Former food manufacturing employee here; can confirm that we had four different labels slapped on to the EXACT SAME PRODUCT coming off of our processing line, two of which were for the same brand! They all had different marketing spins, too- one was "farm fresh", one was "all natural", you get the gist. All for the exact same product, no change in anything from the ingredients to the machine settings.
Sometimes it’s just a different label desired by the same brand, which isn’t unheard of. They might want to distribute them to different areas, or help the product stand out more by having different wording, rather than the same packaging repeating over and over. My advice is to always look at the ingredients, don’t assume they will be the same or remotely taste the same. Kroger edible cookie dough is trash compared to name brand edible cookie dough, for one anecdotal example. I had a hard time finishing it all, that’s how bad the taste was in comparison. Always check the list for yourself.
I've worked in a lab at a food manufacturing plant. It's true that some products LOOK the same or even have the same process. But this isn't true. The cooks are given different recipes or different measurements for each product. And on my end in the lab, the food product looks much differently under a microscope when it's "natural " "organic" or "conventional". That being said, the product comes through the same conveyor belts so take that information as you will.
i still remember having a "hol-up" moment working at walmart's stock room. started unpacking some crates of cereal, and noticing the generic and kelloggs brand ones all had the same product, batch and factory info on them. the literal only difference was the cardboard box.
It's not always this way, but sometimes it's the factory's way of putting out the "rejects" that don't look quite as pretty but are still perfectly edible. So it comes out looking like a knock-off just because these are the last bits if the batch that don't look quite right. That's my theory anyway.
As an Ex-chef, when I cooked, I used 100% generic EVERYTHING, we (the restaurant) did have an issue were people insisted on a brand name cheddar cheese; however, when that very cheese as low in supply we switch it with generic and NO ONE ever knew the difference (yes we adjusted price). But to this day I do buy generic for my large party with my family, you honestly can't tell.
Then there are these so called "Italian restaurants" with certificate, that are far from Italy - which need to buy canned ingredients from Italy (eg. tomatos) instead of fresh local ones. And not any brand from Italy, but ones that prove they use specific types of tomatos Basically causing that brand ingredient is both more costly and lower quality than fresh one.
that would depend on the specific cheddar because i have had generics (lucerne being the worst) where they say they are extra sharp or some equivalent but there's no tanginess and the texture is just way too soft and not just the mouth feel but also how much it squishes in my ahnd before clumbling the only cheeses that are sharp enough for me are the top end of cabbot and tillamook and mild cheddar wont have as much difference if any because cheese has a minimum aging time anyway
As someone who grew up poor, I almost always buy generic. There are certain things like doritos where the generic taste nothing like the name brand and isnt accepted, but for the majority, generic works fine.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch, at least the generic I had was absolute trash. Which is odd because it sounds so simple, but they messed up the cereal texture big time
I love how serious this episode is, hardly any jokes, you know matpat is truly intrigued with this topic because he has so much to say that he didn't pad the runtime with skits and jokes
Are you joking? This one episode was one big joke. If anything, this episode proofs how dumb consumers are, and judging by all talking points, specifically consumers in USA. It is not how shops and brands work all over the rest of the world. For some reason it is only possible in USA.
@@yaroslavpanych2067 I kind of agree, to the extent that Americans are the epitome of “brand buying” a lot of them aren’t bothered to try new things and so just stick to brands so it’s a bit of a wake up call for them while people in different countries are just sitting there like “yo we’ve been doing that for years” idk tho
I live in the UK and whenever pringles changed the recipe for their sour cream and onion flavour to something honestly disgusting I started buying a knock off brand, the fact I got something for less than half the price and I tasted pretty close to how I remember just shocked me
every new pringles can i buy the chips are not crispy. taste is different now. before it was true tat once you pop you cant stop. now i can actually stop in 3 chips cause its not good anymore
Hawaiian Punch changed their the recipe on on the original version. So when I’m in the mood for something like Hawaiian Punch, I buy the knock off brand because it taste like the classic Hawaiian Punch.
