Own Brand Products

[mick]

We love Marmite.

Recently we decided to try LIDL's own brand. We prefer it to the real stuff. It's a whisker more runny and a whisker less strong (maybe why it's half the price).

Any other own label products that you prefer?

Mick

[geoffr]

Not so much “prefer” as can’t really tell the difference. Tesco plain chocolate digestives and ginger nuts are a fraction of the cost of McVities and I can’t tell the difference.

[John Farrell]

We buy own brand milk, flour, sugar, ice cream, frozen peas and yeast at the supermarket we frequent.

[mick]

Dec 1, 2023 8:39:37 GMT geoffr said:

Not so much “prefer” as can’t really tell the difference. Tesco plain chocolate digestives and ginger nuts are a fraction of the cost of McVities and I can’t tell the difference.

Quite a lot of Tesco stuff is very good. We eat Tesco fishcakes (they have been mentioned in the 'dinner' thread) that are delicious and reasonably priced. Agree about their ginger nuts as well.

Mick

[Kath]

My perception of the own brand versions of Marmite is that they are more salty so assuming I'm feeling flush enough, Marmite is probably one of the very few things I buy that isn't Own Brand. The other would be Henderson's Relish but mainly because it's veggie. I'm very happy with Aldi's own brand mayo, ketchup, mustard, salad cream, butter, flour, sugar, dried fruit, nuts, muesli etc, and when tasked with buying pods for the office coffee machine, the general consensus was that Aldi's Americano pods were nicer than the Dolce Gusto version.

[mick]

Marmite has almost 11g of salt per 100g. Lidl has just less than 9g of salt per 100g!! Lidl is 83% yeast extract and I can't find out how much is in Marmite.

Mick

[Kath]

Dec 1, 2023 9:23:16 GMT mick said:

Marmite has almost 11g of salt per 100g. Lidl has just less than 9g of salt per 100g!! Lidl is 83% yeast extract and I can't find out how much is in Marmite.

Mick

Well I did say it was my perception!  

[zou]

Struggling to think of much brand foodstuffs that we buy. I prefer Stoats porridge bars to supermarket ones but Stoats downsized their bars to the point of being too small so haven't bought them in ages. We do get Nairns oat cakes but there is no supermarket equivalent where we shop.

[MJB]

Other than niche products, such as Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, I find there's little difference between branded and own brand products, especially with staple goods. You need to be careful to check pack sizes though. Store's value ranges though is a different matter. Value baked beans, for instance, invariably contain more watery sauce and fewer beans, so you end up needing twice as much product and drawing some of the sauce away.

[JohnY]

Morrisons baked beans are as good as Heinz.

[mick]

When I was a nipper I would only eat HP baked beans. My mother spent weeks trying to trick me into eating other brands but failed. I don't think money entered into it. She just didn't believe that I could tell the difference but she was wrong.

Mick

[andy]

I tend to go with Tesco frozen hot and spicy chicken things but there's no chance I'll accompany them with own brand super noodles or frozen peas and only a slight chance of own brand roasties, although the finest ones of those are pretty good.

After recalibrating taste buds I'm fine with their own brand tomato sauce as the Heinz stuff seems overpriced (as I expect the super noodles are but the alternatives are crap).

[dreampolice]

Don’t do own brand Ketchup. It is either Heinz or The Sauce Company. Beans are Branston. Tried own brand once. I would rather pay more money for a branded make. Bread is a mixture. We generally use Jackson’s bread but will use others if I just want a cheap white sliced. I like Warburton fruit tea cakes. No own brand gets close IMO. Tried cheap own brand chopped tomatoes. They were so watery they were awful. Now mainly use Mutti apart from Aldi’s own brand tinned cherry tomatoes. They are thick and when blended are great.
Most other things however are more own brand than not.

[zou]

Dec 1, 2023 9:35:32 GMT zou said:

Struggling to think of much brand foodstuffs that we buy. I prefer Stoats porridge bars to supermarket ones but Stoats downsized their bars to the point of being too small so haven't bought them in ages. We do get Nairns oat cakes but there is no supermarket equivalent where we shop.

Duh, completely ignored Marmite. Having tried Vegemite once I've not deviated since. Also Cauldron tofu, the supermarket stuff just isn't as reliable.

[kate]

I prefer the Co-op own brand 'weetabix' and 'cornflakes' to the branded ones. Same for orange juice.

On the other hand, I hate their bread and the local Youngs fish products, which I gave up on years ago.