me and my friend were just talking about it and we were wondering what others thought, do generic brand food products taste any different or is it just your mind telling you that because it is less expensive that it is not as good?

Different recipes = similar but overall different taste.

Also, more times than not there is a direct correlation between cost and quality. Better quality = better taste.

Yes there's always a difference.Is it always bad, no.

I've never really noticed any. :shrug:

It depends on the item. For, say, cereal, I've not noticed a difference. Soda, on the other hand, there is a taste difference.

This, exact same examples 2, my family buys cheap cereal, tastes just like normal I used to buy. Purchased some cheap soda before, tasted different to the usual stuff.

The strength of a generic brand is its ability to recreate the experience of name brands with a lower production cost. What you end up with are things that are very similar to the real thing, but not quite there. And depending on the specific kind of product it is, people will care more or less. I'm fine eating generic chips and candy, for instance, but I can't stand generic soda. In fact, I pretty much can't stand anything that isn't Coke Zero. Not even regular Coke. Soda, as it happens, is one of the most preferential products out there. People pick a kind they like and reject all others more than they do with most other products.

"It depends"

In some cases.

In some cases the off brand stuff tastes better then the top selling brands. I often like generic brands more. Food items that save me money often give me a mental ease. If I buy expensive stuff, sure it tastes good, but then I wish I would've bought the cheaper stuff later.

i remember when we were trying to cut back by buying "Sams Club" soda, after the first 12 pack we went back to Coke.

Depends. Imitation Vernors? Crap.

As evidenced by others, the on / off-brand pop tends to taste different, while other things like cereal tend to be similar.

And yes, it's pop.

Generic brands are sometimes the exact same thing, but this usually only happens with medication, not food.

Some generic food is technically the same stuff but is undesirable for some reason: perhaps it was the end of the batch or made while the machinery was heating up, or perhaps it failed some internal taste QA even though it's mostly fine and perfectly safe to eat. (These problems are sometimes true of the brand products found at discount grocery stores as well.)

But most of the time the generic foods really are different than the brand items. We shop at a very nice grocery chain and the store brand foods are often just as nice as the brand names, although even here they don't taste the same. The discount chain closer to us isn't worth going to but when I tried out their store brand soda I was quite unimpressed (and the box ripped open on the way home, so it was also shoddily packaged).

Generic brands taste different to me, especially when it comes to water, of all things.

Home brand is nothing more than a brand name product in a plain packet. That doesn't necessarily mean it a good brand or even one you've ever seen before.

Depends on the product but most of the times if something is more expensive than the other (not necessarly overpriced obviously) it's a higher quality product, and higher quality = better product.

Mountain Dew FTW

Marshmallows typically taste the same regardless of the brand name. In fact the name brand marshmallows we get are often really sticky and not very fluffy while the generic brand is easier to handle because they are not sticky and are fluffy and lighter.

Overall the taste is the same (especially when you roast them :liplick: ) but the generic brand wins out in terms of quality.

I buy whatever is cheapest, regardless of taste

Better than saying soda-pop, I guess Actually it's weird I say soda because the regional dialect here would refer to it as pop.

On-Topic: Does the Pibb series count as imitation soda? I've heard it's supposed to taste like Dr Pepper but iunno.

This sums up my experiences.

:foodndrink:
I can't stand any ginger ale that isn't Vernors, maybe I'm just spoiled. I don't notice much of a difference between off brand cola's or lemon-lime Sprite imitators, while Mountain Dew imitations, however, never taste like the original. Most other off brand food oddities vary depending on the product, some can taste very close with only a minimal difference, while others may have an entirely different taste; sometimes good, sometimes bad.

This


And this.

However, as I am poor, I buy Shasta Cherry Cola. Because it is .79 cents for a four-pack. So less than $5 a 24-pack.

I think generic brands taste better than name brands. For example, Walmart's generic Lucky Charms taste a whole lot better than the name brand, and the same goes for Coco Rice, Honey Combs, Corn Pops, and Raisin Bran.

Real oreos>Generic brand oreos.

This x1000.

Pretty much every name brand cookie is better than the generic brands.