We tried ketchups: Safeway's store brand, Heinz, and Del Monte. Had seven testers, and Del Monte won. We all thought we'd picked Heinz, which came in second.
Being from Hawaii, I'd never buy anything but the genuine SPAM! :-)
@HollyP - If I understand your question, convection ovens are certainly replacements for traditional ovens. You may just have to get used to cooking a little differently, since it cooks a little hotter and quicker with the air being fan-forced.
Has anyone bought a car with the Costco Auto program? I am looking into buying a new car but am wondering if Costco acutally saves you money. I'm already a member but don't know anyone who has used this service before. Any information would help, thanks!
I highly urge everyone who buys bottled water to do this test. Buy every brand of water you can find plus take some tap water and put all the water in the fridge for and hour or so. Then start the taste test. Rate them in order AND try to guess which one is which. My results were that the Ralph's generic distilled water tasted better than 10 other brands, including the pricey Fiji.
Funny you should bring this up! Two weeks ago I enlisted my family as an expert panel and we did a scientific generic vs store-brand blind taste test of our own.
If you are interested in the surprising results, check out my article:
I can't wait to live a simple lifestyle as you describe. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with this article! Negative inertia is indeed something we should all strive to get out of!
I have the Dawn + OXI currently at home and an ant problem. Do I need to go out and buy the original or do you think this will work? Plus what's the ratio of soap to water? Say if a tablespoon of Dawn then mix with how much water?
thanks.
I preffer hard copy bills, it has been helpful. A few months ago, we got a bill from doctor from 11 months ago, which we did not remembered even, we had luckily kept all papers so we dug through it to find right insurance info and paid the bill.
Sometimes, maternity and labor bills keep coming till your child is 1 year old. I have 8 month now and I am still getting a few labor bills, go figure!
Keep everything per year, per family members for atleast 5 years or you change insurance.
I love Aldi's! I do 90% of my shopping there. I have never once seen it dirty. They keep that store spotless at all times. That is just a rummer started by the bigger stores to try to keep people out of there & in their stores. Now years ago Big top foods was a nasty place to shop but has cleaned up because of government guidelines.
Simple living is all about personal preferences, key is to start small. Letting go to stuff is hard but once we start, it gets better. I have got rid of many furniture/clothing/dvds in my life and still have tons to go, it is amazing, how much stuff can be well hidden inside the drawers. It is almost like shopping inside your home and finding neat stuff again, and it you do not think is neat, out it goes.
We run two gallerys in the uk www.gallerysales.co.uk and www.marmalade-art.co.uk our sales are mirrored by the housing market.It certainly is a buyers market and yes to survive we have reduced art cosiderably to compete with the auction houses.One in particular springs to mind,we have a painting by J. STEVEN DEWS who's paintings of the "Americas Cup"demand prices of £100,000 ours of "Merchantman in a Swell"is now £12,000.......say no more.
Next time try using Velveeta cheese. Melt in the microwave and add to your noodles. 1/4 of a block is enough for 1 small bag or box of noodles and it is no different than velveeta shells and cheese.
Food4less makes a generic block style cheese and keeps it right next to the velveeta. It tastes great no difference at all and less addatives. Its about $3.50 for the block
I've taste-tested just about every store-brand alternative of products we buy regularly, and I've started buying most of them. Major exceptions include Saltine crackers over Premium Plus, I just don't like the store brand; and I like Dr. Pepper and the generic pop-makers just can't seem to reproduce that one to my satisfaction.
But for everything else, I test and replace. I don't consult my wife. If I did, she would pass judgment without taste-testing first, presumably based on some terrible past experience with store brands that she won't talk about, and we'd continue buying the store brand.
So when I introduce a store-brand alternative into the house, I do so without fanfare; only occasionally has she complained and asked me go back to the name brand. Helps that I handle the shopping and cooking though.
There are certain things that make no sense to buy as a name brand, especially single-ingredient things. example: Grated Parmesan Cheese - ingredients: parmesan cheese. There's like $1.50 in price difference between the store brand and the name brand!
I've found the house brand stuff at Costco (Kirkland) is almost always better than the name brand and is always a lot cheaper. House brand stuff at Superstore (here in Canada) can be pretty nasty. I find Wal-Mart middle of the road.
I'm one of those people that literally gets a rush from using coupons. So when it comes to buying generic brands our family of 4 has adapted our buds to what ever we bring in the house. Saving money is our biggest priority. Al thou we wish that there were more healthier generic options. For now our cat will keep on eating generic spam with kibbles & Bits, and we will stick with coupons and store brand sales.
I have to say I'm right with you on the pasta....I will try just about any generic but only once. Pasta just does not pass muster - in fact, I was so put off by the disappearing, disintegrating ditalini trick that I never ventured in the store brand market for noodles again.
