Don't buy branded generics
I wonder what the fuck is going on in the minds of people who buy any of the following:

Domestos / Harpic Bleach
Advil / Nurofen / Panadol pain killers
Hovis bread
Charmin / Andrex toilet paper
Heinz / Batchelors beans
Kellogs cornflakes / frosties / rice crispies or Weetabix
Mazola / Crisp and Dry cooking oil
Schwartz herbs
etc.

The extra money that the branded versions charge pays for advertising, not better quality. In some cases the branded production may cost 2-3x as much as the generic which may as well be money pissed down the drain.
(MagicMoose, Sat 12 Nov 2011, 23:41, 45 replies)

As someone who works for a large own-brand manufacturer, I can state with some authority that the quality of private label products depends very much on what the brand owner is prepared to pay.

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 0:40, closed)

I will argue that point...
Beans for example, when comparing the difference in price between the green tinned Heinz and their Tesco branded equivalent I thought I would do a wee comparison.

The end result was that Heinz are in fact much better than the Tesco equivalent - nowhere near as watery or variable, and a nicer and tastier topping for my toast.
(442, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 0:55, closed)

Drained weight
I used to work on holidays run by a bunch of cheapskates who insisted on feeding the kids in their care almost exclusively on Tesco value shit. As an experiment, I opened a few tins of Tesco value baked beans and washed the sauce off. On average, each tin held one dessert spoonful of beans.
(ubergeekian, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 10:55, closed)

This is the correct answer
I absolutely refuse to eat bullet beans. Minging.
(fivetide, Tue 15 Nov 2011, 14:09, closed)

baked beans
I'm not a big fan but on the rare occassions I do eat them, heinz for the win every time.
(insomniac-surfer oh go on then, just this once, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 2:09, closed)

Fairy Liquid
It *does* work better than the cheap brand shit and *does* last longer.
(Sonny_Jim Kirkladn has a small penis, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 5:40, closed)

Hmm
Bollocks would be my answer to that. Their marketing has gone all weasely - "surprisingly long lasting", or "up to 50% longer (*)" where * = next best selling brand without saying what that might be or even if it's a directly comparable. Concentrated detergent is concentrated detergent. It's going to wash your dishes. Any minor difference in how long a bottle of Fairy lasts vs the same quantity of generic is likely irrelevant when considering the price difference.
(MagicMoose, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 10:05, closed)

Not according to the Consumers Association?
The CA has been testing washing up liquid since they started and Fairy has been the Which? best buy since number one. Once you realise that you can use much, much less Fairy than you need of cheap generic brands, that makes sense.
(ubergeekian, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 10:57, closed)

Until their most recent report, which I have right here somewhere.
According to them Aldi's own brand is best value.
But I'd better check that...

Edit: Can't find the September issue of Which? at the moment, but when I do I will report back.
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Sun 13 Nov 2011, 11:26, closed)

Hmm no
I looked up the Which reviews - highest rating is "Aldi Magnum Premium Original" on 92% vs "Fairy Original" on 91%. Big deal except Aldi's liquid cost 59p and Fairy cost 100p. Which demonstrates my point. If you go for the brand you'd wasting your money. Even if you chose to purchase some other generic own brand chances are that any difference in performance is dwarfed by the price difference.
(MagicMoose, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 21:40, closed)

91% vs 92%
is no big deal, and they take the cost into account when doing their best buys.
(ubergeekian, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 23:54, closed)

They do
But you do also have to have some innate wit and realise that you don't need half a pint of Fairy in your bowl like you do some other types, otherwise the saving is lost. It's part of the reason their washing-up liquid spray thing failed; you were supposed to put one squirt on a sponge and that would do you, which made it very cheap to use. But people didn't understand that and tried to use it like regular washing-up liquid, which made it incredibly expensive.
(richardm, Mon 14 Nov 2011, 12:08, closed)

The score breakdown
From the Which review.

