Food Name Brands vs. Store Brands

Susan Koeppen Pits National Brand and Store Brand Foods Against Each Other in Family Taste Test

(CBS)  Does food shopping give you sticker shock?

"Early Show" consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen showed how making a simple switch to the store brand can save you big money.

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Tod Marks, food expert of Consumer Reports, said you can save upwards of 35 percent on average by switching from a national brand to its store brand counterpart.

But how do store brands stack up in taste and quality against the well-known national brands?

Koeppen put some popular products to the test. Koeppen got together two families the Roystons and the Caliguiris, from Pittsburgh. Both families told Koeppen they prefer brand name foods.

Tracy Royston said, "I have this loyalty I just trust the national brands because I am so used to buying it. ... I'm very wary of buying store brands."

Koeppen asked each family to try 10 brand name foods -- everything from ketchup to cookies -- against their store brand counterparts.

The families didn't know which food was which, but they had to decide if they liked one product or the other -- or if the two products tasted the same.

As for the results, the national brand of Ruffles chips, Tyson chicken nuggets and Heinz ketchup came out on top.

However, the Target store brand trumped the national brand cereal.

And for many items like the peanut butter and popcorn, the families couldn't tell the difference between products.

The families featured in Koeppen's report said they plan to change the look of their shopping carts to save a bit more at the checkout.

Katy Caliguiri, said, "It was very tough in the end of the day -- especially hard -- to find a clear cut winner, so I'm going to go with price."

Koeppen added on "The Early Show" one out of every five products sold in a supermarket is a store brand, which amounts to $65 billion a year.

[apteafan]

I especially enjoy purchasing store brands because of their quality and value.

For me, Great A&P own brands are excellent quality and real value products. Take Via Roma pastas, olive oils, take and bake pizzas, and cheeses. These are authentic quality Italian food products, better than any I have ever tasted.

Also their organic line, GreenWay, offers the finest quality organic ingredients. They also offer a line of organic cleaning products that are gentle, both on the customer's wallet and on the environment.