I'm a label reader. When I was at the grocery store yesterday I wanted
to buy some Cheerios-like toasted oat cereal. I was standing there
reading the ingredients labels. I had a box of Publix brand 'Toasted
Oats' in one hand and a box of 'Cheerios' in the other.

A woman had just reached for a box of Cheerios when she noticed me
comparing ingredients. She asked is there much difference? Nope,
they're the same. Except the Publix box of toasted oats contains 14 oz.
and the Cheerios, 11 oz. And the box of Cheerios costs $2 more.

I've been buying the store brand "cheerios" for years. They taste
exactly the same to me. But I *do* check to see if they've changed
ingredients from time to time. I don't eat a *lot* of dry cereal (what
might go stale gets tossed out for the birds) but I like to have some on
hand.

Jill

On Feb 20, 7:01*am, jmcquown > wrote:
> I'm a label reader. *When I was at the grocery store yesterday I wanted
> to buy some Cheerios-like toasted oat cereal. *I was standing there
> reading the ingredients labels. *I had a box of Publix brand 'Toasted
> Oats' in one hand and a box of 'Cheerios' in the other.
>
> A woman had just reached for a box of Cheerios when she noticed me
> comparing ingredients. *She asked is there much difference? *Nope,
> they're the same. *Except the Publix box of toasted oats contains 14 oz..
> and the Cheerios, 11 oz. *And the box of Cheerios costs $2 more.
>
> I've been buying the store brand "cheerios" for years. *They taste
> exactly the same to me. *But I *do* check to see if they've changed
> ingredients from time to time. *I don't eat a *lot* of dry cereal (what
> might go stale gets tossed out for the birds) but I like to have some on
> hand.
>
> Jill

Store brands are made by the big companies. They just put the store
brand label on the package.
9 out of 10 times you are getting exactly the same thing for a better
price. The store is not paying for advertising and marketing so they
broker a discount price from the big companies for their 'private'
labels.

On 20/02/2013 10:01 AM, jmcquown wrote:
> I'm a label reader. When I was at the grocery store yesterday I wanted
> to buy some Cheerios-like toasted oat cereal. I was standing there
> reading the ingredients labels. I had a box of Publix brand 'Toasted
> Oats' in one hand and a box of 'Cheerios' in the other.
>
> A woman had just reached for a box of Cheerios when she noticed me
> comparing ingredients. She asked is there much difference? Nope,
> they're the same. Except the Publix box of toasted oats contains 14 oz.
> and the Cheerios, 11 oz. And the box of Cheerios costs $2 more.
>
> I've been buying the store brand "cheerios" for years. They taste
> exactly the same to me. But I *do* check to see if they've changed
> ingredients from time to time. I don't eat a *lot* of dry cereal (what
> might go stale gets tossed out for the birds) but I like to have some on
> hand.


The only cereal that I always have on hand is Shredded Wheat and there
is no store bran equivalent to them. I occasionally buy store brand
versions of Shreddies and Frosted Flakes, which cost a lot less and are
just as good or better. I no longer get the frosted flakes, but I think
that the PC brand are much better than Kelloggs.

"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> I'm a label reader. When I was at the grocery store yesterday I wanted to
> buy some Cheerios-like toasted oat cereal. I was standing there reading
> the ingredients labels. I had a box of Publix brand 'Toasted Oats' in one
> hand and a box of 'Cheerios' in the other.
>
> A woman had just reached for a box of Cheerios when she noticed me
> comparing ingredients. She asked is there much difference? Nope, they're
> the same. Except the Publix box of toasted oats contains 14 oz. and the
> Cheerios, 11 oz. And the box of Cheerios costs $2 more.
>
> I've been buying the store brand "cheerios" for years. They taste exactly
> the same to me. But I *do* check to see if they've changed ingredients
> from time to time. I don't eat a *lot* of dry cereal (what might go stale
> gets tossed out for the birds) but I like to have some on hand.

One kind that will be different is the type that is like Cinnamon Toast
Crunch. There is no milk in the real stuff but it is in the other brands.

Ditto for Publix' answer to Grapenuts. Prob. other things too, like applesauce, cranberry jelly etc.

On 21/02/2013 10:24 AM, jmcquown wrote:

>> My main grocer is ten blocks away and I'm there several times week, so
>> it's no big thing to return something.
>>
>> MartyB.
>
> Lucky you! I have to drive 20 miles to the grocery store. It's only
> about 8 miles to the dollar store which is where I buy household items.
> Still, I dislike making a special trip just for something like this.


Bummer. I am in a rural area but close to several towns and cities. I
have 5 grocery stores and a mall within 10 minutes. I get most of my
cleaning products from Melaleuca and they come in concentrate form and
you buy the spray bottles separately for about $1 each. Over the 5 years
that I have used them I have only had to order replacements once.

On 21/02/2013 10:24 AM, jmcquown wrote:

>> My main grocer is ten blocks away and I'm there several times week, so
>> it's no big thing to return something.
>>
>> MartyB.
>
> Lucky you! I have to drive 20 miles to the grocery store. It's only
> about 8 miles to the dollar store which is where I buy household items.
> Still, I dislike making a special trip just for something like this.


Bummer. I am in a rural area but close to several towns and cities. I
have 5 grocery stores and a mall within 10 minutes. I get most of my
cleaning products from Melaleuca and they come in concentrate form and
you buy the spray bottles separately for about $1 each. Over the 5 years
that I have used them I have only had to order replacements once.

