Brand Conscious Buying
One great way to keep the expenses down is to stop buying those brand name products and buy the cheaper generic alternatives. Companies enjoy brand marketing, they spent millions on creating, marketing, and selling a brand, so you darn well will pay for it. There are industries where the entire product differential is just brand marketing. The soft drink industry falls into that category easily.
It's no secret that we all know brand name cost more, but do all of us know that a brand name does not necessary mean a better quality product?
Take one of my life obsession, Cap'N Crunch's Crunch Berries cereal for example. I have consistently purchased Crunch Berries for the past 6-7 years. They're fairly expensive when not purchased during sales price. $4 or so for a 15 oz box, $6 for a 21 oz box. The minute you put a scoop in your mouth, you'll know that they're decisively not healthy for you. (But it's oh so good!)I finally went looking for an alternative recently.
So there I was 10 PM at night, making one of those important life changing decision, and of all places at Wal-Mart.
I was standing there holding a bag of Malt-O-Meal's Berry Colossal Crunch.
Colossal Crunch? A blue kangaroo? Why am I holding this monstrosity?
"Sir, are you okay?" asked a helpful Wal-Mart associate.
She was probably wondering why I've been standing there for over 10 minutes. I noticed the "How may I help you?" slogan on her uniform.
"Yes, you can definitely help me," I told her as I held up the bag and pointed towards the boxes of Crunch Berries, "tell me, which one of these do you think I should buy?"
"Cap'N Crunch is a better brand right?" she said. For whatever reason, she had this look of "what's wrong with you" on her face as she said that.
"Hmm... okay, thanks."
So I went ahead and bought the bag of Berry Colossal Crunch, because this whole post would have been pointless had I went with the Crunch Berries.
The Berry Colossal Crunch is a 2 pound bag, costing only $3.68 at Wallyworld. There is little nutritional difference between the two brand, although Crunch Berries did contained more folic acid. Seeing as how I'm not going to give birth anytime soon (human male), I don't think it's that big of a deal.
So, does it taste the same?
You betcha. In fact, it may even taste better. Or maybe I was experiencing a "saving high." You should also note that the bag is re-sealable, quite handy if you ask me.
Will I ever buy Crunch Berries again? Sure, if its on sale and at a cheaper price. Should I stop my addiction of eating unhealthy, sugar filled cereals? My new best friend the blue kangaroo, says no.
So shop around, sometimes those store or generic brands aren't half as bad as you think. This obviously isn't just about grocery though, it applies for almost everything. Of course sometimes a particular brand is just good at what they do, especially if they created their specific industry. But a lot of times they are all the same or very similiar. You're just paying for the name.
To quote a medicore movie, Armageddon:
"Wait! You don't know how those American equipment works!" exclaimed an astronaut trying to save the Earth.
"American computers, Russian computers, Japanese computers," yelled the cosmonaut, "ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!"
9 Comments:
Great post! And very good to hear that store brands are half bad, I forget that occasionally as well.
thanks!
you reminded me to add more to it, just incase the point is lost. lol.
of course, this cant apply for everything too.. car buying is one example, some manufactures just plain need some more work.
Do this with drugs... you'll be amazed at what you can save. Claritin is simply Loratadine (antihistamine) and a Sudafed. Claritin is like $1+ a pill, Loratadin is like a quarter and sudafed is even cheaper.
Look on the box for the ingredients (legally obligated to list them) and just buy the generics because a drug is a drug is a drug.
ha! I spent my entire college career eating Frosted Mini Spooners for breakfast (and often lunch and dinner). I do think they are way better than regular Frosted Mini Wheats.
If only there was a generic Peanutbutter Cap'n Crunch....
you know, I think there actually was a generic Peanut Butter Crunch it was an Albertson brand.. or some Safeway supermarket brand, I forgot.
The reason why I forgot though, is because it actually tasted terrible. So some of them do stink.
But yes, cereal + top ramen = college dinner... orr the dollar value menus at fast food chains. urgh.
oh yeah, the generic drug offers are definitely big deal too. the money you can save there is huge.
the minute a patent for a drug runs out, their generic offerings spring from everywhere..
I mean, when is Viagra's patent going to expire? Pretty soon right? Probably the reason why you see spam for it everywhere..
"Have backpain? Here, take some Viagra!"
*rollseye*
Is there a generic brand for "Honey Bunches of Oats"? ;-)
Generic food products are a great idea.
My Supermarket has a brand called "Save". Common things like Chicken Broth, Tomato Sauce, Frozen Vegetables, etc cost less than half than the leading brand. Impressive, isn't it?
But even when you don't find generics, try finding alternatives. There have to be many brands of cereal you can like, don't focus in only one shape of cereal. Same thing goes for juices, deserts, etc. Also, consider that prepared foods (including cereals) are a lot more expensive than non-prepared foods. Some times it pays off to spend a few more minutes in the kitchen :)
Money and Investing
FMF: I believe most supermarkets have a store brand of it, but they're not very good. Target should have a store brand of Honey Bunches of Oats though, the Target brand cereals are cheaper and taste the same if not better.
Jose: Good point, pre packed and processed food are always more expensive. take canned soup for example, super expensive. or those bags of salad kit. $3-4 each? sheesh. just buy a head of romaine lettuce at the produce section for like $1 or less. wash 'em and prepare them yourselves. bam, instant saving.. and serves more too.
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