I'm surprised MatPat didn't mention another reason why the younger generations are buying generic more often: the power of the dollar. We are all painfully aware that minimum wage does not have the same buying power that it did 25 years ago. When you're living at or below the poverty line, as is the case for many of us nowadays, you simply cannot afford the extra 60 cents for the brand name. That 60 cents needs to be spent on fuel to get to work or transport your kids. Growing up in the 90's, I was raised by a single mom with an excellent job. We bought name brands pretty much exclusively. Today, I would rather save 30 cents here and there buying generic because I need to cut where I can to make sure I can purchase the essentials across the board.
But many people live above the poverty line today, as one of those people, I would rather buy a trusted product than save a few dollars for a product I can't even use if something happened. There's also the fact that there are always people who hates poor people and always buy the more trusted and famous product
For real. Sometimes those cents are the difference between me buying the generic or taking a trip to the food pantry. People have way too much loyalty in the big name brands when they are essentially the same thing. Marketing really sure does its job, that’s for sure.
Per the Statista website, in 2020 37% of people lived at or below the poverty line. Of that number, approximately 10% are seniors (KFF website), and the poverty gap increases as those seniors get older, usually due to the cost of prescription drugs. I'm a senior who buys generic whenever I have a choice. If they're just as good, why be bamboozled by brand name advertising? Edit to add: I'm just mentioning these stats because too many in the U.S. are plagued by poverty.
@@admincommand2016 Same here, but I'd rather save up for other things where I can, so I decide by trial and error if a generic brand is as good, better, or worse than a name brand for any kind of product. And so I my shopping cart always tends to be a random-looking mix of generic and name brand. Generalizations generally aren't good for your wallet, among other contexts, in my experience.
@@admincommand2016 You from Germany? XD Heard many things from my folks talk about being trendy, buying expensive new stuff and throwing out stuff that wasn't even broken. Not insinuating yourself as one of the people that adhere to such a practice, just it sounds like you've got some experience in that department too.
Very nice. You just confirmed that the generic brands are literally the same in every way, and they're cheaper because the studies showed that people tend to trust big name brands more than the "knock off" versions. Wonder how many people are going to save more money now, because of this video.
6:30 As someone who used to work in a bread factory a few years ago, I can easily confirm that this is true. Let's say that we had to package 2000+ hot dog buns, we would usually be asked to package about 1100 in bags with a brand. Once we were done, without even stopping production, we would simply switch the bags for the No Name ones. Literally no difference whatsoever in the product. Not only would you get more buns in the bag & being less expensive, but it's the exact same quality.
Yeah as a poor, I have always bought generic brands and have always loved them. At this point I actually prefer and seek them out in the store. I get mad when they're not available because I have to "settle" for the name brand 😂
It’s also what you get used to. I always buy Lidl cola,because the store is just across the street. And now I don’t like coca-cola that much anymore. It doesn’t taste right.
In a few cases, the generic brands will use less artificial/processed ingredients than the name brand. Great Value in particular has ingredients that are less artificial. My family found this out when shopping for ice cream. The Great Value ice cream uses milk, cream, and sugar as their first few ingredients, while some brands use high fructose corn syrup or coconut oil so the ice cream is less hard when very cold. We tend to prefer food that is cheaper and you can pronounce all the ingredients in the first couple lines.
Just because something is artificial doesn't mean that it's bad or unhealthy. That's a naturalistic fallacy right there. Similarly, it's quite fallacious thinking that just because you can't pronounce a word that it's therefore less trustworthy in terms of health. This one just doesn't make any sense and it baffles me that so many people seem to share your sentiment.
An interesting thing I learned while truck-driving is that just about all generic canned goods are the same, like literally. The cans are shipped to a warehouse blank without a label and are then labeled for the store that they are getting shipped to and sent right back out.
Here in the UK most off brand items come from the same factory as the branded ones. I used to work in a Candy/sweet factory and all the store brand candies were also made there, we literally just changed the packaging they where being packed into. You are often buying the exact same product at a cheaper price if you get the off brand version.
