We got into a conversation the other day about what to eat when one is poor. As it turns out, most of us have lived through some lean times and we each have a few things that we refuse to buy generic. For me, I have to have Heinz ketchup and Kraft American cheese. If I can’t afford the real thing, I would rather just do without.
So, how about you? What falls into your “name-brand or nothing” list?

21 replies on “Lunchtime Poll: Brand Name Food”
I will only buy non-pink, non-Komen branded things. Â They just taste better.
Ohh, I’ve got unreasonable brand loyalty. Just to name a few, I always stick with Simply Orange oj, Silk soy milk, and All laundry detergent, because the last generic I bought gave me the itchies. In Texas, we have the Central Market Organics brand at HEB and it’s usually better than the name brand products, and I find myself to be quite loyal to it.
Huy Fong brand Sriracha & Sambal Oelek hot sauces (so inauthentic but who cares!)
Colgate toothpaste
Glide dental floss
Olay Daily Defense moisturizer/sunscreen
Sadaf pomegranate syrup (I’ve abandoned drinking Roy Rogers & Shirley Temples now that I can’t splurge anymore).
Kerrygold butter
I don’t have a specific laundry detergent but I noticed that generics don’t work as well.
The number one thing I will always buy name brand: Marie Callender microwaveable pot pies. I am 75% sure these were all that stood between me and starvation at one point in my life. Pot pies, bagged spinach, and (for those in the know in the Seattle area) Dick’s hamburgers.
Ice cream.
I second the peanut butter – even if I’m doing cheap and non-natural (though I prefer natural,) I will ALWAYS buy name brand.
And Cheerios. I have never met a generic Cheerio that compares to the real thing, and I eat Cheerios for breakfast every single morning. All other cereals I will buy generic (in fact, I consistently prefer generic corn flakes to the name brand version) but not my Cheerios.
Doesn’t matter what brand necessarily, but only grade B maple syrup—never, never that cheap, caramel-colored corn syrup crap!
Bread. I have a specific type of bread that I will buy and I refuse to buy the cheaper brands.
i buy brand-name butter, toilet paper, tampons, toothpaste (though, is there a store-brand toothpaste?), condiments, canned tomatoes.
Razors.
Tampons. I tried CVS brand once and it was like the flooding of the Red Sea all over EVERYTHING after only a couple hours, so never again.
I’m still at that stage where cheap alcohol is fine by me, and if I can get a box of wine for $4, then I will buy 2 and hate myself in the morning.
So true about the tampons.
I remember how I had to spend so much more money on more tampons & laundry when OB went off the shelves a few years ago.
Mine isn’t so much a name brand v. generic but a quality level. I like wine. I like dry, red, good wine, and I would rather wait a few weeks so I can buy a decent bottle than settle with something less than delicious. I’m also a produce snob and try to only buy fresh produce from a farmers’ market.
Peanut butter. Â I refuse to buy off brand peanut butter. Â It doesn’t taste right. Â Everything else is whatever. Â Though I will say the last time I bought milk, I hipster-ed out and bought it in the glass bottle. Â Apparently I love milk. Â I just HATE the taste of plastic. Â If only I could tell eight year old me!
Oh. I’d forgotten about peanut butter (don’t ask me how). I never buy generic peanut butter.
I only have three things on my “name brand” list:
tampons
Oreo cookies
toilet paper
Absolutely nothing. Sometimes even the non ‘name-brand’ stuff is better at a far lower cost.
I did have to buy store break last week for over two dollars a loaf. That was the first time this year that I didn’t get bread at the outlet for around $.89 a loaf. It will also be the last time I buy ‘store’ bread at that price for the next year, if I can help it.
I’ve been cooking from scratch (no, not the inventing the universe type) so much that any packaged food bought from a store tastes terrible to me. It’s all too bland and still too salty. Rice, beans, grains, meat are all bought in bulk and then fruits and veggies are purchased at the grocery store or, god willing as soon as it opens again for the season, at the local produce farm store.
My parents were very good at instilling an anger in me that flares up whenever food is overpriced. Even at a young age I would shout (in the store even), “$3 for THIS?! Outrageous!” Probably adorable back then but the sentiment remains today.
I refuse to buy generic butter or cheddar cheese. Cabot all the way, baby – I don’t care how much it costs. My Vermonter soul will not suffer imposters!
I’m the same way, west coast version. (Tillamook, baby! Both their butter and their cheddar.)
Oh, Tillamook cheddar! Totally the best.
And a third for Tillamook — even when I was a grad student living below the poverty line, it was Tillamook all the way.