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Pepsi or Coke? When it comes to soft drinks the choice pretty much comes down to two brands. As for drinking store brand pop - well that’s just pure indecent and un-American. Heinz or Hunts? Here again, I understand brand loyalty. Nobody really wants watery private label ketchup. There really are a few products for which there are no good store-brand substitutes. Switching to private label products to save money on groceries can be difficult.
Now almost everybody knows you can cut your grocery bill by as thirty or forty percent on certain store brand or private label products. But something happens when you go to the grocery store shelf - you just can’t bring yourself to do it.
So, here are a few tips that might help you break away from the chains that binds you to the brand:
1. Start with the easy stuff first like the food you’re buying for others to eat. Let’s start with your cats and dogs. A lot of pet food comes out of the same factory. A few years ago, there was a breakout of tainted pet foods and the manufacturer, Menu of Ontario, was obliged to recall 60 million cans of their product. It turned out that the same dog food was being sold under 100 some odd brand names ranging from Hill’s Science Diet to Ol’Roy, a Walmart label. So definitely go with the private label on your pet supplies. Trust me - unless your dog knows how to read, he won’t notice the difference.
2. This might sound callous - but consider feeding your infants store brand baby food. It’s safe and the government mandates that the contents meet federal nutritional requirements. And just like dog food, a lot of it comes from the same manufacturers - regardless of what the label reads. Unless you have a prodigy in the crib - that’s another mouth that won’t be able to distinguish the labels. And you won't be alone. Private label baby food sales increased 22.4% year over year as noted in a recent Brandweek article, and that's in a Recession! And don't stop there, if you are getting them formula, you are really wasting your money on the branded stuff. On November 10th, a private label company won a lawsuit against Meade Johnson, the maker of Enfamil, for falsely denigrating private label formula nutritional effectiveness. Turns out they are the same ingredients from the same suppliers but the private labels cost up to 50% less.
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