I remember reading a story in the newspaper about a guy in Liverpool who found a packet of Hoola Hoops in a multipack of Aldi's own Brand "potato hoops" so yeah quite literally the same production line.
I've basically been staying away from commercials, got TH-cam Red, dont watch TV and have anti-ads on computer and... I've been way less interested in buying brand names, simply since I dont have a reason to. Its crazy how much ads we see on these days and how much your choice is already made for you before even stepping into the stores.
It amuses me that MatPat's first comparison was vitamins, given that in 2015 there was a pretty big news story about non-national brand supplements having drastically incorrect ingredient labels, to the point that many didn't have the ingredient on the front label at all.
He was comparing food in the video, not vitamins though. and unlike supliments which can basically get away with outright lying on their labels, the fda and usda regulate food pretty stringently. Most of the trade secrets are usually listed under natural or artificial flavors. Wheat, dairy, egg, and soy ingredients have to be clearly identified. So with food at least you usually can trust the label and preference comes down to taste. Sadly though when it comes to vitamins and supplements though, not much has changed there and you have to rely on 3rd parties to verify they actually contain what they say they do.
I met someone that was allergic to sulfites which is in a lot of things but isn’t always labeled so they would face a lot of allergic reactions. Thats why all ingredients should always be listed regardless if its a secret or not, people can be allergic to those things
That’s really messed up yeah. I get company is not wanting to have to leak every single thing but if it’s something that literally any human could be allergic to, you should have to list it
The EU requires a warning for all products containing: "Sulphur dioxide and sulphites at concentrations of more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre in terms of the total SO2 which are to be calculated for products as proposed ready for consumption or as reconstituted according to the instructions of the manufacturers;" They don't have to list ALL ingredients, but they must mention "contains sulphates" if it is at that concentration limit. Celery, mustard, and sesame also needs to be labelled. And any allergen on the list must be written in BOLD on the ingredients (so it will say something like "whey protein (MILK)"
As a generic buyer to begin with or who is cheaper... I find ingredient lists should expose all. It should be companies forced to compete on quality with no real secrets.
I remember the first time I bought Hydrox cookies thinking I was getting a cheap knock off Oreo only to have my mind blown by how much I loved them and how they tasted better. Later I found out the real history of the two cookies.
I have always bought off-brand products. Most of them just taste better, have less sugar or come from farmers around my place. I find my trust in the people around me and in the health value for me and my kids :3
I find it ironic that Matt says “Are we drinking the Kool-aid when we should be drinking the Flavor-aid” considering Flavor-aid was the actual drink used in the Jonestown Massacre, not Kool-aid.
In the 80's my mother used to work in a well known potato chip factory. She told me that when they produced a specific amount of bags of chips for the day, the remaining chips we packaged into a generic chip bags. I have a feeling there are companies who are still follow that practice.
Manufacturing companies, since the orders are fullfilled, the rest can't go to waste or they'll start eating the profit margin considering that all those spent resources were used to make them and not get the money back.
When my local brewery is making it's own brand of beer, they clean out their plumbing and machinery beforehand. For no name beer, they just let everything run longer after having made their own stuff.
Your hunch is spot on, Gary! Actually most generic brands ARE repackaged national brands! Great Value, for example isn't a company at all. There's no manufacturing plants, distribution lines, or warehouses anywhere to be found. Because they are just other brands with a label swap!
@@danytalksmusic - Walmart, owner of that particular brand buys products for it from different manufacturers. Even in Puerto Rico they buy from local manufacturers such as AgroSur (hamburgers) or Empresas Kikuet (fritter snacks ready to fry), to name a couple.
As an Aldi employee, I'd love to see a theory done about the company growing even though the majority of their products are private label and the stores are severely smaller!