We like our spaghetti in one piece and will pay a bit more for the wholeness of it ;)
Single ingredient products will always stand a better chance - less stuff to muck up.
one of the best places to shop generic is at Aldi. Yes, I had for years been under the impression it was an unclean store / place to shop. I found out differently. OH>> I wish I'd known when i was younger and starting on my own!
However -- I started shopping there.. and on just the savings from what I purchase (chicken, meat, canned goods, some produce) I can take 2-3 trips to Aldi for one at Jewel / Dominicks.
Many people don't know -- Aldi's is owned by the same people who own Trader Joes. and if you're an organic lover or on a special diet / no nitrates/ no msg or no gluten.. there is no better place than TJ to shop. Even their regular produce is cheap!
I have tried many of the Aldi brand items that normally I would purchase brand names for at Jewel.. and you know what ? I FAR prefer aldi for most of them. For those I don't like much.. i can take one shopping trip every 2 months to jewel and pick up those items.
I love cereal and eat it all the time. I have tried several of the off brands to compare and I have found the Quaker brand in the bag to be a very good substitute for the national brands except for the substitute cheerios. (they just don't taste right) the fruit loops, pebbles, corn puffs, cap'n crunch, are all fantastic. Sometimes they are cheaper but often they are about the same as the national brand when it is on sale of I have a coupon. the replacement spoon size shredded wheat used to be a great deal but they keep raising the price and now it is cheaper to buy the big box of national brand at Costco (unless the Quaker is on a good sale at the grocery store)
There is another brand of the bag cereal (not Quaker) and they are all terrible.
the Best Choice - Nutty Nuggets (grape nuts) are fantastic at half the price of the national brand. can't tell them apart at all. PS milk is a great deal at Costco. I won't buy it at the grocery store anymore.
When I was in college - broke and sick of ramen noodles - I sprung for a $0.50 box of the store brand equivalent of Velveta Shells and Cheese. I couldn't even swallow the first bite. It was so disgusting I spit it out, flushed it down the toilet (no garbage disposal in the dorm) and swore off all store brand Mac and cheese since. It's been a decade and I still can't bring myself to try them again.
I also tried the store brand cereals a few years ago. They weren't that much different, but the generics seemed stale.
However, I've had good experience with store brand juices. If it's 100% juice, how different can it be?
I'm totally with you. Our home buys only generic brands, except when a coupon makes the name brand cheaper. I just found it amusing that you picture one of the very few items I insist on name brand. Something about generic Spam makes my skin crawl. Probably a bad experience my mind has subliminated....
i'm with brian. i would definitely have less recession anxiety if i had done or could currently do any of the things you mentioned. and while the well-prepared (those who have done what you've suggested) may have some recession anxiety, the deeply anxious folks are in situations like mine: i'm self-employed but have made barely any money over the last year+ (and the self-employed aren't eligible for unemployment), have exhausted all my emergency fund to make ends meet, and have a load of debt.
yes, when we all come out of this i will definitely approach my finances just as you suggest, but for now, i'm just trying to subsist and unfortunately, these tips don't offer much help for my anxiety.
i also use the viva brand, they're pretty strong. but, i use about a cup or two of distilled water, not boiled, and i use dr. bronners baby mild soap. its great, and you only need about 1/4cup or less. i then put a few drops each of lavender, wild chamomile and tea tree oil. lavendar and chamomile are soothing, and tea tree is anti bacterial.
Thank you so much for this article. So many parents are scared to save a little bit of money, fearing that they are skimping on their baby's nutritional needs. The good news is that they're not skimping!
We used Parent's Choice for my twin girls. I couldn't breastfeed due to a surgery a few years prior. I couldn't feed one baby, let alone provide for two!
We started off with the name brand stuff the hospital sent us home with, but there was no way we could afford 2 cans every few days. It was going to break us. We literally sat in the aisle at Walmart comparing labels, did more research online, and talked with a few other people. When we found out about the FDA requirements, we were satisfied that we would be taking care of our girls the best we could, and saving money for other things we needed to get for them. It made such a difference.
I didn't see you mention it, so I wanted to add it here... Parent's Choice has a Formula Savings Calculator that shows consumer in black and white, how much money they'd be saving by switching to Store Brand formula.. http://www.parentschoiceformula.com/baby-formula-savings-calculator.aspx
We tried ketchups: Safeway's store brand, Heinz, and Del Monte. Had seven testers, and Del Monte won. We all thought we'd picked Heinz, which came in second.
Being from Hawaii, I'd never buy anything but the genuine SPAM! :-)
Great post, Elizabeth!
@HollyP - If I understand your question, convection ovens are certainly replacements for traditional ovens. You may just have to get used to cooking a little differently, since it cooks a little hotter and quicker with the air being fan-forced.
