What 'Own Brand' Products Are Good?

[Lord Snot]

Until I left home when I was 21 my mum always did the shopping and she is a brand lady, never buying supermarket stuff but only well known makes. I now do all the shopping and by a process of trial and error I've been working out which own brand stuff is equal in quality to brand names, and which stuff it's really worth spending the extra on. Would you care to share your opinions?

Off the top of my head:

Own Brand Good
Baked beans
Frozen vegetables
Fresh fruit and veg
Kitchen towel
Tissues
Drinking glasses, cutlery, plates
Biscuits (cookies to USians)
Washing machine powder/tablets
Fizzy drinks
Fruit juice
Fake meats
Coffee and hot chocolate unless you're fussy about such things
Tinned tomatoes - more watery but that is good for cooking
Pasta sauces
Pasta
Rice

Own Brand Not Good
Bread (thin and coarse)
Toilet roll (again, too thin)
Washing up liquid (doesn't make bubbles, you need about half a bottle per wash)
Soy yoghurts (only because they taste very strongly of soy whereas expensive soy brands don't, if you like the taste of soy these will be fine)
Crisps/potato chips
Tea bags
Metal cooking utensils (tend to be very flimsy)

 

[Alice-Bee]

IS is going to make a regional sub forum...for now:

Own Brand Good
Baked beans-Asda or Sainsburys. I like Sainsburys
Frozen vegetables-Any. I shop at Sainsburys so I get theirs
Fresh fruit and veg-Asda...definately! Unless you know of a good greengrocer local to you.
Kitchen towel-I get cheap ones from Home Bargains £1
Tissues-Superdrug
Drinking glasses, cutlery, plates-Mine were donated from my mams when I moved.
Biscuits (cookies to USians)-Sainsburys Bourbons are vegan.
Washing machine powder/tablets-Astonish (all Astonish products are vegan and CF)
Fizzy drinks-Sainsburys cherry cola (called Dr Pop) vegan
Fruit juice-I drink fresh juice not squash, again Sainsburys. 4 for £3
Fake meats-If I dont get Linda McCartney I buy Sainsburys Mince. Its vegan as are their sausages I believe.
Coffee and hot chocolate unless you're fussy about such things-I buy Whittards. Its vegan.
Tinned tomatoes - more watery but that is good for cooking-Sainsburys. 31p a tin.
Pasta sauces-I make my own from scratch
Pasta-Asda or Sainsburys. Asda do a lovely Basil and garlic infused dry pasta. Vegan and under £1. Sainsurys do a lot of wholewheat ranges.
Rice-Asda or Sainsburys Brown. cheap and nice.

Own Brand Not Good
Bread (thin and coarse)
Toilet roll (again, too thin)
Washing up liquid (doesn't make bubbles, you need about half a bottle per wash)
Soy yoghurts (only because they taste very strongly of soy whereas expensive soy brands don't, if you like the taste of soy these will be fine)
Crisps/potato chips
Tea bags
Metal cooking utensils (tend to be very flimsy)

TBH Im happy with all the products I buy. Ive never had any problems..if I think of any ill ETA.

 

[Mel]

I know there are major differences in some brands in the UK and North America (I saw that first hand when I spent two months in Scotland), but reading your list, I have to agree with most of them. Only I don't think I have seen supermarket brand soy yogurt here, only name brands and they are pretty expensive, so we don't buy them very often.

 

[Mel]

Also, I'm jealous of all the vegan stuff you can get with store brands in the UK.

 

[Lord Snot]

IS is going to make a regional sub forum...for now:

Own Brand Good
Baked beans-Asda or Sainsburys. I like Sainsburys
Frozen vegetables-Any. I shop at Sainsburys so I get theirs
Fresh fruit and veg-Asda...definately! Unless you know of a good greengrocer local to you.
Kitchen towel-I get cheap ones from Home Bargains £1
Tissues-Superdrug
Drinking glasses, cutlery, plates-Mine were donated from my mams when I moved.
Biscuits (cookies to USians)-Sainsburys Bourbons are vegan.
Washing machine powder/tablets-Astonish (all Astonish products are vegan and CF)
Fizzy drinks-Sainsburys cherry cola (called Dr Pop) vegan
Fruit juice-I drink fresh juice not squash, again Sainsburys. 4 for £3
Fake meats-If I dont get Linda McCartney I buy Sainsburys Mince. Its vegan as are their sausages I believe.
Coffee and hot chocolate unless you're fussy about such things-I buy Whittards. Its vegan.
Tinned tomatoes - more watery but that is good for cooking-Sainsburys. 31p a tin.
Pasta sauces-I make my own from scratch
Pasta-Asda or Sainsburys. Asda do a lovely Basil and garlic infused dry pasta. Vegan and under £1. Sainsurys do a lot of wholewheat ranges.
Rice-Asda or Sainsburys Brown. cheap and nice.

Own Brand Not Good
Bread (thin and coarse)
Toilet roll (again, too thin)
Washing up liquid (doesn't make bubbles, you need about half a bottle per wash)
Soy yoghurts (only because they taste very strongly of soy whereas expensive soy brands don't, if you like the taste of soy these will be fine)
Crisps/potato chips
Tea bags
Metal cooking utensils (tend to be very flimsy)

TBH Im happy with all the products I buy. Ive never had any problems..if I think of any ill ETA.

