Saturday, November 15, 2008

Generic vs. Brand Name Products (18+ Items Reviewed)

Here's a great post comparing various generic and brand name product. A site by the name of Walletpop provides a 58 page slide show where it compares a number of products to determine if a number of generic products are worth recommending. The following comparisons favored the generic brand:

(1.) Nabisco Wheat Thins vs. Kroger Wheat Crisps
-Verdict: Tastes just like wheat thins, with less salt and $3.05 cheaper

(2.) Muir Glen Organic Garden Vegetable Soup vs. Whole Foods 365 Organic Vegatable Soup
-Verdict: Virtually the same as name brand, $2 cheaper

(3.) Nature's Path Organic PomengranPlus Granola w/ Cherries vs. Whole Foods 365 Organic Fruit & Nuts Granola
-Verdict: Cereals slightly different in contents, but stick with generic and save 90 cents

(4.) Cheetos Crunchy vs. Kroger Crunchy Cheese Curls
-Verdict: Kroger brand better and 26 cents an ounce cheaper

(5.) Walker's Shortbread vs. Walgreen's Shortbread Fingers
-Verdict: Stick with Walgreen's brand and save up to 38% when you buy two Walgreen boxes

(6.) Stoneyfield Lowfat Raspberry Yogurt vs. White Rose Raspberry Yogurt
-Verdict: Go with White Rose brand, save 30 cents per serving but get higher dose of sugar

(7.) Kellogg's Frosted Flakes vs. Pathmark Frosted Flakes
-Verdict: Go with generic and save about 33%

(8.) Huggies Natural Care Wipes vs. Safeway Mom-to-Mom Wipes
-Verdict: Safeway generic wins hands down, also save 25%

(9.) Ocean Spray Cranberry Cocktail vs. Target's Market Pantry Cranberry Juice Cocktail
-Verdict: Go with Target brand and save 10%

(10.) St. Ives Apricot Scrub vs. CVS Brand Apricot Scrub
-Verdict: Go with CVS brand and save 25%

(11.) Planters Whole Cashews vs. Kirkland Costco Whole Fancy Cashews
-Verdict: Go with Kirkland and save 38%

(12.) Cascade Dishwashing Detergent vs. Kirkland Costco Liquid Gel
-Verdict: Go with Kirkland and save 67%

(13.) Tropicana No Pulp Orange Juice vs. Wegmans No Pulp
-Verdict: Go with Wegmans and save 13%

(14.) Dimetapp Children's Grape Cold & Allergy vs. Wal-Mart's Equate Children's Cold & Allergy Grape
-Verdict: Go with Equate and save 66%

(15.) Slim-Fast Optima French Vanilla vs. Wal-Mart Equate Ultra French Vanilla
-Verdict: Go with Equate, save 34% and avoid 2.5 grams of saturated fat.

(16.) Fiber One Chewy Bars vs. Target's Market Pantry Fiber Chewy Bars
-Verdict: Go with Target brand and save 21%

(17.) Green Giant Whole Kernel Sweet Corn vs. Shoppers Food Whole Kernel
-Verdict: Go with Generic and save 56%

(18.) A&W Root Beer vs. Wal-Mart Root Beer
-Verdict: Go with Wal-Mart brand and save 43%

Check out the Walletpop website. It's worth a peruse. Here's the full Walletpop slideshow.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is less of a comparison than a "don't buy brand names" post
the verdict is always the less expensive choice.. that's not much of a review

Finance Junkie said...

Opinion, opinion, opinion. You're entitled to it.

Some find discerable differences between generics and brand names.

na0 said...

i'm surprised that no name brands actually came up better in your comparisons.
while most generics are made by the same company that makes the name brand, some times the quality is not the same.
just ask any female about buying generic menstrual pads! lol

Anonymous said...

I usually buy generic. It IS financially cheaper.

But after medically unexplainable horrible experiences with two generic female sanitary pads (they soaked through eve), I need to buy name brand for this. Otherwise I might as well have not been wearing any pad.