@Nadia - Thanks!
Has anyone bought a car with the Costco Auto program? I am looking into buying a new car but am wondering if Costco acutally saves you money. I'm already a member but don't know anyone who has used this service before. Any information would help, thanks!
Some store brands are okay, others are garbage. You're not saving anything if you don't enjoy it. I wouldn't feed my dog with Aldi products.
I highly urge everyone who buys bottled water to do this test. Buy every brand of water you can find plus take some tap water and put all the water in the fridge for and hour or so. Then start the taste test. Rate them in order AND try to guess which one is which. My results were that the Ralph's generic distilled water tasted better than 10 other brands, including the pricey Fiji.
Funny you should bring this up! Two weeks ago I enlisted my family as an expert panel and we did a scientific generic vs store-brand blind taste test of our own.
If you are interested in the surprising results, check out my article:
http://lenpenzo.com/blog/id771-my-store-brand-vs-name-brand-blind-taste-...
All the best,
Len
Len Penzo dot Com
Hello,
Haven't lived in Chicago in about 12 years, but it is nice to hear the names Jewel, Dominic's and Aldi's.
I'm sure there are lots of folks scratching their heads wondering what the heck you are talking about.
Fear of failure, once overcome leads to a world of new opportunities. It's the topic of my main post "You're Rejected, How I Use Rejection To Motivate Me Every Single Day!".
I can't wait to live a simple lifestyle as you describe. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with this article! Negative inertia is indeed something we should all strive to get out of!
I have the Dawn + OXI currently at home and an ant problem. Do I need to go out and buy the original or do you think this will work? Plus what's the ratio of soap to water? Say if a tablespoon of Dawn then mix with how much water?
thanks.
I preffer hard copy bills, it has been helpful. A few months ago, we got a bill from doctor from 11 months ago, which we did not remembered even, we had luckily kept all papers so we dug through it to find right insurance info and paid the bill.
Sometimes, maternity and labor bills keep coming till your child is 1 year old. I have 8 month now and I am still getting a few labor bills, go figure!
Keep everything per year, per family members for atleast 5 years or you change insurance.
I love Aldi's! I do 90% of my shopping there. I have never once seen it dirty. They keep that store spotless at all times. That is just a rummer started by the bigger stores to try to keep people out of there & in their stores. Now years ago Big top foods was a nasty place to shop but has cleaned up because of government guidelines.
Simple living is all about personal preferences, key is to start small. Letting go to stuff is hard but once we start, it gets better. I have got rid of many furniture/clothing/dvds in my life and still have tons to go, it is amazing, how much stuff can be well hidden inside the drawers. It is almost like shopping inside your home and finding neat stuff again, and it you do not think is neat, out it goes.
We run two gallerys in the uk www.gallerysales.co.uk and www.marmalade-art.co.uk our sales are mirrored by the housing market.It certainly is a buyers market and yes to survive we have reduced art cosiderably to compete with the auction houses.One in particular springs to mind,we have a painting by J. STEVEN DEWS who's paintings of the "Americas Cup"demand prices of £100,000 ours of "Merchantman in a Swell"is now £12,000.......say no more.
MARMALADE-ART GALLERYSALES
Next time try using Velveeta cheese. Melt in the microwave and add to your noodles. 1/4 of a block is enough for 1 small bag or box of noodles and it is no different than velveeta shells and cheese.
Food4less makes a generic block style cheese and keeps it right next to the velveeta. It tastes great no difference at all and less addatives. Its about $3.50 for the block
I've taste-tested just about every store-brand alternative of products we buy regularly, and I've started buying most of them. Major exceptions include Saltine crackers over Premium Plus, I just don't like the store brand; and I like Dr. Pepper and the generic pop-makers just can't seem to reproduce that one to my satisfaction.
But for everything else, I test and replace. I don't consult my wife. If I did, she would pass judgment without taste-testing first, presumably based on some terrible past experience with store brands that she won't talk about, and we'd continue buying the store brand.
So when I introduce a store-brand alternative into the house, I do so without fanfare; only occasionally has she complained and asked me go back to the name brand. Helps that I handle the shopping and cooking though.
There are certain things that make no sense to buy as a name brand, especially single-ingredient things. example: Grated Parmesan Cheese - ingredients: parmesan cheese. There's like $1.50 in price difference between the store brand and the name brand!
I've found the house brand stuff at Costco (Kirkland) is almost always better than the name brand and is always a lot cheaper. House brand stuff at Superstore (here in Canada) can be pretty nasty. I find Wal-Mart middle of the road.