What you might find intersting is that in Poland, where I come from, those smaller stores are very popular, if not majority. Apparently, stats say that polish people work a lot, so we don't want to waste a lot of time shopping. We do shopping often and smaller. As a result stores like Aldi, Lidl etc win. Especially in bigger cities, where more often people use public transport for shopping, instead of cars. Smaller and more local wins. Also, fun fact, one Portuguese chain posed as polish one, so to encourage people to buy from them on patriotic ground. Not many people still know it is foreign corporation. But still, all smaller chains advertise "local sourcing" for products in Poland.
The knock off brands are getting SO EXPENSIVE,the NATIONAL brands look like they work...WHERE ARE MY HYDROX cookies at!?! Getting real tired of Oreo & supermarkets gettin' in the way...Aldi is NO DIFFERENT.
I almost exclusively by only generic brand foods, but no one seems to be able to make a perfect Oreo- except Oreo. Most generics don't have the right chocolate flavor, or tend not to be as "dunkable" They are the one product I pay full price for (but still usually only buy them when BOGO)
@@SuperSaiyanBroku In 1908, Hydrox didn't have that connotation. They wanted a name that would convey "purity and goodness" and mixing hydrogen and oxygen (the ingredients for water) seemed like a good way to do that. The big problem, is that a certain bleach company (Clorox) had almost the same exact idea a few years later.
6:50 My dad used to work as a truck driver and stocker for Bimbo Bakeries, occasionally I would go with him to help stock shelves when I was younger. Something I noticed is that he would deliver and stock both Bimbo products and Great Value products to Walmart. I was first confused about this, but now this makes a bit more sense.
@@SpockBorg5 Fresh bread is different from the other products. Store brands will use a local bakery and whoever is the cheapest delivery and merchandising service of existing vendors (Usually Bimbo/Bairds or Flowers/Wonder) This does get a little muddy as some "fresh" breads are frozen and then ship to the stores to thaw on shelves (Bagels, english muffins, hawaiian breads, and most ready pastries)
I once worked for a chips factory of a national brand. They also produce for a LOT of store brands. The thickness may vary, the exact recipe for the flavor will vary, but it’s the same quality, and it really comes down to taste. And often, the taste of the store brand is better or at least more noticeable. I’ve been buying store brands almost exclusively for years now, except for when I want a really specific flavor of something that isn’t offered by a store brand.
I remember the Pepsi crew getting mad at my mom for being able to tell which was coke and which was pepsi in the Pepsi challenge and she preferred Coke every time. While they're very similar they're different enough to have a definite difference and while many fail at the Pepsi challenge, I saw her "Win" multiple times when they would perform the challenge in malls back in the 80s/90s. No, she never appeared in any of the commercials for obvious reasons as she didn't fall into the whole scheme of showing the ones who couldn't tell them apart.
I've always said M&Ms taste like pepsi. Not like coke, like pepsi. Nobody's ever believed me bc neither M&Ms nor pepsi are very popular in my country 😂
There is a very obvious difference between the two, so much so that I was always curious as to how that challenge succeeded. Pepsi has more of a "smooth" taste to it while Coke has a "bite" or "kick" to it.
@@dag1984 - me likewise. Maybe they just had to go through a lot of people to find ones who chose as they wanted. I wonder if many people’s taste buds are dead. When Coke switched to high fructose corn syrup from sucrose (cane sugar), I had no trouble at all telling the difference between the old and the new Coke when their labels were transitioning, saying either/or. They taste very different with the different sweeteners (and yes, cane sugar does taste significantly better). Likewise , the taste difference between Pepsi and Coke is hard to miss.
companies in 1860 "I will give you a loaf of bread for a quarter, the bread contains plenty of ground up bugs we missed when cleaning, and will either last you a few days or two months." companies now "No You cant just tell the difference between us and our competitor how dare you, you cheater you don't get to play with us anymore"/"I will give you a bag of highly processed corn chips, half of the bag is just special air to keep it crunchy but that air is wasted after you open the bag. I will give it to you for $3. It might last anywhere from an hour to two days depending on the size and your behavior."
Heh even knowing that the generic is made in the same factory, my dad refused to change coffees. So my mum just bought the cheep one and put it in the old expensive jar.
