Going Generic

I don't have to tell you that in this economy everyone is looking for ways to cut costs. One place many people are choosing to save pennies is by choosing generic, or store brands, instead of name brands at the supermarket.

The Food Marketing Institute reports these stats:

• 93% of retailers plan to increase the number of store-label products in upcoming months.
• 15% of supermarket sales are store labels compared to 14% in 2008 and 11.5% in 2007.
• 10.8% increase in store label sales in most recent fiscal year. Manufactured brands grew by 2.5%.

The average family spends $98.40 weekly on groceries. If you have children, you will spend well over $100. So saving even a few dollars each shopping trip can add up.

Can you tell a difference in the store brand vs the manufactured brand? I personally will purchase store brand for many things like milk, bread, cheese, butter, etc. I have tried some of the store brand cereals and not found them to be as good as the manufactured brand. It all depends, though, on the product and the price. If a manufactured brand is on sale or if I have a coupon, it is much cheaper to go with that than the store brand.

Did you know that many of the store brands are actually made by national brands and relabeled for the store? This varies by store and product, but often those paper towels that are store brand are the same as the manufactured brand.

What do you think? What do you purchase in the generic, or store brand? Do you notice a difference?

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