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Supermarket brands?

53 posts & 33 voices | Started 4 months ago by SBrock | Latest reply from unovolo

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SBrock - Member

We are all trying to save money, but has anybody found any supermarket bands comparable or better then branded stuff?

I always buy the Innocent Smoothies when on offer and love the strawberries & banana one, normal price is around £2.80 and they were half price, however the offer ended and I decided to try Asda's own brand which was a £1 (same volume as innocent) and I for the life of me cannot tell the difference. It had been sitting in my fridge for days with me thinking shall I/shall I not try it, glad I did now, I just hope,the other flavours are the same!

Posted 4 months ago #
carlosg - Member

Aldi washing up liquid blows Fairy ect out of the water.

Posted 4 months ago #
jonba - Member

Innocent are fairly unique in that they (did) manufacture there own stuff. Many other manufacturers use contract packers.

I used to work in this area (juice) and can assure you that a huge number of these products are identical. I've seen a production run f one brand run straight into another just changing the labels on the bottles. Have a look at the ingredient, make sure the fruit content is the same and that they are not using something like sugar syrup or thickeners. If it's 100 fruit then go for it.

Plenty of supermarket own brand is as good as "premium branded" stuff. It comes from the same production lines in the same factories. IT just doesn't have the marketing budget. Even if it is different, they will be paying someone to try to work out how to make it as good.

Posted 4 months ago #
SBrock - Member

Yep the composition of innocent vs Asda's is identical!

I work in baby goods manufacture and Huggies nappies are identical to morrisons, boots and sainsbury just different graphics on the outer cover.

Posted 4 months ago #
brakes - Member

I'm sure that big brands force supermarkets to make they're own branded stuff a little bit worse so that it doesn't sell as well despite being 1/2 to 2/3 of the price.
I have tested this a bit and would say that only household goods (cleaning stuff) and toiletries aren't (apart from hair styling products) any worse and are often half the price.
Foods can be hit and miss.
By far the biggest difference is between Heinz Tomato Soup and other tomato soups which taste inedible in comparison.

Posted 4 months ago #
Junkyard - Member

mate used to work in bog roll and he said the same thing ..unless you get the cheap stuff...all made in the same factory and just out in different packets

Posted 4 months ago #
couldashouldawoulda - Member

Coca Cola now own "Innocent smoothies".

Since they sold out they've reduced their carton size, and noticably dont nearly fill the smaller cartons. Still taste nice etc - apparently its due to Coke needing a better image for their London 2012 sponsorship or something.

Own brand stuff can be good and bad - a recent Which report did blind tests on own brand stuff and found that the number 1 selling (57 variety one) tomato ketchup was one of the worst rated in the blind test. Some own brands did way better.

Also own brand Lidl washing powders / dishwashing were amonst the best. Big supermarket washing stuff was amongst the worst.

So sometimes you just got to try it yourself and make your own mind up!

Posted 4 months ago #
brakes - Member

Innocent are fairly unique in that they (did) manufacture there own stuf

I did some work for Innocent in about 2005, they can't have been that old then and they contracted out production

Posted 4 months ago #
wallop - Member

only household goods

I'm not so sure. I bought some Tesco own brand window cleaner a couple of years ago, and it just was not as good as Mr Muscle. It was almost as if it had been watered down

Posted 4 months ago #
kayak23 - Member

Bit like superstar....

Posted 4 months ago #
Raindog - Member

I work in baby goods manufacture and Huggies nappies are identical to morrisons, boots and sainsbury just different graphics on the outer cover

For the record, baby wipes are all different. Where I work we make loads of different ones, and the difference in quality between supermarket brands and the big names is huge.

Posted 4 months ago #
SBrock - Member

Raindog do work for P&G or Kimberly Clark

Posted 4 months ago #
SBrock - Member

You work at Flint then for KC?

Posted 4 months ago #
CHB - Member

I have worked in food manufacture for 15 years and have seen much of what the retailers spec versus brand. My learnings? Well there are no hard and fast rules.
Aldi punch way above their weight on quality and are my fave supermarket...m&s quality for Asda prices!
Tesco own label is generally the worst quality, they negotiate hard with suppliers, flex prices on shelf creatively and the absence of quality this drives shows on shelf.
Asda are currently driving an increase in quality on their extra special range and its generally good.
Js and waitrose are consistently good.

So in summary take each product on its merit. Brands tend to have better offers when promoted, but some own label products are really good (js posh green pesto is a fave of mine...better than sacla).

Posted 4 months ago #
bland - Member

Aldi's business model of just selling 1 of each product and thus striving to make sure its the best they can source for a competetive price is a far superior way of working.

It still makes me laugh that people think supermarkets own factories that make food. But then its similar in the mountain bike world. Take full face helmets for one, strip off the graphics and there are only so many models being made of which a lot are the same.