I’ve worked at a factory that made condiments before and one of my biggest take always was but generic. We would put the same product in different bottles whether it was supposedly high quality stuff or Kroger generic brand
Worked in sales and logistics for a box retailer and can confirm. If the packaging is the same size, weight, and shape, it's almost always the same product
I worked for Kroger back in high school and part of our training was explaining that their store brands were just that - name brands in different packaging
I mean, us poor people have known this for decades. We buy generic out of necessity, not preference. Some of the generics are actually better than name brands too. Like certain processed meats, drink mixes, and stuff like tuna fish and some snacks. It's mostly personal preference, but most of that stuff is just as good if not better.
Something you might find interesting Matpat, in Canada, there is a store chain called No Frills. They actually lean into the "no name" phasing, making it the name of their store brand (ie. no name veggies, no name paper towels, etc)
Also No Name is not just in No Frills. No Name is one of the dozen different store brands owned by Loblaws, who has the largest share of the market in Canada with a pile of different supermarket chains. So you'll find No Name in some of the other Loblaws controlled store chains, mixed in with their other store brands.
Ya know...i had my doubts about food theory...i mean...I've never heard of theories and food being in the same sentence...much less in the same title...but the editing, explaining and how he tells a story in every video is engaging enough that it gets me hooked. Matt Patt and his crew are Golden TH-camrs and I wish them all the greatest success in the world. I love the theory team and all their channels/videos
As a kid, I remember the first time I tried Cheerios. I was so excited, as my mom rarely bought brand name, and we always had Toastee O's. To my surprise, I found that I really did not like Cheerios and much preferred the off-brand.
@@therealsonicrb I think somethings depends on what you first grew up with though tbh. For eg, my family always brought off brand baked beans for years when were were poorer, then for the first time in 15 years we tried the name brand stuff we found we didn't like the taste and went back to the generic even though we're better off now lol.
Generic poptarts are stuffed almost double as much with filling, and has more icing on it. The weight for what you get on the package is almost double, and the filling is even better and more natural tasting. Best generics Ive found.
In the UK we have a program called 'Inside the Factory'. One episode went to the Kellogg's factory making Cornflakes. At the end the flakes were on a belt with holes in it. The host of the show ask what the hole are for. The guy said the big flakes are for Kellogg's Cornflakes and the small ones that fall through the holes are for shop own brands.
Store brands are hit and miss. Like, Meijer potato chips are amazing and have flavors you don't see often. Peanut Butter is so different from brand to brand that you just have to pick the one you like and never stray. Especially any brand that uses the Jiff color scheme.
@@TheGamerGoy Agree. There are some store brand chips that have tasted the same as name brand, but other store brands that were so weakly flavoured you could hardly tell they were seasoned. The only thing name brands do better than store brand is that they remove the uncertainty. Of course that's pretty useless when it comes to staples like flour, sugar, bread, etc. like MatPat said. Always better to opt for store brand in that case
For most things I have switched to generic brands and some of them are honestly better and half the price. Two things I don't compromise are condiments and sodas
Fun fact: I worked in a brewery for 5 years. Their standard beer was exactly the same as more than half a dozen other beers made by the same brewery. And I mean _LITERALLY_ the same, in the sense that the filler ran continuously putting the beer into bottles, and all we changed out that day were the labels and boxes they went into. Several of these beers retailed for much less than the "name brand" one. But it was literally - and I cannot stress this enough - *LITERALLY* the same beer.
Same thing for pet food. They capitalize on stupid people spending more thinking that somehow that means they love their pet more. It's crazy how people fall for the psychology that goes into marketing.
I'd love to see a theory on the accuracy of blind taste tests! It sounds like a relatively interesting theory, given how related it is to this episode after all!
I remember seeing something about this with French wine and the French thinking theirs was better...and yet time and again in blind tests, they chose the American wines. I don't drink alcohol and to me, all of it tastes bad, but that had to be quite embarrassing given how confident they seemed. Not sure how long ago this was, may have been a century or so ago.
