Home Brand Items

Say What???

You know it's all done at the same place don't you??

eg; the Batlow cannery (when it was running years ago) processed Goulbourn Valley, SPC, Leetona(I think I recall seeing on the seconds outlet) and Payless/No Name and a few others I forget which - fruit was the same - packaging was difference only.

A truck driver mate of mine was telling me he had to pick up a load of batteries from an Adelaide Producer years ago and he said they just rolled along the line and they slapped different labels on them, such as Marshal, Marine, Solar etc.

Pretty much comes down to persona preference the Black and Gold mature cheese a year ago was amongst the best I'd eaten - later the contract must have expired and it was made at another loc as the quality diminished rapidly to the point - I stopped buying it. B&G Cocoa Powder is amongst the worst I ever used, yet the Home Brand is I consider the best on the market ATM. t times the cheaper contract prevails and it's a case of you get what you pay for.
In the case of permanent world collapse - even a can of dog food will seem like the best Fillet mignon.

So my best advice is - try it - you like it - buy it.

(Just to go slightly off topic - but is sort of relevant as people were/are programed to look for the perfect piece of produce,if you want to see proof of this, and you want to see waste on a massive scale - go to a place like the Sydney Fruit & Veg Market (Flemington Markets , at Homebush) it was a homesteader/preparers worst nightmare - it was common to see pallet bins of produce shoved aside to rot and later become-land fill because they were not perfect. I always thought that it should have made it to supermarkets at a cheaper price - people would buy it and eat healthier).

This applies with the generic brands - some are good and some not as good. But if you were starving or in desperate need - you'd use it.
Marketing and product position on the shelf, supermarket smells and music all play a part in our shopping choices and supermarkets trying to control what we purchase. Have you noticed less and less of a choice on shelves over the last 12 months or so and the gradual decline in product lines for consumer choice? You may have also noticed product shortages for a time, such as at the end of last year and running into earlier this year, after contacting a few in my network in different areas and in some different states I found it more prominent on the eastern side of Australia. I have also noticed many lines and choices are being replaced by the supermarkets own brand.eg Woolworths 'SELECT' brand is replacing the Home Brand alternative that was there for years. Once they control the market we will have no choice at all in what we get on offer it will become a 'Take It or Leave It' situation.

So if you have a favourite generic brand go for it as tomorrow it may be gone.

Yes, i know that's the general consensus with most things these day but there is a noticable difference in quality of certain items.

Band Aids for instance. I have a bout 10 boxes to date broken down in to ziploc bag that are band-aid brand. Compared to the $1 boxes i just bought, there is a quality difference.

The over use/end result MAY be the same, but there is a noticeable difference.

This is just the one eg i have.

Speaking with an interstate truck driver a while ago, who transports tinned food from a cannery in Qld. Said that a major company would do a bulk order ( ie 500 pallets corn), and what was left over then was canned and no name brand put on the tin. Said the only difference is the label & company.

Though, I do not often buy no name foods - I try to make it a point to grow food grown/packed in Australia. Most, if not all no name brands my way are grown/packed overseas.