Oh I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear. My first list was things that I buy own brand because I find them as good as brands, and the second list was things I do not buy own brand of. I pretty much exclusively go to ASDA because I hate shopping and would rather do it all in one place. Good to see we agree though

I know there are major differences in some brands in the UK and North America (I saw that first hand when I spent two months in Scotland), but reading your list, I have to agree with most of them. Only I don't think I have seen supermarket brand soy yogurt here, only name brands and they are pretty expensive, so we don't buy them very often.

I don't know about other supermarkets but ASDA (Walmart) have their own. I have been buying AlproSoy and I will go back to them because they taste like normal yoghurts.

 

[Richard1]

I get on well with Sainsbury's and Co-op own brand washing up liquid. Will note that hard water will have an impact on efficacy. That said, living in London the water is pretty much as hard as it gets.
My flatmates buy PG Tips but I go for Sainsbury's Basics, makes a lovely cuppa even with our water, fair trade and just 27p for 80 bags.

 

[Mel]

Walmart may own ASDA, but to me they are as different as night and day. Walmart has NO options for veg*n versions of omni stuff. I hated shopping there. Of course, we don't have a *super* walmart here, so maybe that is why we don't have choices here. I'd rather go to Superstore. They have a good selection of veg*n products (in the health food section), but most of them are not "own brand". There are no supermarket brands of fake meats and soy ice cream and other such things.

 

[Alice-Bee]

 

[Mel]

I get on well with Sainsbury's and Co-op own brand washing up liquid. Will note that hard water will have an impact on efficacy. That said, living in London the water is pretty much as hard as it gets.
My flatmates buy PG Tips but I go for Sainsbury's Basics, makes a lovely cuppa even with our water, fair trade and just 27p for 80 bags.

Wow, that's cheap. We pay about 2 or 3$ for less tea than that. Supermarket brand teas here are yucky too.

 

[Alice-Bee]

America doesnt do tea well though, so Ive heard

I pay 99p for a box. I have no idea how many are in. We only have them at breakfast, then the rest of the day I have Earl Grey or chai, which are ASDA own brand. If Im feeling like a treat ill get some Twinnings because not all the flavours I like are available as a Supermarket brand

 

[Richard1]

If they tried to charge us nearly £2 for a "cheap" small box of tea bags there'd be a revolution in no time

 

[Mel]

America doesnt do tea well though, so Ive heard

I pay 99p for a box. I have no idea how many are in. We only have them at breakfast, then the rest of the day I have Earl Grey or chai, which are ASDA own brand. If Im feeling like a treat ill get some Twinnings because not all the flavours I like are available as a Supermarket brand

Well, I'm in Canada. We do tea just fine, but it's expensive (Red Rose and King Cole, two Canadian brands are nice)! I like Twinnings, I try to get it when it's on sale.

 

[Richard1]

America (like much of the world) really doesn't do tea well at all. Water needs to be boiling as it hits the leaves (electric kettles make this a lot easier, something I never once saw in the US). Water shouldn't be reboiled and the vessel (cup or tea-pot) should be warmed. Enough tea should be used for the volume and in the case of red or black blends not left too long (stirring is better than leaving it) to avoid it becoming too bitter.
Only three places seem to do tea really well, the UK, Ireland, and India . (However one cafe in NYC does fantastic tea, it's called TeaNY).

Anyway, back to the topic

 

[hungryraccoon]

I love own brand crisps. Tasty tasty tasty.

 

[Mel]

America (like much of the world) really doesn't do tea well at all. Water needs to be boiling as it hits the leaves (electric kettles make this a lot easier, something I never once saw in the US). Water shouldn't be reboiled and the vessel (cup or tea-pot) should be warmed. Enough tea should be used for the volume and in the case of red or black blends not left too long (stirring is better than leaving it) to avoid it becoming too bitter.
Only three places seem to do tea really well, the UK, Ireland, and India . (However one cafe in NYC does fantastic tea, it's called TeaNY).

Anyway, back to the topic

Like I said, I'm not in the US, but I am in North America, and I know plenty of people that own electric kettles, myself included.

 

[Alice-Bee]

I saw a post on t'other forum saying Walkers Prawn crisps arent vegan. When I googled it it said they had prawns in them. I had a bag the other day and they were at least veggie, but Im pretty sure they are vegan..

 

[Richard1]

cool,
I've known a fair few from the US baffled by "those weird automatic electric water boilers here" quoting a guy from Chicago there. It was really annoying when I stayed in NY, there was only a whistling kettle that went on the hob except it whistled when it was at coffee temp rather than actually boiling. Really frustrating. (completely addicted to tea)
In even the cheapest hotel rooms here the minimum you expect is an electric kettle and some teabags.

 

[hungryraccoon]

Wow, people without kettles! That's utter madness. :s

 

[Mel]

cool,
I've known a fair few from the US baffled by "those weird automatic electric water boilers here" quoting a guy from Chicago there. It was really annoying when I stayed in NY, there was only a whistling kettle that went on the hob except it whistled when it was at coffee temp rather than actually boiling. Really frustrating. (completely addicted to tea)
In even the cheapest hotel rooms here the minimum you expect is an electric kettle and some teabags.

In hotel rooms here, you get a coffemaker, some coffee pouches for the machine and tea bags. How am I supposed to make tea??? *sigh* run water through the machine without coffee and use the coffee temp water to make tea... *blech*...

Ok sorry we need a tea thread. Can we split topics here?

 

[Lord Snot]

I have a box of Twining's Assam in the cupboard for if I really want a nice cup of tea, but there's no point making a nice cup of tea for dunking biscuits so I also have a box of ASDA's own