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True. Often store brands can be ever bit as good as the name brand products and sometimes even better, but not always. There are a few brand name products out there that just can't be matched for taste and quality. I can't seem to find a store brand salsa in a jar that I like as well as a couple of the name brand salsas.
Mat Pat says that “we” should be buying the store brand, yet he’s still drinking Diet Coke instead of the superior store brand from whatever that supermarket he did blind taste tests with.
probably more convenient. maybe he doesn't regularly shop at the store and its not worth going out of the way to save $0.50 on a 12 pack. Also whenever you go somewhere to eat it's coke or Pepsi. can't exactly ask McDonald's for your store brand diet cola.
I'd hypothesize that it's kind of inconvenient to go out to Harris Teeter for one thing when you shop for everything else at a different store. That's why I get Dr. Pepper instead of the superior store brand version because that version is specific to Basha's and I don't go there very often.
I remember hearing a conspiracy theory that the knock offs were the exact same product as the original, sold by the same company, so they could have their cake and eat it too. Sell it cheaper for the people who are stingy, sell it more expensive for the people who are susceptible to branding and wanting "higher quality"
*I heard* that if a brand name product doesn't sell, the store can return some of it. *THEN* the company repackages stale product and sells it to 3rd party manufacturers or even to be packaged as store brand. Literally the "fake" cereal /knockoff is the REAL cereal. Just a lil too old for the Brand manufacturer.
@@LucyWest370 thats why I said "conspiracy theory" it is unproven, a little absurd, and most likely not true, but there are people that believe it. I don't really care, its just something I read someone talking about before
my dad works at an egg factory and has seen the same value eggs be packaged for the generic brands and the pricier ones, so I've got my tin foil hat I guess
@@Sorrowdusk a distributor can always reject shipped product for the most part. I also highly doubt they'll have that many rejections to repackage for 100s of stores. Most manufacturers just credit the distributor and let them keep the product cause they don't want to pay for it to be shipped back.
A little story. LIDL have their brand tools Parkside. Which are green. They were selling Parkside pressure washer for 100 EUR. Thing is I had already one Karcher. Which costs 250 EUR. But staring at Parkside watching it and it looked EXACTLY the same. I have a friend working at the factory where they make Karcher. He told me they are exactly the same tool. One is green and says Parkside on it, other is yellow and says Karcher. That was the ONLY difference for 100 vs 250 EUR price...
I find it concerning that ingredients are allowed to be left out if its part of the trade secret. What if someone is allergic to those formulas or later they are found to be dangerous?
Y’all are stupid. They are legally required to list allergens. If it doesn’t say “egg” in the ingredient list, it would say “may contain eggs” or something along those lines. You seriously think they could’ve gotten away with putting poison in their stuff without telling anyone? What next? Are you going to say you think the Earth is flat? My god some people smh…
I work at a cream cheese factory and we put the EXACT same cheese in name brand vs great value. It comes from the same tank nothing changes but packaging
That's quite interesting. I bake a lot and the few ingredients that there's a noticeable difference between brands is cream cheese and butter. Cheesecake and frosting are richer from the name brands and puff pastries are so much crisper with the more expensive butter. Might try a blind test soon to make sure.
The ABSOLUTE irony of MatPat's "have we all been drinking the Kool-aid, when we should be drinking the Flavor-aid?" line. The cult DID drink the off-brand. So yes. We should be.
There are some things where I absolutely have to have the name brand. One of those items is Peanut Butter, I generally always go with JIF EXTRA CRUNCHY. If that's unavailable then my second choice is SKIPPY Super Chunk.
I wonder if part of the shift away from name brands also has to do with the radical decline of traditional tv viewing, you see alot less name brand products advertised to you if you only watch on digital streaming platforms.
I learned this when buying pain relievers. Thought to myself, “these are regulated chemicals, one can’t really be better or different than the other”. Sure enough, same active ingredients, same dosage, different prices.
