Name Brand vs Generic

Want to cut your grocery bill without couponing? Do you buy a lot of name brand items?

Name brand can be a huge chunk of where your grocery budget goes each month. And sometimes, the generic or off-name brands are actually better for you!

When you're cooking almost everything from scratch, there really shouldn't be very many items in your kitchen with labels on them. But the next time you do need to purchase something with a label, be sure to check out the competition too! For instance, at one of my local grocery stores you can buy the name brand chicken broth loaded with sodium, or you can buy the other brand organic broth that contains less sodium for  about $1.00 less. And it's delicious! In my opinion, it's even better than the name brand.

But what about things that don't taste as good when it's not name brand?

My husband is very picky about his milk. Milk picks up flavors from the cow's diet. And it always seems like the flavor of milk my husband likes comes from the big, name brand dairy companies. Figures, doesn't it? There is one store brand milk he likes, and one other that he will tolerate. The rest are off the table. So, let me put this into dollar amounts for you and you'll see why this is such a big deal.

Until just a few years ago, we were going through 8 gallons of milk a week! There is a $1.20 difference between the name brand milk and the store brand milk my husband will drink. That's a difference of $9.60 per week. You might think that's not such a big deal. But that's a difference of $500 per year! Now, we're down to about 3 gallons of milk per week, which is great for a family of five. But we're still talking about a savings of almost $200 per year by purchasing store brand milk.

So when I'm at the store that stocks milk he likes, I buy enough to last until the next time I'm going to be at that store. Sometimes, though, that doesn't work and we run out. Of course, I don't want to spend more in gas to drive to the "right" store for his milk than what I'm going to save purchasing the cheaper milk over the name brand. So on those rare occasions, I will splurge on the name brand milk. (Oh the things I do for that man!)

Now, be honest. How often can you really tell the difference between name brand and generic? If it's something that you're going to eat unchanged from the way you buy it, like hummus or guac, then yeah, you're probably going to be able to tell blindfolded which is the good stuff and which isn't. But when it's just one of many ingredients going into a pot, chances are you're not really going to be able to tell. Canned beans are canned beans, and don't differ nutritionally beyond sodium content. Give them a good rinse, and you'll wash a fair bit of that sodium down the drain, too.

Still not convinced you should try generic brands? Here's a little more math for you.

The average American eats around 15 lbs of pasta every year. Now, pasta prices can differ pretty widely depending on brand, by as much as $2-3 in fact. But let's be generous and go with just a $1.50 difference. I buy pasta for about $1 per pound when it goes on sale. So, I'm spending about $75 a year on pasta. Increase the price by the $1.50, and the total jumps to over $180! So right there, I just saved my family another $100 per year buying generic! Pasta sauce is another great one, with very similar results as the pasta. But I'll spare you the never-ending lists and math. I estimate I save my family around $1000 a year just by buying generics.

So the next time you reach for a name brand, take a few seconds to check out the competition, too. You can literally save thousands of dollars over the course of the year. Now, what to do with the savings? . . .