Lightening Online

* For those not living in Australia, I’m not sure if “generic” is a familiar term. It basically refers to the “stores own brand” of product. Here you might also hear terms like “homebrand”, “black and gold” and other variations of two colours (eg “blue and white” and so one).

I remember as a child when generic brands began appearing in the stores. I’m not sure if this was their first appearance or whether they were just becoming more widespread at this time. What I do remember is that there was a certain stigma attached to the generic type items. They were considered “poor people’s” food.

For a teenager at the time it was considered “social suicide” to be seen with homebrand or other generic items in your possession. I wonder if perhaps this “social conditioning” has stuck with some people. I’m surprised at how many people still seem reluctant to even give generic products a try.

There are a few common objections to using generic products.

My Husband/Children Object

Honestly, I think this is often more about mind over matter than anything. Yes, some things do taste different but different isn’t always bad. It’s about what you’re used to.

I’m not saying that EVERY generic product is a winner. Just that too often they get discounted as no good without being given a fair go.

My tip? Remove the contents from their packaging and either add them to the old packaging (the brand name stuff) or put them into another container. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.

OR. Try mixing half generic with half label brand.

They Are an Inferior Product

I think these days it’s a fairly well-known fact that most generic products are manufactured in the SAME place that label brand products are made. Often you’re looking at purchasing an item that is identical with a different packaging. Which means that with the label brand product, the extra you are paying for is advertising, cost of shelf space (I assume supermarkets don’t charge THEMSELVES for shelf space) and pretty packaging.

Now I KNOW that not ALL generic products are exactly the same. You do need to pick and choose a bit.

But lots of them are REALLY good and I think it’s worth giving them a try just to find the good ones.

People Will Think I’m Cheap (or Poor)

GREAT!!!! So let them!

Okay, I’ll be honest here, occasionally this still bothers me.

BUT, we all make choices in life.

If I spend $100 less than others on groceries per week for 10 years that’s $50,000. AFTER tax!

Now, we don’t save $100 a week using generic but it certainly does make a BIG difference to our final grocery tally.

Hence leaving us money to spend on more funner stuff! Like saving up to do our BIG trip next year!

They Dilute the Products

Maybe in some products.

1. Check the labels. I was looking at tinned tuna the other day. Tinned (canned) products are great because they give your percentages on the labelling. The cheapest generic (Australia now seem to have supermarkets carrying different “levels” of generic product) had 1% MORE tuna than the other tins of the same size.

2. Ask yourself, does it matter? I have noticed that tomato sauce is one product that is a little runnier in the generic brands than in the label brands. The thing is, my children like to cover their food with tomato sauce. Being a little less thick doesn’t actually matter in this case. In fact, it means they use LESS sauce overall - do a double saving!

Where Do I Start?

If you’ve never used generic products before, the best place to start is with basic items like flour and sugar (I DON’T recommend cocoa). Once you get beyond those, it is a bit of trial and error of trying products to see what they’re like.

Honestly

Some generic products are duds! BUT, I would have to say in my experience that there are a LOT of wonderful generic products out there, far outnumbering the duds.

Lightening’s Generic Products Love-Fest

Remember the Zucchini Love-Fest we had a few weeks back? Well, now I’d like to host a “generic” love fest. What do you need to do? Write a post outlining the products that you like (and those you definitely DON’T like) when it comes to generic/store brand grocery products. Make sure you mention which store they come from so people don’t get confused. You can post it anytime between now and next Friday and send me the link. Or if you’ve already written a post on this topic in the past, sending me the link to that post is fine too.

Next Friday (or Thursday for some of you) I’m going to post my own list of products we particularly like. I’ll also post any links that get sent in to other posts on this topic. Hopefully this way we can cover a good range of products AND a range of other countries too (c’mon my international readers, I need you to help me out some here)

Likes and dislikes vary but it’s always nice to be able to start with products that others have found to be good value.

It’s going to be a big generic link-love fest! If you’d like to be included, I’ll add a contact form right here to make it nice and easy for you to send me your link.

OR, if you don’t have a blog - you can send a review or two of your favourite generic products and I’ll add those to my post as well.

Happy Shopping (and Saving) Everybody!!!!

P.S. Feel free to pass the word around to your blogging buddies. The more participants we have, the better for all!

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