I live near a cake factory that makes M&S, GU, Asda, tesco, sainsburys etc cakes (and it has a very cheap factory shop too!)

Posted 4 months ago #
CHB - Member

Manor bakeries?

Posted 4 months ago #
mrmo - Member

had a tour round a major dairy near me, there is the ability to stream milk but in reality what it says on the label doesn't really matter, it is all the same.

Infact i watched them filling cream pots, all they did was change the pot into which the cream went. The power of marketing.

Posted 4 months ago #
CHB - Member

Used to work with the Belgian dairy that makes Aldi rice pud. They said it was really high spec.
Also McD milkshakes and mcflurries are real dairy ice cream and were made in ashby de la zouche.

Posted 4 months ago #
Northwind - Member

I found a box of Tesco own-brand biscuits that had some Morrisons own-brand biscuits mixed up in it... Had a look at the nutritional info, weights, photos etc, all exactly the same. I considered this a Clue.

Posted 4 months ago #
bobbyg81 - Member

Ive found supermarket own brands to be mostly excellent. I use sainsburys basic chopped tomatoes and they are just as good as napolina and a quarter of the orcie.

The best way to save money in a supermarket is to either pick your own veg, which can be a a good 50p/kg cheaper. Sainsburys basics veg is even cheaper. Just irregular sizes. Certainly same carrots!

Posted 4 months ago #
don simon - Member

and they are just as good as napolina and a quarter of the orcie.

Supermarket brands are fine for most things, but I do find that their cheaper keyboards can be problematic...

Posted 4 months ago #
bobbyg81 - Member

Cheap bloody Tesco Value LIne Keybroad!

I better get a mac!

Posted 4 months ago #
Klunk - Member

aldis peaches in grape juice mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm lovely

Posted 4 months ago #
CaptJon - Member

I was taken around a pickling factory once. The warehouse was organised based on which supermarket jars were going to. The content for Asda was the same for the Co-op, but only on a like for like basis, i.e. the value stuff for one chain was the same for value in another, and the premium stuff was the same across chains.

The biggest difference was on the price pressure put on the company. They told the big boys they couldn't afford to match their desired prices because of the cost of glass. The supermarkets kept pushing, though, and now the company is bust. I think pickles are imported now.

Posted 4 months ago #
MSP - Member

Morrisons own brand blended whisky is the same dregs of the corporate vats as bells.

Posted 4 months ago #
zilog6128 - Member

Waitrose/M&S own products as good, usually better than most brands. In fact a mate who worked for a very popular brand of bread told me that the loaves they made for M&S were made to a higher standard than the company's own branded product.

Posted 4 months ago #
the teaboy - Member

I worked with some food scientists who got quite a big research grant looking into biscuits (the science bit was the browning caused by cooking, not the ability to remain intact when dunked into tea)

They said that M&S own-brand digestive biscuits are made by McVities but cooked for 5 mins longer so they're a little firmer.

Compare McVs with M&S - it's actually vaguely interesting!

Edit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1547244/For-a-perfect-biscuit-just-take-91000.html

Posted 4 months ago #
alba23 - Member

Aldi chilli peanuts around 80p. Better than any other i have tried.

Posted 4 months ago #
Jamie - Member

Exactly the same as Clinton Cards offerings...

Posted 4 months ago #
the teaboy - Member

"bland - Member
It still makes me laugh that people think supermarkets own factories that make food. "

Morrisons do

Posted 4 months ago #
molgrips - Member

So in summary take each product on its merit.

Agree (as a mere consumer) some own brands are great, if not the best around, but some are awful.

Asda's finest vanilla cheesecake is my favourite, but their own brand ginger nuts are not a patch on McVities. Nor are their own brand wine gums as good as Maynards. On the subject of peanuts, KP ones are by far my favourite, but not the jumbo kind - they are not as nice at all.

Posted 4 months ago #
bobbyg81 - Member

Just as good as any other!!!

Posted 4 months ago #
jonba - Member

I think it was around 2005 when I had some involvement with innocent. I think we were trying to get the contract but we had adapt the machines. While we were running trials I was getting the stuff for free because they would only let us put it into blank containers so that it could not be sold.

Somepeople have made a comment about waitrose and aldi. In terms of orange juice Aldi was the best that we produced, Waitrose was the same as all the others if I remember correctly

From my experience I agree that the value vs. premium difference is there. I.e. most value lines are similar and most premium lines are bu there is a difference between the two.

Posted 4 months ago #
Jamie - Member

Hmm. I have an Aldi next to the Sainsbury's I shop at. Any recommendations for stuff to get from them instead?

Posted 4 months ago #
Junkyard - Member

gourmet jelly beans - they are veggie

Posted 4 months ago #