Estimated Monthly Savings: $50
In case you’ve never considered buying generic store-brand grocery store labels over those familiar commercially advertised name brands, you could be missing out on a major money-saving opportunity. By buying store-brand versions of your signature items, you could cut your grocery bill by an average of 27%.
Afraid that store-brand products aren’t as good as name-brand? Do a side by side comparison of the ingredients listed, and you may be surprised to see that they’re often exactly the same. This is especially true of staple products like many canned goods, flour, sugar, salt, pepper and bottled water. One-ingredient products, like black beans, will feature the same item in the ingredient list of both versions: black beans. It may seem like just a few pennies here and there, but those extra cents in savings will really add up in the long run.
The good news is that most major grocery retailers offer store-brand versions of shoppers’ most popular items. Here are some store brands to consider next time you’re out shopping:
- Archer Farms, Simply Balanced, Up & Up (Target)
- Great Value (Walmart)
- Kirkland (Costco)
- Psst, Check This Out, Heritage Farm (Kroger)
- “Signature” brands, O Organics, Open Nature (Vons/Safeway)
Of course, retailers will also identify their generic brands just by using their store name, like CVS or Trader Joe’s. If you’re still not convinced, it may help to know that many major national brands actually produce some of these store-brand products. Hormel, most known for their canned meats and chili, is one such brand. But test it out for yourself; try reading the labels and buying a store-brand version of a few choice items and see how you think they compare. You may end up switching and doing your bank account a big favor.
