Aldi coffee, the ColumbIan No.4 is very palatable. I alternate with Kenco Rich but that has to be on offer below £5.50 per 200g for me to buy it.
Aldi muesli is good and I also buy Scotts instant porridge at 8 sachets for 99p from Home Bargain.
Shopping Habits and Own Brands
- Thread starter Narj
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Aldi coffee, the ColumbIan No.4 is very palatable. I alternate with Kenco Rich but that has to be on offer below £5.50 per 200g for me to buy it.
Aldi muesli is good and I also buy Scotts instant porridge at 8 sachets for 99p from Home Bargain.
I’ll usually buy non branded unless I can really tell the difference. Some brands are much better than other established brands too.
Tiptree ketchup is so much better than anything else including Heinz
Clipper Tea instead of Twinings (Clipper tastes better and is better in so many other areas too e.g. sustainability, ethically)
Branston Beans> Own brand> Heinz
Then there are other rare items that are much better than the branded version:
Tesco Collection Milk, White & Dark Chocolates - about half the price of branded and much nicer.
Tiptree ketchup is so much better than anything else including Heinz
Clipper Tea instead of Twinings (Clipper tastes better and is better in so many other areas too e.g. sustainability, ethically)
Branston Beans> Own brand> Heinz
Then there are other rare items that are much better than the branded version:
Tesco Collection Milk, White & Dark Chocolates - about half the price of branded and much nicer.
I'll try that Aldi stuff, then. Kenco Rich is my 2nd pick for instant (Douwe Egberts dark is 1st), so you seem to have similar preference.
Now you mention it, I did used to buy an Aldi muesli that was really nice, pre-covid. I'd forgotten about it. Wonder if they still do it.....
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I hope you like it, it is 100% arabica bean at around £2.50 per 100g. I do drink quite a lot of coffee.
Soldato
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Heinz are an inferior brand. Anyone who thinks Heinz are the best thing have no tastebuds.
Don’t people spending £1.25 on a tin of Napolina tomatoes. If I made two dishes with identical ingredients bar the tomatoes. One was a tin of 35p had the other a tin of Napolina. You wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.
Only branded items I buy a Coke/Pepsi, anti perspiration.
Don’t people spending £1.25 on a tin of Napolina tomatoes. If I made two dishes with identical ingredients bar the tomatoes. One was a tin of 35p had the other a tin of Napolina. You wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.
Only branded items I buy a Coke/Pepsi, anti perspiration.
Are you sure that you aren't just accustomed to the taste of Heinz ketchup? Have you ever done a proper blind tasting with other options?
A fundamental issue with the branding of products is that it leads to people tasting with their eyes. There is endless content on main stream media and social media where people were adamant that a product such as Heinz ketchup (in particular) is their favourite, until they have to compare it to alternatives without knowing which is which.
Personally I'm a big fan of reading the ingredients. It's not a guarantee of the best taste, but the product with the higher percentage of the relevant ingredient (tomatoes, strawberries, mustard or whatever) has always got to be worth a go rather than the one loaded with the most sugar etc. Especially if it's a cheaper option!
Soldato
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Atomic Shrimp done a blind test with jam, he got it correct. I imagine someone on YT has done the same for other stuff. But it's subjective, Heinz ketchup is good imo, but i also favour Daddies, both completely different flavours. The cheap ones i've tried are salty grossness. But i mentioned in my previous i got priced out of Heinz and am on my last big bottle which was cheap.
Edit.
I'd agree that many are subject to marketing gumph.
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I agree that the Napolina stuff is generally the same as cheap supermarket own brand. We used to just buy Sainsbury's own brand, sometimes Napolina if they ran out. The reason we stopped is because the quality of the tomatoes used varied drastically. I never add sugar to tomato sauces, but sometimes I had to, to balance the lack of sweetness and the intense acidity.
Mutti finely chopped tomatoes are where it's at.
I tend to use tinned plum tomatoes as I read a while back that chopped tomatoes undergo extra processing to stop them turning to mush in the tin.
Although there may well be some subtle difference in the taste of premium and cheap brand tomatoes on their own, I absolutely agree that when cooking a meal as long as the tomatoes that come out of the tin are good then no one is going to say that the curry or pasta dish you have created isn't right because the tomatoes don't taste like "X" brand. Simmering those onions for long enough and using plenty of garlic will make far more difference to the outcome!
Don't think there's extra processing, they just use the lower quality tomatoes, since they're going to be all chopped up. The whole plum ones are always better.I tend to use tinned plum tomatoes as I read a while back that chopped tomatoes undergo extra processing to stop them turning to mush in the tin.
