5 Items to ALWAYS buy Generic at Catch a Gideon

November 15th, 2006 by digerati

Some brand name products may be better than their generic counterparts, but often the only premium factor is price. In fact, often the store brands are made by the same manufacturers as the brand name products. In those cases, buying generic can save you 50% without cutting the quality. The only difference is the fancy packaging.
Here are five supermarket products you should always purchase generic. Percentages are from the original article and SmartMoney.:

Produce

Chose fruits and veggies by their appearance and feel, not their label. While Sunkist may often have better oranges, the non-Sunkist are often in exactly the same condition. The underlying fruit is identical, so why pay more?
Savings on bananas can be 34%, strawberries 42%.

Coupon scarce goods

It’s not always cheaper to buy generic. A coupon can make the brand name product the better deal. Supermarkets do this hoping to convert you to the name brand products and assume you will buy the name brand again even without the coupon. Some items are rarely discounted. This includes butter, dry beans, spices, and seasonings, so buy generic, it consistently pays off. On paprika you can save 77%, 48% on parsley, and 28% on butter.

Over the counter medications

The FDA requires non-branded medications with the same active ingredients be just as effective as name brand counterparts. The price difference given the required similarities is astounding. Aspirin can be 69% less (store vs Bayer), Loratadine 47% (store vs Claritin), Ibuprofen 30% (store vs Advil).

Canned fruits and vegetables

Try a can of Del Monte sweet corn and a similar store brand can and you’re not likely to notice a difference. They warn that in mixes the brand name brands often have a higher count of prime ingredients (cherries in a fruit cocktail). Green beans can be 47% cheaper, carrots 55% and peaches 24%.

Pantry Staples

Single ingredient items such as flout, salt, and sugar and help to government regulations for production, packaging and storage. So, sugar is sugar regardless of its label. You can save 37% on generic sugar, 30-65% on salt, and 20-65% on flour.

See the article for more details.

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