When Brand Name Costs Less Than Non-Brand Name

March 6, 2009 figmom
Tags: brand-name for less than non-brand name

I am one of those consumers who don’t care to buy only brand name products. Unless I notice an obvious difference in quality between manufacturers of the same product, I will go with the cheaper choice every time. I don’t care about the pretty packaging (which by the way is starting to be a ridiculous waste these days) and I don’t care about seeing a certain brand name in big bold letters every time I open my pantry. In my recipes, I am using salt, not “Morton” salt. I care that my sourcream tastes like sourcream, not like “Daisy” sourcream. And I care to use a laundry detergent that cleans my clothes, not the one with the best commercial.

It just happens that products manufactured by the companies with the pretties packaging and the commercials all over the place cost more than the rest of the manufacturers. You may have noticed, a can of soup Kroger brand costs 50 cents, while Campbell’s or Progresso, cost $1.50, respectively $1.80 for the same product. But it also just happens that these same companies issue coupons. Most of the time I buy Kroger brand – and I am very happy with the quality of the products. But when coupons and sales enter the picture, I have found that brand name products end up costing less than the more economical alternatives. I guess the name of this post should have been “How to buy expensive-brand products for less than regular-priced-brand products.”

The same idea applies over and over: wait for a sale and use a coupon. Today for example, I wanted to buy some yellow rice. Mahatma yellow rice is on sale for 79 cents a package, while for the same package, Kroger yellow rice is on sale for 50 cents a package. Does the Mahatma yellow rice actually contain gold? I don’t know, it might. I used a coupon I had for Mahatma rice: 75 cents off 2 and I paid 42 cents each package. This way I got to take the gold in my pantry.

This is just one example. Did you notice similar situations during your grocery shopping? I would like to hear more examples, so post them as a comment!

Entry Filed under: Kroger Likes Coupons, I Like Kroger

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