Premium Brands vs Store Brands

Agreed a mix of all depending on the product for instance we always buy Sainsburys filter Coffee, but only Branston beans , Bread has to be Braces Bread , Milk can be any brand

Mango4 I can't say I've ever even heard of Braces bread? What is it and what makes it so special?

MeestairChrees Never heard of Braces Bread, it's the number one seller in South Wales and the West and available in all the major supermarkets, as well as convenience stores such as Spar, & Co-op and local independent shops.

Mango4 nope, can't say I've ever seen it. But I'll keep an eye out if it's that good.

I tried some Lidl's luxury crisps and they had almost no taste at all, as if the flavouring had been massively reduced. They were very poor quality for the price so not all Lidl's crisps are good although I'm sure it will vary. Normally crisps are something I wouldn't complain about either as I'm not that fussy but those were of unacceptable quality for me, because if they haven't got the taste what is the point in eating them. They were meant to be cheese and onion or similar wording but they were pretty much plain crisps as far as my taste buds were concerned.

I tend to buy shop brand stuff mostly, often the value/basic stuff and sometimes normal quality and high quality shop brands. Sometimes you find something that is surprisingly good in the value range and often you find something pretty bad but most are acceptable and a match for the major brands in my experience.

I tend to rotate which supermarkets I use so have access to all the stuff I like. I'm not loyal at all. Often shopping in a supermarket I have a voucher for at the time. One thing I actually prefer is cheap baked beans to Heinz baked beans the cheaper beans actually taste better to me. Also freeze dried coffee, I can't really taste the difference between any of the shop brands and certainly prefer them to the cheaper granules you can get. I'm sure for some products it is the same factory supplying most supermarkets.

There was a famous case in the past where Tesco were selling the same identical product in both their value range and their normal shop brand range. Only the label changed which I thought was quite amusing at the time. Many were paying extra for a perceived quality difference but there was absolutely no difference in the contents. Of course the normal branding items were closer to eye level where as the value range was hidden on the bottom shelf and more difficult to see, so if you were shopping quickly you could miss the cheaper option anyway. Generally though of all the supermarkets I've found the Tesco value products (now 'stockwell' and other labels) to be the best quality but its a much reduced range compared to a year or so ago when the everyday value range was much larger. While Tesco are doing prettier labels now for their cheap products, Lidl and Aldi do packaging close to the premium brands to make them look almost the same. Tesco can't do this as they also sell those premium brands who clearly wouldn't be amused with such items right next to the genuine products. For me I think Sainsbury's might be the worst value range. They don't seem to care what they sell sometimes. I'd probably say Sainsburys and Lidls are worse in my experience. Don't have a Aldi currently as ours closed down but they are actually building a new Aldi right next to where the old Aldi used to be and should be in business late this year or early next year. Consequently don't have as much experience with Aldi.