It seems like now every store has its own generic brand item competing with the name brands they sell. For a long time, those generic brands have gotten a bad rep of not tasting as good or the same. We found a list of items in a forum people said are the same or even better in some cases than their name-brand counterparts.
1. Girl Scout Cookies
A user said, “Aldi makes great Girl Scout cookie ripoffs. Samoas and Thin Mints. Both delicious.”
Someone else added to their comment with, “If you don’t have an Aldi, you can just buy the Keebler version of those at stores year round anyways. Coconut Dreams and Grasshoppers. Keebler is one of the companies that bakes the “real” girl scout cookies.”
2. Over-the-Counter Medicine
“I’ve never found any difference in most generic medicine except maybe the pill shape or some special coating. I think the ingredients in medicine are pretty regulated, so it makes sense,” someone said.
3. Nuts
Someone shared, “Yeah, I worked for a major packaging company, and I saw a bid where a very large nut company you’ve heard of was bidding on Great Value business and said they were the same nuts as their branded mix.”
4. Cheerios
“Cheerios at Trader Joe’s. It’s like $3 cheaper than the Cheerios brand name, and it is the same item. They are made in the same factory and just put into different boxes (Cheerios brand on one side and Trader Joe’s brand on the other),” a user shared.
5. Yogurt
Someone shared, “Great Value yogurt is made by Dannon. It’s Dannons original recipe and has more fruit per ounce than the Dannon brand.”
6. Milk
“Milk. Dairy farmers sell their milk in giant vats. Is generic milk coming from generic cows? Unless it’s organic grass-fed, I don’t believe there is any difference,” a user shared.
7. Coffee
“Kirkland coffee is Starbucks in a different package. I worked at the factory, and they just change the bag on the machine for a few hours to run some Kirkland,” someone said.
8. Lotion
A user shared, “Equate has a good lotion equivalent for Vaseline Intensive Care cocoa butter (dark brown bottle). Soft skin smells nice and not too thick.”
9. Chips
Someone said, “I think Lays are not the best regular potato chip. I prefer less salt and less grease. Which is what the Kroger brand is.”
10. Vodka
“Rumor has it that Kirkland vodka is just Grey Goose in a different bottle, Grey Goose denies it, but honestly, I don’t know enough about vodka, to tell the truth,” someone shared.
11. Batteries
A user said, “Generic alkaline batteries from Walgreens. There was a leak from a worker from Duracell that said the batteries were pretty much the same thing, just different packaging.”
12. Garlic Bread
A user said, “Most store brand garlic bread is the same as the “name brands.” Only change is the wrapper. So Krogers, GFS, Meijer, Great Value, etc. All the same”
13. Spaghetti-Os
“Aldi Spaghetti-Os are better to the point that I tried name brand Spaghetti-Os once and couldn’t even finish my serving,” someone shared.
14. Canned Goods
A user shared, “My brother’s line of work has him visit a lot of canning plants. He told me that the same product (corn, peas, etc) will go down the assembly line and be packaged into multiple different branded cans. They just slap a different label on the cans. Same product.”
15. Italian Dressing
“Great value brand ‘restaurant style’ Italian dressing, it is just as good as the delicious Olive Garden brand Italian dressing and 50% less cost,” one user mentioned.
16. Ice Cream Sandwiches
Another user replied,” Generic ice cream sandwiches are better than the name brands. The name brands put too much chocolate and are not very good.”
17. Toothpaste
“Toothpaste. Pretty much 99% of toothpaste in the market has the same basic and active ingredients. They mostly differ in flavor, texture, and some active material (whitening agent, charcoal, etc.). Of course, this doesn’t include specialized toothpaste (like some for smokers).”
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Inspired by this thread – photos for illustrative purposes only.
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