Although there may well be some subtle difference in the taste of premium and cheap brand tomatoes on their own, I absolutely agree that when cooking a meal as long as the tomatoes that come out of the tin are good then no one is going to say that the curry or pasta dish you have created isn't right because the tomatoes don't taste like "X" brand. Simmering those onions for long enough and using plenty of garlic will make far more difference to the outcome!
The only branded grocery food item we get is Hellman's mayo (after doing a blind taste test Vs Heinz and all major supermarket versions).
Everything else is pretty much Lidl branded, I actually rate their 'Pringles' and 'Kinder chocolate' above their true brand equivalents.
It also helps that we try and avoid any product owned by Nestle (which is the majority of the coffee isle).
Everything else is pretty much Lidl branded, I actually rate their 'Pringles' and 'Kinder chocolate' above their true brand equivalents.
It also helps that we try and avoid any product owned by Nestle (which is the majority of the coffee isle).
Why the heck should a food supplier have to justify profit increases. I must be missing something. Ketchup isn't exactly insulin is it.Hey it's not just me thinking that!
Heinz and Unilever fail to justify profit rises as brands grilled over 'greedflation'
Kraft Heinz and Unilever struggled to explain why their profits have jumped in recent years, as MPs accused major brands of "gauging, greedflation and profiteering".www.grocerygazette.co.uk
Fair point with Crunchy Nut. Own brand Fruit & Fibre is fine though, although I add my own raspberries, strawberries and/or bananas.
I couldn't care less, I buy what I enjoy. Granted some of the items I only discovered due to the ridiculous price gouging inflation we suffered over the last few years but it's worked out better in the end as I discovered a lot of cheapo stuff which I prefer to the branded stuff, and it saves me some wedge too. M&S Ketchup for example is very good and only a quid a bottle. For mayonnaise it has to be Aldi, and their gravy spanks the brands all day long. Sweets too, Aldi ktnx.
I was watching that shopping thing that those girls do on the telly a while back (Supershoppers I think) and they compared a load of own brand stuff with the branded stuff, interviewing people as well. Some of the people interviewed said that they'd go up to £7-8 for a bottle of Heinz ketchup, that's mental
I do enjoying seeing the builders' cafes with their Heinz bottles on the table which have so obviously been filled with some of that nasty vinegar stuff that the only people they're fooling will be too blind to see what the label says anyway, or have no taste buds at all.
The only time I do question it is when hosting, do I look like a pauper with M&S ketchup on the table rather than Heinz? I don't particularly care tbh, my friends all know that what they see is what they get with me. Does make me wonder if any of my friends are pretentious enough to give a toss but don't say anything
I doubt it tbh, the things I've seen some of them do means they have absolutely no leg to stand on in the posh stakes
I was watching that shopping thing that those girls do on the telly a while back (Supershoppers I think) and they compared a load of own brand stuff with the branded stuff, interviewing people as well. Some of the people interviewed said that they'd go up to £7-8 for a bottle of Heinz ketchup, that's mental
I do enjoying seeing the builders' cafes with their Heinz bottles on the table which have so obviously been filled with some of that nasty vinegar stuff that the only people they're fooling will be too blind to see what the label says anyway, or have no taste buds at all.
The only time I do question it is when hosting, do I look like a pauper with M&S ketchup on the table rather than Heinz? I don't particularly care tbh, my friends all know that what they see is what they get with me. Does make me wonder if any of my friends are pretentious enough to give a toss but don't say anything
I doubt it tbh, the things I've seen some of them do means they have absolutely no leg to stand on in the posh stakes
Caporegime
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Can’t be having supermarket crisps over Walkers, just different class
Seabrook crisps and Aldi Bramwells ketchup is at least as good as heinz
I'm an own brander all the way, other than for chocolate.
Oh and pringles, but these are a treat rather than a rule.
Unfortunately however my wife has other ideas, won't drink own brand coffee, refuses to eat own brand crisps, has to be walkers or nothing. I personally can't tell the difference
Oh and pringles, but these are a treat rather than a rule.
Unfortunately however my wife has other ideas, won't drink own brand coffee, refuses to eat own brand crisps, has to be walkers or nothing. I personally can't tell the difference
Soldato
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I buy own brand unless there is a branded item at a similar or lower price, but the Mrs buys pretty much branded everything.
Caporegime
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I buy own brand over mr Kipling because they take the complete **** now. £4 for 8 little angel slices. Ridiculous
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