'Proper' brands v Supermarket versions

I was at the Bisto factory once, many years ago. The Bisto brand and one for a supermarket own label were both going out from the same place, with the same product inside. Only the labels (and probably the price in the supermarket) were different.

The only products I buy branded are tea and crumpets. Otherwise Lidl's own products suit me fine.

I'm another one who finds Lidl's Nordpak is as good as Lurpack, and much cheaper. It is the lactic culture that is important with this type of spread.

I have used Lidl for years and think some of their offer is fantastic.
Having said that I think it's about what you like.

No point buying things you will just move to the back of the shelf every time you have a choice.
I have some horrible but expensive coffee that was a "treat" from my daughter that is always pushed to the back of the shelf with the horrible but cheap "own brand" coffee bought because it had great reviews.

Because I hate to waste anything I have been "cutting" my prefered coffee in a ratio of about 5 to 1 (nice to not nice) and trying to drink it that way. I can't face it all the time and my husband noticed it straight away without being told.
He says I should just bin it but I've recently discovered my "blend" is ok if you take coffee with milk!
I usually drink it black but got the frother out the other day and it wasn't bad. Not sure a that milk will make it a saving though!

I do like Warburtons crumpets.

All of the others taste too sweet.

Another shout for Lidl Formil laundry products, washing up liquid, Baresa pesto, Deluxe prawns - fresh and frozen. Am about to try their Guatemalan ground coffee. Their thick sliced seeded bread is goo too. Have tried their De Luxe bacon and it's good. I can't be precise about pricing, but these items are certainly cheaper than branded. Their sausages are quite good too.

I really need to get this lidl washing powder.
I use Ariel for my whites, but I'm turning over a new leaf, I think.

Sainsbury frozen products are good value for money. Their frozen mashed potato and 500g bags of lamb mince are really good. Shepherd's pie anyone?

I'm keen on sainsbury basic stuff, as a rule.

Their sage and onion mix is lovely.

Sainsbury's frozen cauliflower cheese is brilliant, not expensive and gf.

Oh I love cauliflower cheese!

One of my favourite things.

NotSpaghetti

V3ra you may be interested to know that there is a regulation as to how quickly drugs enter your system. Apologies if you knew this (I only recently discovered).
... So for example Ibuprofen has to be 75% in your system after (I think) 40 mins.
The brands that state "fast acting" have to come in quicker than that. I think I read 25 mins.

If your soluble paracetamol variety says "fast acting" it will work faster than regular paracetamol whether it is soluble or not.
If you are wanting the pain relief quickly I'd look out for the ones advertised as "fast".

Well I never knew that, thank you!

We've actually got three varieties of soluble/effervescent paracetamol tablets at home.
Panadol Actifast says it's "fast acting."
Panadol Extra contains caffeine and says it's "extra effective."
For all three varieties each single soluble tablet contains 21% of the daily recommended level of sodium for an adult, which I hadn't realised ☹️

Maybe I should go back to the plain tablets (though I don't take them that often), and read the leaflets inside the box more thoroughly ?

I was interested to read some of you assume medications, regardless of brand must be identical.
I have experience of prescribed medicines not being equally effective when a generic version was (quite legally) substituted.
I therefore have no doubt that over the counter medications such as paracetamol, while containing supposedly identical active ingredients, might well have very different results.

Esspee

I was interested to read some of you assume medications, regardless of brand must be identical.
I have experience of prescribed medicines not being equally effective when a generic version was (quite legally) substituted.
I therefore have no doubt that over the counter medications such as paracetamol, while containing supposedly identical active ingredients, might well have very different results.

That’s slightly different to paracetamol and aspirin though Espee. They are manufactured to the same specification.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/14RlXMhR7g7Dk09vK7YmWXl/are-more-expensive-painkillers-worth-the-money

I agree, I know this because my husband used to work for a plastics company , bleach bottles etc have to ALL adhere to safety standards . So even cheapest ones are just as safe. The bleach inside every bottle they produced was the same as they also manufactured the bleach !!!! The only difference was labelling and PRICES!!!

I was told that own brands often come out of the same factories as well known brands. I always use Aldis own brands they are excellent.

Most own brand yoghurts are disappointing imo. I love some of the Muller's but e.g Aldi split fruit yogurts are nowhere near as good

for those who still use hard soap, i got 2 bars for 40p in savers.
is blue, made in turkey, name hygiene.
bottom shelf, have to look for it.
that was about a month ago. may have gone up by now.

Sainsbury's Fruit and nut muesli is streets ahead if any others I've tried, branded , Waitrose etc. All loo rolls seem to have shrunk recently. I used to squash them into bathroom drawer, now they rattle (?) around with space to spare.

V3ra
^Panadol Actifast says it's "fast acting."
Panadol Extra contains caffeine and says it's "extra effective."^
I expect the "fast acting" one does as it says. I have no idea what "extra effective" means!
Might be worth asking a pharmacist.
I will ask if I remember.

Espee, could that be because of the excipients?
I was talking about the active ingredients.

Here's a study based on data from 3.5 million patients.
It finds the generics to work the same.
It doesn't mean every single person found that.
Interesting, though I confess I skim-read it.
It's fairly recent 2018 I think.

journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002763

I use a lot of supermarket own brands but can’t find an acceptable for cornflakes or weetabix/they just don’t taste as good

Very interesting about the pain relief.
I accidentally gave DH anadin extra. It was the worst thing for him. He had cancer and was trying to sleep so I had thought the paracetamol and aspirin would help take away the pain but the caffeine meant he couldn't sleep.

I like Lidl Guatemalan coffee Lupin

NotSpaghetti

Also, branded products (such as cereals and chocolate) are different in different countries.

One shop in America that I've used actually is not allowed to sell certain UK manufactured products as the industry has an international agreement in place! It's nothing to do with colours or e-numbers either - just money deals.

I found this out recently. I am intolerant to artificial sweeteners, but I can drink a Fanta made in Lithuania (for example) as it is made with real sugar, whereas the same from the UK contains artificial sweeteners.