty. Also switched to store brand hand soap recently when I noticed that cvs brand had the exact same concentration of the same ingredients as Dial.

For food, I routinely buy store brands for things that are convenient that I don't like much anyway -- things like granola bars/cereal bars are good to have around sometimes but I don't love them enough to be able to taste the difference between a Nutragrain bar and a store brand one.

Anonymous wrote:Don't buy the Giant frozen mini-pancakes. They taste nothing like Eggo and my kids would not eat them.

Safeway Select ice cream is awesome - especially the salted caramel gelato

OP here. Thanks, I was about to buy the Giant brand of frozen waffles, but didn't want to waste money if DD didn't like them, since I don't eat them, so decided to pay the .50 extra for the Eggo.

Anonymous wrote:If you really want to cut your budget, stop buying the processed foods entirely.

OP here. I don't usually buy processed foods. Most fresh produce/fruits, organic meats and dairy. I guess I was asking more about the staples (pasta, condiments, sugar, flour, salt) tea, paper products, cereals like oatmeal, waffles, frozen potatoes (hashbrowns). Thanks.

Don't buy the Giant frozen mini-pancakes. They taste nothing like Eggo and my kids would not eat them.

Safeway Select ice cream is awesome - especially the salted caramel gelato

I shop at Aldi and then do Safeway and Giant for their sale items. I wait for certain things to go on sale, then stock up. I really need to get back into couponing

Yeah we just take the costco route and most of the store brands we use are from there.

Just go to costco and stock up. Also try wegmans

If you really want to cut your budget, stop buying the processed foods entirely.

OP, I realize you said HT wasn't convenient for you but for others that might be checking in...
Big fan of Harris Teeter brand stuff.
The cereal in particular is great, and tends to have slightly less sugar than the name brand without sacrificing the taste.
I also shop Giant too, and I think their Nature's Promise stuff is pretty good.

Things I always buy off brand/store brand and have never had a problem:

dry pastas, block cheeses, pretzels, "cheerios", popsicles, cake mixes, butter, flour, sugar, tall kitchen bags, seasonings

Things I have tried to go off brand but ended up going back to the name brand:

Laundry detergent, bread, peanut butter, sparkling water, band aids.

We buy a lot of Safeway organic stuff too.

Watch out for store brand yogurts - especially Greek - as they often contain fillers (check the ingredient list).

I usually buy store brand when I'm stocking pantry staples, pasta, fruit juices, stuff like that.

I like Giant's, Food Lions, and Target's in house brands. Safeway's in house organic stuff is great too.

I'm trying to cut back on my grocery bill so I figure I would try the store brand of products. I mostly shop at Giant (only because I'm lazy and it's around the corner from my house), I don't have an issue with Safeway, WF, HT (just not convenient). Anyway, what store brands have you found to be good or almost as good as the name brands? TIA!!