'Proper' brands v Supermarket versions

As for McVities i have bought my last pack ever as they have just closed the Glasgow factory where they have been made for over 100 years and moved production to Turkey. Tesco Miss Molly digestives are far nicer and quarter of the price

I just wish Lidl or Aldi would deliver.
It would make life much easier.

Any shops own beans and tomato soup are far better than Heinz and so are their own cereals compared to Kellogg's.
I have tried all the washing up liquids I prefer Fairy it lasts longer.

We buy Heinz beans, PG Tips, Napolina tinned tomatoes, Andrex loo rolls, Nestle GF cornflakes, birds eye petit poi's and McCain gf oven chips. Iams Cat food, Brabantia bin liners, persil washing liquid and Fairy liquid. .

kittylester

We buy Heinz beans, PG Tips, Napolina tinned tomatoes, Andrex loo rolls, Nestle GF cornflakes, birds eye petit poi's and McCain gf oven chips. Iams Cat food, Brabantia bin liners, persil washing liquid and Fairy liquid. .

I’m with you on the bin liners kittylester, it’s worth paying the extra because they don’t rip, and fit the bin properly. All the others I’ve tried are rubbish.

Aldi’s Premium Magnum washing up liquid is better and much cheaper than Fairy or Morning Fresh. Goes a long way and gives a lot of suds. Heinz beans are a travesty - fewer beans in an anaemic sauce. Aldi are much richer and better. Their extra mature cheddar and Lancashire Farmhouse cheese are very good too. Ditto dishwasher tabs. I don’t buy supermarket tea or coffee, and wouldn’t swap Roses Lime juice for any supermarket brand. Nothing comes close. Border chocolate gingers are good but Morrisons are better. Own brand cereals are pretty horrible, especially quick cook porridge. Nothing beats Quaker.

Rosie51 I'm less bothered about brand names for dry pasta than I am the flavour and the way it holds my pasta sauce.
There is no comparison in my mind (mouth??) between supermarket own-brand type pastas and say, Granoro or Garofalo or some other genuine Grangano pastas. Waitrose no.1 does do a nice bucatini however.

I'm not so bothered if it's going in a macaroni cheese or a "pasta bake" though, to be honest.

NotSpaghetti I don't think my palate is developed enough with regards to pasta I do have my favourite shapes depending on the sauce it will be served with. Might not be correct in Italy but my bolognaise sauce is never served with spaghetti, I just don't think it 'grips' enough. Spaghetti goes nicely with oil based sauces in my opinion. I googled the names you mentioned, perhaps I'll try a 'posher' brand to see if I can tell the difference

My bottom is certainly not discerning enough to demand expensive toilet paper.

I think I've been using the same economy pack I ordered during lockdown.

Like Pitcity , almost no brands in my house except Marmite. The only exceptions are items like marmite, where there are no own brand alternatives, when brands are on special offer at a price below the price of the own brand, that has happened with butter and when the own brand is out of stock. We had a lot of Heinz salad cream, which I do not like very much, this summer because the own brand was out of stock for most of the summer.

I'm using a sainsbury alternative to marmite.
It's very nice, just a bit more runny.

Sainsbury's do their own 'marmite' which at one point I preferred, but I think they've changed the recipe, and the last jar doesn't taste the same. Does spread a lot easier though.

Crossed with you MissAdventure. Have you bought any really recently? maybe my last jar is a rogue one.

Not really recently, no.

About 6 months ago, I'd say.

It would be interesting to have a thread dedicated to alternatives, where we could recommend, try out, and calculate all the money we save.
Or not.

Talking of Marmite, DH just loves the one with peanut butter. No substitute anywhere. However I think it is not so popular so often on offer.

I suppose you could mix up your own, if you felt virtuous enough?

I agree with others about tinned tomatoes, there is a noticeable difference between cheap and expensive tins. I especially like tinned cherry tomatoes but at £1+ per tin I appreciate not everyone will be willing to pay that much.
I shop mostly at Tesco (online), and am slowly working my way through their cheapest ranges, buying one tin/packet/whatever at a time. I always buy Stockwell baked beans, often add a little chutney or fruity sauce depending on what I’m eating with the beans. I dislike their cheapest pastas, tasted very glutinous to me when cooked.
And agree with Greyduster about Roses lime juice, I’ve tried various other brands and disliked them all.
I buy John West tuna in spring water from FarmFoods, two packs of six tins now cost £8, was £7 until very recently. I don’t know how this compares to the price of similar in M&S but it’s cheaper than Tesco own brand.

Somebody said they found Asda tinned toms only contained one tomato!!
I counted, last time I used them, and I had six and a half.

I prefer the cheapy ones as they seems sweeter.

I would complain about just one, though.

I like the Asda lime marmalade.

I always used to have Rose's.

I almost never buy named brands. Some own brands are better than others. I'm not picky about baked beans, tinned toms or coffee. I am picky about tea. But as someone on here has already said, Aldi's own tea is good.

My girl went from yorkshire tea to Aldi red label.

only buy cheap items from lidl, poundland and savers.
lidl tinned spaghetti rings 16p.
often use them where would previously use baked beans.
lidle 4 pack baked beans, not the basic ones, are about £1.10p

It was me with the single tomato, MissA, from Aldi. It was a 30 mile round trip so I didn’t complain! I should have though, as I was also charged twice for another item. It was my first ever visit and I only bought five items so that was a pretty poor attrition rate. . My dd persuaded me to go back, though.

I agree with whoever said that own brand Weetabix don’t taste the same. That’s true, but I don’t mind the different taste so am happy to buy. Stay away from Aldi basic basic brand, though. It’s like eating corrugated cardboard with milk on. I swear you could build houses out of it. ?

Sainsbury's mayo 90p is just as good as Hellman's.