I'm one of those people that literally gets a rush from using coupons. So when it comes to buying generic brands our family of 4 has adapted our buds to what ever we bring in the house. Saving money is our biggest priority. Al thou we wish that there were more healthier generic options. For now our cat will keep on eating generic spam with kibbles & Bits, and we will stick with coupons and store brand sales.
I have to say I'm right with you on the pasta....I will try just about any generic but only once. Pasta just does not pass muster - in fact, I was so put off by the disappearing, disintegrating ditalini trick that I never ventured in the store brand market for noodles again.
We like our spaghetti in one piece and will pay a bit more for the wholeness of it ;)
Single ingredient products will always stand a better chance - less stuff to muck up.
one of the best places to shop generic is at Aldi. Yes, I had for years been under the impression it was an unclean store / place to shop. I found out differently. OH>> I wish I'd known when i was younger and starting on my own!
However -- I started shopping there.. and on just the savings from what I purchase (chicken, meat, canned goods, some produce) I can take 2-3 trips to Aldi for one at Jewel / Dominicks.
Many people don't know -- Aldi's is owned by the same people who own Trader Joes. and if you're an organic lover or on a special diet / no nitrates/ no msg or no gluten.. there is no better place than TJ to shop. Even their regular produce is cheap!
I have tried many of the Aldi brand items that normally I would purchase brand names for at Jewel.. and you know what ? I FAR prefer aldi for most of them. For those I don't like much.. i can take one shopping trip every 2 months to jewel and pick up those items.
I love cereal and eat it all the time. I have tried several of the off brands to compare and I have found the Quaker brand in the bag to be a very good substitute for the national brands except for the substitute cheerios. (they just don't taste right) the fruit loops, pebbles, corn puffs, cap'n crunch, are all fantastic. Sometimes they are cheaper but often they are about the same as the national brand when it is on sale of I have a coupon. the replacement spoon size shredded wheat used to be a great deal but they keep raising the price and now it is cheaper to buy the big box of national brand at Costco (unless the Quaker is on a good sale at the grocery store)
There is another brand of the bag cereal (not Quaker) and they are all terrible.
the Best Choice - Nutty Nuggets (grape nuts) are fantastic at half the price of the national brand. can't tell them apart at all. PS milk is a great deal at Costco. I won't buy it at the grocery store anymore.
When I was in college - broke and sick of ramen noodles - I sprung for a $0.50 box of the store brand equivalent of Velveta Shells and Cheese. I couldn't even swallow the first bite. It was so disgusting I spit it out, flushed it down the toilet (no garbage disposal in the dorm) and swore off all store brand Mac and cheese since. It's been a decade and I still can't bring myself to try them again.
I also tried the store brand cereals a few years ago. They weren't that much different, but the generics seemed stale.
However, I've had good experience with store brand juices. If it's 100% juice, how different can it be?
I'm totally with you. Our home buys only generic brands, except when a coupon makes the name brand cheaper. I just found it amusing that you picture one of the very few items I insist on name brand. Something about generic Spam makes my skin crawl. Probably a bad experience my mind has subliminated....
i'm with brian. i would definitely have less recession anxiety if i had done or could currently do any of the things you mentioned. and while the well-prepared (those who have done what you've suggested) may have some recession anxiety, the deeply anxious folks are in situations like mine: i'm self-employed but have made barely any money over the last year+ (and the self-employed aren't eligible for unemployment), have exhausted all my emergency fund to make ends meet, and have a load of debt.
yes, when we all come out of this i will definitely approach my finances just as you suggest, but for now, i'm just trying to subsist and unfortunately, these tips don't offer much help for my anxiety.
i also use the viva brand, they're pretty strong. but, i use about a cup or two of distilled water, not boiled, and i use dr. bronners baby mild soap. its great, and you only need about 1/4cup or less. i then put a few drops each of lavender, wild chamomile and tea tree oil. lavendar and chamomile are soothing, and tea tree is anti bacterial.
Thank you so much for this article. So many parents are scared to save a little bit of money, fearing that they are skimping on their baby's nutritional needs. The good news is that they're not skimping!
We used Parent's Choice for my twin girls. I couldn't breastfeed due to a surgery a few years prior. I couldn't feed one baby, let alone provide for two!
We started off with the name brand stuff the hospital sent us home with, but there was no way we could afford 2 cans every few days. It was going to break us. We literally sat in the aisle at Walmart comparing labels, did more research online, and talked with a few other people. When we found out about the FDA requirements, we were satisfied that we would be taking care of our girls the best we could, and saving money for other things we needed to get for them. It made such a difference.
I didn't see you mention it, so I wanted to add it here... Parent's Choice has a Formula Savings Calculator that shows consumer in black and white, how much money they'd be saving by switching to Store Brand formula..
http://www.parentschoiceformula.com/baby-formula-savings-calculator.aspx