"MareCat" wrote:
>
> I buy many store brand items. I've tried different ones from
> different stores and have learned which are reliable and which
> aren't. (I've found that a lot of store brands are actually better
> than name brands).

Store brands are neither better or worse, they are *exactly* the same
as the national brands, they come from same vat. It's the *generic*
products that are lower quality but with foods they contain exactly
the same nutrition. Non food items, say laundry detergent, bar soap,
dishwashing liquid, etc. is the same as the national brands but will
have different scent and colorant... generic cleaning products are the
same but will be diluted... those sold at the Dollar stores are
greatly diluted.

The trick is to find which store brand is which national brand, and
this changes all the time. The store brand ketchup can be Heinz one
year and Del Monte the next. And another thing to keep in mind is
that with many products the national brands supply each other, that
bottle of Heinz ketchup could easily be Del Monte, and vice versa.

I eat a lot of canned sliced beets, other than beans it's one of the
few canned vegtables I buy, I buy whichever costs less. I find
absolutely no difference between the store barnd and say Del Monte, or
Libby's, or White Rose, or any national brand. But the generic canned
beets are nasty in that they still have much of the skin and the
slices are not consistant, sometimes they're just hacked up chunks...
they're the same beets but they're not pretty... of course to some no
beets are pretty.

Some stores buy in such volume that the suppliers maintain entirely
separate facilities just for them... Colgate has dedicated plants,
warehouses, and accounting departments just for Walmart.... they get
priorty shipping and can pay whenever they like up to a year, most
large businesses only get up to 90 days, with small businesses they
are lucky to get 30 days, some are COD.