On 2/20/2013 5:01 AM, jmcquown wrote:
> I'm a label reader. When I was at the grocery store yesterday I wanted
> to buy some Cheerios-like toasted oat cereal. I was standing there
> reading the ingredients labels. I had a box of Publix brand 'Toasted
> Oats' in one hand and a box of 'Cheerios' in the other.
>
> A woman had just reached for a box of Cheerios when she noticed me
> comparing ingredients. She asked is there much difference? Nope,
> they're the same. Except the Publix box of toasted oats contains 14 oz.
> and the Cheerios, 11 oz. And the box of Cheerios costs $2 more.
>
> I've been buying the store brand "cheerios" for years. They taste
> exactly the same to me. But I *do* check to see if they've changed
> ingredients from time to time. I don't eat a *lot* of dry cereal (what
> might go stale gets tossed out for the birds) but I like to have some on
> hand.
>
> Jill

My guess is that the house brands are likely made on the same production
line that makes the big name brands. Of course, that's merely my guess.
I used to buy the big bags of breakfast cereal but these days, the big
bags ain't so big. Bummers!

On 21/02/2013 3:38 PM, dsi1 wrote:

>
> My guess is that the house brands are likely made on the same production
> line that makes the big name brands. Of course, that's merely my guess.
> I used to buy the big bags of breakfast cereal but these days, the big
> bags ain't so big. Bummers!

My guess is that you are right. All those business who spout the party
line about free enterprise and the benefits of competition.... they have
been buying up all the competition. There aren't as many companies
making those products as there used to be. The last local cannery in
this area closed a few years ago, but when it was still operating it
used to process and can fruits and vegetables for a number of companies
including major brands and store brands.


FWIW, the PC frosted flakes that I used to buy at Zhers and No Frills
are IMO better than Kellogs, and the Compliments brand "cheat squares"
are as good as Shreddies.

I like steel cut oats once in a while. The lat time I bought McCanns it
was $3.99 for a a 14 ox can. PC brand was $1.99 for a one pound
container. Then I found steel cut oats for 75 cents per pound. I tried
them all and I can't tell the difference.

On Thursday, February 21, 2013 11:20:38 AM UTC-10, Dave Smith wrote:
> On 21/02/2013 3:38 PM, dsi1 wrote:
>
>
>
> >
>
> > My guess is that the house brands are likely made on the same production
>
> > line that makes the big name brands. Of course, that's merely my guess.
>
> > I used to buy the big bags of breakfast cereal but these days, the big
>
> > bags ain't so big. Bummers!
>
>
>
> My guess is that you are right. All those business who spout the party
>
> line about free enterprise and the benefits of competition.... they have
>
> been buying up all the competition. There aren't as many companies
>
> making those products as there used to be. The last local cannery in
>
> this area closed a few years ago, but when it was still operating it
>
> used to process and can fruits and vegetables for a number of companies
>
> including major brands and store brands.

Building a factory is probably really expensive and it's just cheaper and more flexible to just buy product than make it yourself. It's probably more profitable for the manufacturer to sell product to companies even though they'll use it to directly compete for shelf space. Looks like a win-win situation to me. :-)

The dirty little secret about guitar strings is that most "manufacturers" just repackage strings - at least the plain strings anyway. The plain nylon strings are purchased from in bulk from fishing line factories. In this world, branding has deep psychological affects.

The McCanns oats are regular oats in a very special package. I suppose you could just refill it with bulk health store oats for really cheap. I don't much care for cooking that stuff although they probably could be cooked in an automatic rice cooker very easily.

>
>
>
>
>
> FWIW, the PC frosted flakes that I used to buy at Zhers and No Frills
>
> are IMO better than Kellogs, and the Compliments brand "cheat squares"
>
> are as good as Shreddies.
>
>
>
> I like steel cut oats once in a while. The lat time I bought McCanns it
>
> was $3.99 for a a 14 ox can. PC brand was $1.99 for a one pound
>
> container. Then I found steel cut oats for 75 cents per pound. I tried
>
> them all and I can't tell the difference.

Clueless AOL newbie Sheldon "Pussy" Katz blathered stupidly:

> Your not giving sufficient information permits anyone at usenet to to fill
> in your blanks.

In that case, I surmise that you were wearing a diaper and licking your
cat's ass while you posted this.

Bob

On Feb 20, 9:01*am, jmcquown > wrote:
> I'm a label reader. *When I was at the grocery store yesterday I wanted
> to buy some Cheerios-like toasted oat cereal. *I was standing there
> reading the ingredients labels. *I had a box of Publix brand 'Toasted
> Oats' in one hand and a box of 'Cheerios' in the other.
>
> A woman had just reached for a box of Cheerios when she noticed me
> comparing ingredients. *She asked is there much difference? *Nope,
> they're the same. *Except the Publix box of toasted oats contains 14 oz..
> and the Cheerios, 11 oz. *And the box of Cheerios costs $2 more.
>
> I've been buying the store brand "cheerios" for years. *They taste
> exactly the same to me. *But I *do* check to see if they've changed
> ingredients from time to time. *I don't eat a *lot* of dry cereal (what
> might go stale gets tossed out for the birds) but I like to have some on
> hand.

Well, how ****ing informative, Mrs. Horowitz. Thanks for blowing the
lid off of that one.

*yawn*