Everyday branded products vs unknown equivalent

[NVP]

I ran out of Fairy dishwasher tablets yesterday and quickly jumped to the local corner shop to grab a pack.

It was a brand called Astonish which I'd never used before, when looking at the finished (tee hee) result this morning they're sparklier than usual and even the bits of food I usually find on the tip of an old wooden spatula were no where to be seen.

I'm very impressed and with the addition of saving £7.50 a pack it is a no brainer that I'll be buying them from there in future.



What branded products have you shied away from in favour of a cheaper, unknown product of better quality?

 

[Minxy]

We tend to shop at Aldi these days so have got into using a lot of their unknown brand detergents and cleaning stuff which seem to be just as good as the branded ones for quite a lot less money in some cases.

 

[Efour]

Astonish is a very big British brand..... But i dont think they advertise hugely so obviously no one knows them.
Been around yonks.
Probably see them on QVC, is that still a thing? or other weird shopping channels.

lol anyway...

Cat litter.... My cat literally ***** on it.... the GF always buys one that is 23 quid a box....
I buy the one thats 8 quid.... So yeah i save that. lol

 

[Ayahuasca]

You should check out some of their other products, the mould and mildew remover is also better than the more expensive brands.

 

[DanTheMan]

I shop at lidl a lot and I don't notice a difference between anything I buy there compared to regular branded stuff.

For me, their chocolate and replica head and shoulders are better than the branded stuff. We also preferred their nappies when my daughter was in them.

All of their cleaning products seemed to do the exact same job as branded stuff too.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

I do all my online shopping at Tesco and always get their own brand stuff - bathroom cleaner, window cleaner, bleach, hand wash, bubble bath etc. Occasionally they'll be out and swap it for a 'branded' item - I've never noticed the branded item being any better.

It's the same with their food - Tescos own brands are just as good. There is a difference in their value brands though (they've renamed them weird things like 'Stockwell Co', 'Rosedene Farms' etc) - I generally stay away from those unless it's fruit that the kids will eat in about 5 seconds flat - a raspberry is a raspberry after all. I generally however stay away from things like pasta sauces (I make my own) so maybe I'd notice a difference between say Tescos and Loyd Grossman in that instance but for example Tescos long grain rice is no different from Uncle Bens long grain rice, despite being half the price.

 

[NVP]

Oh yeh, after a Google they're not really an unknown brand - I'd just never seen them before. Will have to check out their other products definitely.

We tried the Aldi nappies but my eldest didn't like them he seems to only be comfortable in pampers, my youngest is in Mozers own brand and he ain't fussed which saves more than a tenner a pack iirc.

 

[SixTwoSix]

Only real difference I notice with branded sauces and cleaning products is they're generally more concentrated and you need less. However that's normally offset by the higher price.

 

[arknor]

Only real difference I notice with branded sauces and cleaning products is they're generally more concentrated and you need less. However that's normally offset by the higher price.

some washing up liquids are like water and false economy imo.

I bought some persil washing machine tablets the other day I'm not sure which ones but I could check.
anyway they smell really weird when I put my clothes on it's like a musty mould smell like my clothes didn't dry fast enough :S

but in this heat they clearly do.

I even completely emptied my washing machine of water and did a hot cycle empty thinking maybe it was the washing machine....

but they still make my clothes smell weird, never buying persil liquid tabs again

 

[SixTwoSix]

some washing up liquids are like water and false economy imo.

Yup, some of the cheap washing liquid, floor cleaner and bleaches are so diluted you're not really saving a penny.

 

[jon86]

We like Aldi's own branded food and nappy wipes. We tried their dishwasher liquid soap a while ago and it wasn't as good as Cascade Advanced Power Liquid dishwasher detergent, which we buy from Costco. We don't compromise on that anymore.

We also much prefer branded ZipLoc bags, which we buy from Costco. The bags seem to stay shut a lot better than Aldi's own branded ZipLoc bags.

 

[bris]

Bid brands are big brands because of the hundreds of millions on pounds they spend brainwashing us into believing they are the best every year, thats the power of advertising.

The likes of Aldi and Lidl have proved time and again with taste tests etc that it's simply not true and that value doesn't mean bad.

 

[ianh]

The only "big brand" item I standby for being better than any of the unknown branded competition that I've tried (and I've tried all kinds) is Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cornflakes. Absolutely nothing else I've tried comes close and, as I spend most of my time away from the UK in places where Kelloggs isn't always available, I've tried a whole heap of others for comparison, easily over 15 different makes from across the world.

For everything else I tend to find that unknown brands can often be just as good and sometimes better so I hold no "brand loyalty" other than to my beloved Crunchy Nuts.

 

[FoxEye]

Cat litter.... My cat literally ***** on it.... the GF always buys one that is 23 quid a box....
I buy the one thats 8 quid.... So yeah i save that. lol

If your cat doesn't like the feel of the stuff she ****s on, she will end up doing it on the carpet instead

 

[Raymond Lin]

My favourite coke is actually Sainsbury’s own version of Coke Zero. Pink Grape Juice I prefer Tesco. Tinned Sardines I get the 40p one from Tesco.

Typically things that is organic in nature I get whatever brand, things like cereal or porridge. Washing up liquid though I’ve tried others but always gone back to Fairy Liquid.

 

[builder22]

If your cat doesn't like the feel of the stuff she ****s on, she will end up doing it on the carpet instead

bet some people haven't even tried the cheaper ones incase that happens...'the cat might **** on the carpet? **** that..only the best for felix!'

 

[Raymond Lin]

If you ever only got the cheap stuff for the cat, how would it know the difference?

 

[OllyM]

We tried their dishwasher liquid soap a while ago and it wasn't as good as Cascade Advanced Power Liquid dishwasher detergent, which we buy from Costco. We don't compromise on that anymore.

I bought that from Costco once and thought it was junk, it couldn't get tea stains out of mugs! Finish tablets (also from Costco) work much better

 

[jon86]

I bought that from Costco once and thought it was junk, it couldn't get tea stains out of mugs! Finish tablets (also from Costco) work much better

Haha, we use our dishwasher to do a final wash, sterilize, and heat dry so our tea stains are removed from the mugs before they go in the dishwasher. We personally like the results from using Cascade in our dishwasher but results of course vary.

 

[JRJ]

Aldi's nappies saved us a fortune with both our daughters and they are much better than branded at easily a third of the cost, wet wipes also.

Aldi's chocolate oaties are much better than chocolate hobnobs