The Change in Generic Food May Help You Saveby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 02 Aug 2008 05:10 AM
One of the results of people tightening their belts is the fact that most shoppers, even ones with higher income, are now buying generic store brands instead of name brand. This applies to food and other household goods, such as laundry detergent. As bread prices move to $3 a loaf, shoppers are willing to try a generic brand for half the cost. When money is stable, people tend to continue to buy whatever it was they bought last week or last month. But, when there is a shift in the amount of disposable income or a perception that there are hard times ahead, customers start looking for ways to save. While we can do a few things things to cut down on the amount of gas we use by reducing our driving, it is hard to reduce the amount of food we need. Enter the generics. Stores make more of a profit on generics than they do selling name brand products. And the current economy has been a sort of mini boon to these products. Stores are responding with fancier recipes, fancier labels and packaging and even some marketing. No more do you see "Giant Pizza Sauce" or "Kroger Peas. These days, you will find "Private Selection Vodka Pasta Sauce" for example. Many stores are offering gourmet and organic generic foods. There is a lot more selection. Stores are even offering items such as store brand steak and pizza. So have the prices for generics gone up? Like the prices for food everywhere they have. Look for sales on generics, which is becoming increasingly common, and select your generics carefully. Many stores now have two levels of generic brands, a premium label and a value label. Figure out which is which and buy accordingly. As stores devote more space and marketing to their store brand foods, some of these foods may rise in price to become similar to name brand items. Since you generally can't buy generic items with coupons, always do a cost comparison with the name brands by unit price. Sometimes with a coupon and/or a sale, the name brand costs less. Happy Shopping! Click here for more articles by Mary Ann Romans. Related Posts: Unclaimed Funds: You Might Be Rich! MyGallons.com Promises to Save You Money on Gas Are Recession Bargain Hunters Making It Harder to Be Frugal? Recession Giving Birth to More Frugals Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments Tashi (1013) 04 Aug 2008 05:13 PMTarget has 2 store brands for food -- Archer Farms and Market Pantry. I don't know which is the "lesser" one. How does one figure it out?  Mary Ann Romans (26876) 05 Aug 2008 04:40 AMFrom the names, my guess is Market Pantry, but I could be wrong. Sometimes different generic names indicate different products, such as diary versus dry goods. The best thing is to compare the unit pricing. The sticker under the product should tell you how much per ounce or pound or unit the item is. This helps you to know the real cost of the item when comparing it to another item, even if those items come in different sizes.  Valorie Delp (49340) 05 Aug 2008 07:35 AMArcher farms is their "deluxe" brand--you'll note that it has a more gourmet sense to it. (I mean the food does--not the name.) I guess you could say it is their gourmet brand of generic foods. Market Pantry is their plain old generic/store brand food. Community Tags brand name food, coupon policy, grocery shopping, generic, Kroger Discuss this article
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