With medicines for sure this stuff is so regulated and the formulas and chemicals are you really are just paying for the label. But yeah I had the same experience. "Why am I paying $14 for 100 Tylenol when I can get 500 Acetaminophen Pills for $9?"
Of everything to buy generic, medication is definitely the best, exactly because they're regulated. The Ranitidine in Zantac is going to be the exact same as it is in the store brand, same with the acetaminophen in Tylenol, and countless other over the counter, and prescription drugs.
Yup, the difference in meds are usually inactive, dyes and that. The reason brands cost more is patents (brands who first create it, get first bite at the apple and they never change the price even after the patent expires, so generics use cheaper inactive ingredients, don't need the make back research money and thus can undercut. The truly dad/hillarious is how many drug companies ALSO make generics...of their brand names. So their undercutting themselves, but get all of the cash.
@@Crow_Smith If it's new, you're paying for research, but yeah, for drugs long out of patent just get generics unless you may have a reaction to the cheaper "fill" ingredient (always possible). I go for generics on nearly everything due to my income (yay social security), and I've never really noticed a problem be it drugs or noms.
Due to growing up with not a lot of money, my family's always been fine with generic stuff. I'd say ~90% of the time it tastes just as good (or at least fine) and occasionally is better. I've even tested a few over the years to check and, while rare, there have been some that were better (though taste is obviously subjective).
Generally, the only ones that seem to really matter are those with the Trade Secret handle, such as Doritos, Hellman's, and Krave. They have a distinct taste that knock-offs don't. Otherwise, I generally go with generic on everything else.
KaleidOs from Kroger stores are actually better than Oreos. Edit: like genuinely, they're better, but they don't have quite the variety of flavors. If I want like Mint, or Regular I'll go for KaleidOs, but if I want Carrot Cake Oreos I'll get regular Oreos(don't judge the flavors till you've tried them, it's actually pretty good)
Hm in my case we always had money but since I was gamer since 6 years old my brain was wired to always mid max everythinggg...so I realized in very early age that brand names are just marketing trick. You can get same amount of pleasure by much much cheaper products that just don't have that well known brand name. And ever since and to this day I haven't bought any brand name items to the point I would actually feel really bad if I had to buy one. Like it would sicken me inside. Sometimes I get present and encounter brand name food items to consume by parties and whatnot. But I am so acustomes to noname brands that many times it actually taste worse when tasting brand name ones.
I have worked in factories where they would package a name brand and then package the same thing with a generic label. I have told people about it and they would say that the factories had to change some thing. I would tell them that it was the same thing. Of course, they wouldn't believe me. I call it, "everyday brain washing." 😀
I do generics for most things, excluding dairy where the taste really does make a difference. Yogurt, especially. Most yogurts are sicky sweet and plastic, even the plain varieties (to which I can add my own fresh fruit additions, should i want, and I have a quality yogurt I want to eat. I suspect in the case of much dairy knockoffs, they're trying to emulate the terrible plastic name brands, ie Yoplait.). Oh, I would like to find that generic peanut butter cup, made with DARK chocolate, rather than that chalky Reese's peanut butter cup made with that bleah milk chocolate.
Agree, I’m 20 and my girlfriend and I moved into our first apartment a few months ago 😅 you never realize beforehand how expensive groceries actually are
It's very good advise. Just... do note that there are some national brands that are legitimately better. If you have one in your area, I recommend shopping at Aldi. Many of their products are made by the same people who do the national brands. Like their cereal is made in the same factories that make General Mills, using the same ingredients. If you've never been, do note that they will not pack your groceries, you have to bag them and you have to pay for the bags even (I generally go without bags). And you need to take a coin (in the US a quarter, in Europe a euro) to be able to get a shopping cart. You get the coin back if you take back the cart though.
No frills here in Canada calls their generic brand products “no name” literally. They even made an anime to advertise which makes them the best grocery store hands down. Edit: No frills really likes satirizing grocery store conventions, what a great store. I sound like a no frills commercial. I swear I’m not a sellout hired by no frills to tell you what amazing no name chips they have like barbecue or even better spicy barbecue. Sold at the great price of 1 dollar.
