National Brands vs Woolworths / Coles House Brands
it_be_asin
Posts: 562 Member
There has been a lot of discussion lately about the push inside Woolies and Coles to sell more home branded products, at the expense of known national brands. The dairy farmers have been very vocal about the $1/L milk, but the cheap bread apparently is flying off the shelves also.
I spend more money on my groceries than maybe I should, but that's because I prioritise food quality over cost. Dairy farmers cottage cheese simply has higher protein and lower carbs than Coles or Bulla, so I seek it out. My yogurt must be Tamar Valley No Added Sugar or unflavoured Jalna Fat Free, as they have more protein than sugar. Cheese wheel ricotta is infinitely superior in taste to Ricotta in tubs - although Panitalica ricotta tubs are the best tub choice at a pinch. I don't buy my bread from supermarkets - I get it from a sourdough bakery whose Polenta sourdough is amazing. And I only buy italian tinned tomatos and pasta - I do notice the difference in the taste - Annalisa, Mutti, Amato, and Barilla are my usual choices here.
But I know that is a luxury that not everyone can afford. Do you have brand names you seek out, or do you buy a lot of the home brand stuff? If you buy the home brands, do you find there is a difference in quality, or do you feel like you are getting the same quality at a better price? Do you think the home brands and national brands are as nutritious as each other, or do you feel that one is superior to the other?
I spend more money on my groceries than maybe I should, but that's because I prioritise food quality over cost. Dairy farmers cottage cheese simply has higher protein and lower carbs than Coles or Bulla, so I seek it out. My yogurt must be Tamar Valley No Added Sugar or unflavoured Jalna Fat Free, as they have more protein than sugar. Cheese wheel ricotta is infinitely superior in taste to Ricotta in tubs - although Panitalica ricotta tubs are the best tub choice at a pinch. I don't buy my bread from supermarkets - I get it from a sourdough bakery whose Polenta sourdough is amazing. And I only buy italian tinned tomatos and pasta - I do notice the difference in the taste - Annalisa, Mutti, Amato, and Barilla are my usual choices here.
But I know that is a luxury that not everyone can afford. Do you have brand names you seek out, or do you buy a lot of the home brand stuff? If you buy the home brands, do you find there is a difference in quality, or do you feel like you are getting the same quality at a better price? Do you think the home brands and national brands are as nutritious as each other, or do you feel that one is superior to the other?
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Ive got 4 boys so my grocery bill is huge! I do most of my shopping at coles, and thats because I do product testing for their I Love Coles brand. A lot of my groceries is the I Love Coles brand because they really try and make a quality product, not like the old black and gold brands. Some things I wont buy in the Coles brand, but thats just because of my families taste preferences, and sometimes when a brand name product is on special, it can be cheaper than the coles brand so Ill chose the brand name.0
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I tried hard to cut out generic or supermarket brands, but haven't had much success considering S/O and the Kids actually like those products better than the higher branded ones. We spend huge $$$ (IMO anywho) for a family of two adults and two children. But I bop Hubby over the head in order to contribute to the things that he wants vs what I will purchase if it is outside our price range.
Personally, I prefer Coles. But not because of their brands. They usually (for me) have more variety in the health food section, and the foods we eat even on branded items is sometimes not stocked at Woolworths. As an oxymoron, there are also items that Woolworths will stock but Coles won't sell. So at times, I have to go to both supermarkets to get what I want.
My bulk shopping is always done at Coles. Where I can avoid it, I will not buy the actual Coles brand. It baffles some of my family and friends considering I used to actually work for them lol. But it is of course not a "dig" at Coles itself. Like you, I see the correlation between the cost of production for produce, and what it means on Australian Farmers. Not to leave out that both Woolworths and Coles can flob off the extra cost of keeping these items low, by pushing the price of other items up.
For bread I used to buy the Baker's Delight Chia Seed or Plain White Sliced. The family likes it, but it doesn't store that well out of the freezer and Hubby detests it for that reason. So, for them I buy the Smart Buy bread. Not because of price, but because that is the bread that they like. They don't like any other brand but the Tip Top Cottage Loaf with Sesame, but they always complain of feeling "empty" after they eat it. So I will purchase that one for a treat from time to time. Toilet paper is also Coles Smart Buy and the same with Sugar. But for most other items I will choose a brand specifically. Specials effect my purchase, but I usually will not buy a supermarket brand because of it.
I don't buy the cheap milk. I've read too much about the "fillers" they put into generic milk. Instead, I purchase Dairy Farmers or A2. Tinned tomatoes I will buy Ardmona usually, and jams/spreads are usually from NZ or here. I will even get **** Smith stuff every once in a while, but it depends on what it is. As far as food quality and the generic brands I don't like most of what Woolworths have. They don't taste very nice at all. With Coles Smart Buy I don't mind them, but they are only in this house for everyone else. If I was living alone with no S/O and kids, I would say that everything I get would be branded.0 -
I try to avoid Select because of taste. I just bought their tins of tuna and I was gagging trying to get it down. I've never had that problem with Tuna
I would shop elsewhere but we really don't have many options in Perth. I would DIE if Aldi came here. I want them here so badly. My parents and grandparents shop there and their food is really nice.0 -
I shop at Safeway/Woolworths most of the time, and their house brands are OK, especially for staples like eggs, flour etc. I find I'm making most of my meals from scratch these days so 80% of my shopping is fresh produce, but definitely stick to brands I like when it comes to bread (Abbott's Country Grain), milk (Pura Light Start) and cereal (All-Bran/Weetbix).
Most of the time it's the same company making both the branded and house products anyway, so there's never a huge difference.0 -
majority of my basic food staples i'll quite happily use homebrand (woolworths) - flour, milk, tuna (5 for $4?! so good..), dried fruit etc..
some things I prefer to get the nicer version - helgas or abbotts bakery for bread, and if i'm going to be naughty and have some sweets i'll get a nicer brand so i feel more satisfied with what i've eaten - nothign worse than homebrand chocolate - eww!
I grew up in a home where we had very little money and poor dietry habbits as a result of it... now i'm in a position that I can afford to eat well and nice things, but some of the homebrand / ILC type products do the job just fine
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