I have just within the last year decided that being frugal is sensible. Before, I would just buy groceries without any thought or planning and usually went 4-5 times a week!!! Stupid!! Now, I realize that I need to be a better steward of both the finances God has blessed us with as well as the time. So, my question is, what store brands do you prefer? I have found that the Wal-Mart brand Ranch Dressing is better than the name brands!! I love it and am hooked. I also buy almost all their stuff if it is available. DH prefers General Mills Oatmeal, but the kids and I can't tell the difference. About the only thing I refuse to buy is chocolate chips,(prefer Baker's) and mustard, don't know why. Thanks for all the suggestions!

-- Ivy in NW AR (balch84@cox-internet.com), October 05, 2001

Answers

We can't stand generic coffee - gotta have our Folgers! We'll go for generic almost everything else, though.

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), October 05, 2001.

Do you have a store called Aldi's near you? The prices are very good, a nice selection of items, and they are all their own brands. I truly believe that if it weren't for this store I would have to get a job! I have never bought anything there that I didn't like. Also Kroger brands are good. I personally can rarely tell the differnce between the brand-name and the national brand. Have you tried adding your own additions to mustard, like honey or cracked pepper, whatever you like?

-- Melissa (me@home.net), October 06, 2001.

Western Family is awesome. But, alas, only available in the West. LOL I guess it is to get even for Aldi only being in the east. My daughter moved to Gerogia and really misses some of the vegi blends, frozen foods, that are Western Family. Even the coffee is fine.

-- Swanlady (kwelton@brigham.net), October 06, 2001.

I second it for Krogers! Not only are there brand names usually as good as big brand labels, they are lots cheaper. I have heard that store brand items are made by the same people who make the big brand labels, and that wouldn't surprise me. I haven't tried a lot of Wal Mart's brand but what I have I found to be of good quality. Has anyone tried Dollar General? They don't have a lot but what they do have is usually good and cheap. I especially like their salad dressings. We don't have Aldi's here. I'm jealous!

-- Barb in Ky. (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), October 06, 2001.

There is a store called Save A Lot that is a lot like Aldi. There are very good deals there. I shop there regularly. They have a cracker for 99 cents that is just like Ritz, which my family loves.

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), October 06, 2001.

In reference to Krogers, you can go on their website and get coupons for Kroger brand items. This will make the savings even greater. I'm not sure what the address is, just type in Krogers on the search engine and I'm sure it is easy to find.

-- Melissa (me@home.net), October 06, 2001.

Thanks for all the great responses. I guess I should clarify in that where I live my main choice for shopping is Wal-Mart. We live where they are headquartered, so their is little competition. We do have Dollar General and I must agree that their stuff is pretty good. Most of it the kids can't tell much difference in taste. I would love to be able to really comparison shop, but Wal-Mart will honor any competitors prices, if we only had some real competitors!!

-- Ivy in NW AR (balch84@cox-internet.com), October 06, 2001.

My dh thinks Dollar General (coke) clover leaf, is a real close to the real thing. I don't care for store brand canned fruit. Most of the other stuff is pretty good.

-- Carol in Tx (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), October 06, 2001.

I must admit that I am a "name-brand" buyer. I can't even tell you why. I suppose only out of habit. I DO buy a few Publix brand items like napkins and have tried Publix brand boxed macaroni and cheese and ground black pepper. I have also bought what I consider a generic brand of toilet paper (Kirkland) from Costco. For those of you that don't have a Costco in your area, it's a warehouse type place like Sam's. Those are the only generic brand items that I can think of that I have ever used (at least in the past 10 years or better). Everything else I buy is brand-name.

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), October 06, 2001.

We just tried the the ranch style salad dressing from the Dollar General. We all like it and it's only $1.00 per bottle.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), October 08, 2001.

I noticed today in W.M they have dried fruit "generic" it was $1.17 a bag for banana chips, pinnapple, and something else, the dried cherries were quit a bit higher though, they had cranberries too.

-- Carol in Tx (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), October 08, 2001.

I go to Sav A Lot for staples (flour sugar)meat, crackers. Paper products and laundry detergent are from Cosco a few times a year. We just discovered that the Walmart brand of frozen orange juice tastes very fresh. Sam's Club cola is alot like pepsi. Those are a few I think of...

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 12, 2001.

You may or may not find this funny. bUt i'm the kind of person to buy brand named jeans and go shopping for everything else at Walmart. BUt brand name prices, and when money is tight or you just want to save. Get the sewing machine out, and bake cookies. theres always a solution. something i was reminded of today was how good God is to us ,and how many things we are able to have in Canada and America. This man in our church went to the Ukraine and in their grocery store , there was an ice box of fish and a couple bars of soup. sometimes its just hard to know what to buy. Happy shopping everyone.

-- jillian (sweetunes483@yahoo.com), October 14, 2001.

If anyone out there knows how to contact the United States corporate offices of Aldi, Inc., I would appreciate it. Aldi needs to come to Texas, south Texas in particular, where HEB and WalMart have a monopoly on the grocery market. Than

-- Georgia Wingate Rozelle (gbwr7777@hotmail.com), September 15, 2002.