Name Brand or Generic? Which is Better?
Years ago, I discovered the generic brand aisle at our grocery store. This was in the 80s when everything was still typically name brands. My mom couldn’t believe the huge cost savings I had found for her. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but it was probably something very easily switched out or my mom wouldn’t have ever gone for it.
As the economy has gone through many ups and downs, we have seen them reflected in our grocery prices. Many people have learned to buy those generic products to help stretch their ever so thinly stretched budgets. During my years as a single, working mom, I didn’t coupon very much but still had to shop for my daughter and I. Yes, I often chose to buy those generic or store brand products instead of the name brand products. However, now that I’m retired and living on disability, I rarely shop without a coupon. Typically I buy the generic when it’s cheaper than name brand with a coupon.
However, sometimes it’s a hard decision, with or without a coupon. There are a few brand names that I really do prefer no matter the cost of the generic. So, how do I decide when the cost is roughly the same or when I’m just really not sure? I compare the ingredient list. There was only one ingredient in each of these products, Cocoa.
It would have been really easy to decide which one to buy if both containers were the same size. The Hershey’s Cocoa had 16 oz. and the Always Save had 10 oz. in the container. Some stores will have a little sticker on the shelf showing you the price per ounce, but this store didn’t. I’m a retired math teacher, so I knew what to do with the numbers to decide. Divide the price of the produce by the number of ounces, servings, etc. Plug the numbers into your calculator in this order 6.85 ÷ 16 = 0.428. This rounds off to $0.43 (oops – wrong amount in the pic – it’ll be ok!) per ounce for the Hershey’s. Then plug the numbers into your calculator in this order $2.69 ÷ 10 = 0.269. This rounds off to $0.27 per ounce for the Always Save brand. It’s a little less than half the price of the name brand and I was able to buy two packages for less than the price of one the name brand.
Problem solved. I think I’ll stick with this generic product for now.
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