Aldi Magnum Premium Original
Fat removing power - 5/5
Foam Duration - 5/5
Thickness of liquid - 3/5
Value for money - 5/5

Fairy Liquid
Fat removing power - 5/5
Foam Duration - 4/5
Thickness of liquid - 4/5
Value for money - 4/5

So yeah value was taken into account, no it didn't overly affect the scores. So sorry, Fairy is a good washing up liquid, just one which costs an inordinate amount of money and demonstrative of the fact you can get something cheaper which does the job equally well.
(MagicMoose, Mon 14 Nov 2011, 18:56, closed)

True sir
I notice that when I buy Fairy I don't need to replace it as often as I do when I buy own brand.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Sun 13 Nov 2011, 23:02, closed)

You have a point with everything on that list bar the food
Cheap beans are hard unless you boil the shit out of them, and cheap cornflakes taste like cardboard. A lot of cheap bread seems to be stale the day you buy it
(wehttamman via B3ta for microwave, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 6:01, closed)

Reminds me of Red Dwarf
Lasts longer than any other type of milk dog's milk... no bugger'll drink it.

I feel the same about 'stay fresh' or 'long life' bread. It only lasts longer because opening the wrapper means tasting defeat.

We, I say we, I mean some one else in the household, recently bought Morrison's Rice Crackles rather than Rice Crispies. They taste of burnt.
(fivetide, Tue 15 Nov 2011, 14:13, closed)

As has been stated above, cheap baked beans are near universally awful.
Generic medicines, however, are fantastic. Why pay anything more than 16p for a box of paracetamol?
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 7:48, closed)

if you get tricked into paying 17p
or - OMG OMG -18p, then does that mean you're a failure?
(Gritty, yet fluffy. kipperpillock is obsessed with me =), Sun 13 Nov 2011, 7:59, closed)

Yes

(Vigilante Man weeps because you're stupid., Sun 13 Nov 2011, 9:29, closed)

Of course,
as that's 2p less to pelt the missus with.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 9:51, closed)

Shh, don't tell spimf
he might have to put down his croissant.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Sun 13 Nov 2011, 10:20, closed)

I didn't say any old beans
Oh sure there are bad formulations of beans but there also ones virtually indistinguishable from the branded ones but 30% cheaper. I doubt anybody could rationally argue a slight, barely perceptable difference in taste between Tesco / Sainsburys beans and Heinz justified the difference at the tills. Especially on a money saving tips thread.
(MagicMoose, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 9:56, closed)

Beans work thus:
1) Branston: bloody lovely
2) Heinz: nice, sauce is thick and tasty, but lacks the zing of Branston beans
3) Supermarket own: generally acceptable, but you'll only be eating them to save money and won't really be enjoying them; sauce is thin, slightly sweet
4) Budget: utterly inedible, unless breaking your teeth doesn't upset you.; no sauce, just red water
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 19:23, closed)

Which report
Branston - 73% at 63p
Asda - 72% at 44p
Morrisons - 71% at 44p
Heinz - 70% at 64p
Morrisons value - 70% at 29p

Aldi Corale beans were due to rank #2 but they were changing their formulation soon after so Which disqualified them.

So unless you give a damn about 1-2% of a mark you can save 30% of the cost over a brand by shopping at Asda or Morrisons.

Point being people get very protective of Heinz but objectively they're nothing special scoring only the same as Morrison's value beans.
(MagicMoose, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 21:47, closed)

Why would Which? write a report on this?
White goods, IT, service providers, all fair enough, as I'm unlikely to want to buy one on the off chance that it might be OK. If I'm not in a position to splurge 63p on a can of beans, just to see what they're like, I'm not ever going to be buying them.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 22:41, closed)

I have no idea
Which writes stuff like this to justify their existence. People pay to read their reports. My mum has an account so I went to look it up for this and the washing up liquid someone else mentioned. Personally I'd have no interest in subscribing but I suppose its been useful on this thread.
(MagicMoose, Mon 14 Nov 2011, 18:37, closed)

Waitrose Essentials
Baked Beans are nice though.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Sun 13 Nov 2011, 23:02, closed)

Coco Pops
I learnt to pay the extra for Coco Pops. In my experience, in each pack of branded Coco Pops I would find 1 or 2 hard yuckky bits that I really disliked. Imagine how pleased I was when I bought the generic brand and it was (you guess it) composed solely of those ones.

Or should I be happy that most of the bad ones get sorted out and put in the generic one, keeping the real product pure?

