SAN ANTONIO – Buying store-brand or private-label groceries instead of name-brand goods is an easy way to save on the grocery bill.
“Store brands are almost always cheaper, sometimes as much as 70% cheaper than name-brand products,” said Consumer Reports’ Amy Keating.
But it may not be worth it if the food doesn’t taste good. So, Consumer Reports did some blind taste-testing on common items, comparing name brands to popular store brands.
First up, cereal. Tasters found you really can fill your bowl with a Honey Nut Cheerios knockoff that tastes close to the real thing and costs a lot less.
They were impressed by Honey Nut O’s from Walmart’s Great Value brand. They’ll save you 67% per serving.
Having syrup on your pancakes?
“We found that all of the syrups we tasted were delicious, but some were actually more expensive than the name-brand syrup by Butternut Mountain Farm,” Keating said.
They found that the store-brand organic maple syrup at Costco will make your taste buds and wallet happy, with 25% savings.
If you’re a fan of Skippy Peanut Butter, testers said to go for the Walmart brand. It costs 50% less. But, they said to skip the store-brand PB from Target and Dollar General because they found they had a less-roasted peanut flavor.
Testers said it’s nuts how good Costco’s Extra Fancy Salted Mixed Nuts are. And, you’ll save a lot of money over the Planter’s brand.
Finally, when it comes to ketchup, a lot of families use Heinz. But, tasters found that Target’s store brand was very good and costs 70% less per serving.
Consumer Reports did not include H-E-B products in their testing.
We’d like to hear which specific store-brand foods you think are as good or better than name brands. Please comment below. We may use the information in future reporting.