Still, other things are as good if not better than the expensive ones - just gotta try them and see. I only try high turnover items now - need to get a payback for the risk.
(Skippyfillet, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 9:07, closed)

Coco Pops?
Did your development plateau when you were 8?
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 9:53, closed)

Spot on
- apart from the cereal, anything other than Kellogs/Nestle is disgusting (of course if you are proper canny you will eat porridge instead). The only premium brands I buy are cereal, instant coffee and Coca Cola, and I very rarely buy Coca Cola
(mooghead, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 12:16, closed)

and...
ketchup/brown sauce...
(mooghead, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 12:18, closed)

Yeah, it's gotta be HP or Daddy's brown sauce.
That sounds a bit wrong...
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Sun 13 Nov 2011, 12:53, closed)

Too fucking right it does!
Howdy blaire.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Sun 13 Nov 2011, 22:08, closed)

depends where you shop, I suspect,
the worst cornflakes I ever had were Best Buy. Even the dog wouldn't eat them. Generally I find Kellogg's too sweet, never had a problem with Sainsbury's own brand.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Sun 13 Nov 2011, 16:56, closed)

What about the placebo effect
Noticed in consumption of branded medication compared to same quality own label ? Can't remember where I read it, (possibly Ben Goldacre (please feel to confirm or deny Dr)) but if I can be bothered I will find the source.
( number5 has been fighting tramps and losing., Sun 13 Nov 2011, 18:44, closed)

It was Goldacre in Bad Science
so with meds there is this extra factor. Probably not with beans tho'.
( edjogs Collared doves are shit., Sun 13 Nov 2011, 20:43, closed)

Ta for confirming my sometimes flaky memory.
As to your beans posit I wonder though if you wrapped a Heinz label around some bargain beans whether the same would be true...after all the psychological trick is the same.
( number5 has been fighting tramps and losing., Mon 14 Nov 2011, 8:23, closed)

As a school dinner lady, my nan did this.
All the kids complained about the crappy beans they were dishing up, so she brought in one can of Heinz and left it on the counter. Bingo, lots of happy children, munching down on cheap beans.

Conclusion? Kids are thick.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 14 Nov 2011, 9:33, closed)

Half decent supermarket own brand bog roll
by which I mean not the basic stuff, is usually only 50p or so cheaper than Andrex.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Sun 13 Nov 2011, 23:06, closed)

Fuck that, whilst i agree that some brand names are no better that supermarket own brands, when it comes to beans, there is a huge difference. I did a little "downshift challenge" last month and shopped in Morrisons and bought a lot of own brands, generally they were of lower quality or flavor than named or even other supermarket own brands. If you want to do a comparison, just buy Morrisons own gravy and tell me it does not taste like you made it in a jug you forgot you had previously turps in. Bisto all the way from now on!
(Beaverman Opulence, I has it., Mon 14 Nov 2011, 0:18, closed)

Oooohhhh. Coooooome. Oooooonnnnn!
www.taste.com.au/recipes/17225/quick+boston+baked+beans
Save even more money and use dried borlotti/navy/harricot/broad/kidney beans that you've soaked overnight. Guanranteed cheaper, doesn't matter about taste - put whatever you want in it. Grow the beans yourself ffs! (Make sure you tell the harp to stfu before you steal it tho!).

Better yet become geophagic and you can save a whole shitload of money - I can sort you out a trailer load for AUD$56 - find me another food source as cheap!

On a side note - a while ago my daughter & I did an experiment to see how much liquid was in 1 tin compared to another. Heinz topped the lot with nearly 30% loose liquid. So nyer!
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 14 Nov 2011, 5:28, closed)

Call me a lazy cunt if you like, but I don't really have time to manufacture my own baked beans.
And if I did have time I'd like to make something a bit classier than fucking baked beans.
( Zuowan, Mon 14 Nov 2011, 6:26, closed)

Sounds like you should learn to love being coporophagic.
Altho the returns may diminish it's all free after the initial meal & pretty classy too - how good is that! ;P
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 14 Nov 2011, 6:37, closed)

Nicely done here,
mentioning beans and cornflakes, possibly the only two common products in existence that don't have good own-brand equivalents.
( Zuowan, Mon 14 Nov 2011, 6:25, closed)

I agree on most points, but I buy Warburtons because I like the stuff.
If I find a cheaper bread that is as good as it, I'll buy that instead. No luck with that so far though.
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Tue 15 Nov 2011, 11:54, closed)