I really thought this was going to be an episode where Matt and his wife blind tastes national and generic brand items to see which one they liked more.
My father in law works in a food production plant. He's told me that when they do a batch of sauce, let's say pasta sauce, it gets divided into two batches, and put into two different jars. One goes to the value section of a large supermarket chain for £0.89, and the other goes to a higher end supermarket for their organic range at £2.19 per jar. Its the exact same sauce.
That's how generic used to be done in the US. But then "generic" disappeared, replaced by "store brands" where every store does its own thing. And now it's just as competitive as name brands. Maybe even more so. The good old days of "generic" are long gone here. It's kind of sad, actually.
I buy mostly generic and have for years with a few exceptions. The exceptions are usually when I tried the generic and it really does taste different from the name brand in a way I don't like or the texture is off. Mostly this happens in the cereal isle. They just haven't replicated the taste of diabeetus quite right in my favorite sugary cereals that I buy to splurge on occasion. Kroger's Private Selection labels are my favorite. Their marinades are amazing
LOL And, sadly, the most accurate part of the video. In my many years of store brand experience, that sums store brands up nicely. They're not as good, but they're not (usually) awful. You get what you pay for. LOL But who needs a frozen pizza that costs so much anyway? At the end of the taste-test day it's still a frozen pizza. LOL
My general rule of thumb, the simpler the product is, the more likely I am to not notice the difference between generic and name brand. I grew up on near exclusive national brands. Generics I’m still discovering.
I mostly grew up on generic brands, and I have to say there are a handful of things you don't want to compromise on. For example, name brand cheese is soooo much better than generic, and it makes such a big difference in your cooking. When I was finally able to splurge an extra $20 per grocery trip on getting better versions of the few things that actually made a difference, it was such a huge quality of life improvement.
You're definitely right when it comes to Cheese. Name brand is so much better. We got Giant Tiger cheese once and it was gross to me. I'd rather just eat my burger without cheese in that case.
In Canada, there’s a no name brand called “no name” and they have the funniest packaging ever. Like their version of coke is just a yellow can that says “cola”, it’s hilarious 😂😂
As chef, this 100% true. Buying the cheapest basic quality ingredients to make something good. It's those highly refined foods you really need to watch out for.
Also the reason why off-brand "Doritos" never taste like the real stuff, but the store-brand paprika chips are sometimes not just as good but better than Lay's and such. The less processed the food, the more private labels shine, and coincidentally that's also the stuff you should go for over chips with 28 different ingredients on the label...
@@AdamsBrew78 With cheese big labels is usually the way to go in grocery stores, bc most of them make their own cheese, so you absolutely can notice the difference. Cheese making is a difficult process so any differences in the manufacturing process will impact the taste, texture, smell, etc. I've experienced this first hand when I bought two packs of Gouda from two different manufactures the other day. They tasted so noticeably different that I had to double check that they're the same type of cheese. Some products are absolutely worth paying a bit extra for the "name brand" and it's mostly case by case so you'll never know if you don't try both side by side...
My dad often got the local store chain ice cream tubs and cereal claiming it was from the same manufacturer, good to know he wasn't lying to get little me to eat the cheap stuff.
In Germany we have a series of "Test Magazines" which compare a lot of stuff and one thing is always the same: store brands get mostly A's while named brands often get C or below... and obviously they are way more expensive.
I am not surprised to hear that chefs mostly choose generic outside of dairy products. I know it has to do with sponsorship, but on Top Chef when they shop at Whole Foods, they do make gourmet meals with mostly 365 products outside of high-quality butter or things like that. I always like to say that if it is good enough for them, it is good enough for me.
I sell baked goods as a side thing and I do the same. Unless it's an expensive product or is going to be the centre of the show, just go generic. I think you could beat me over the head and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between name brand and generic flour, sugar, eggs etc. They all taste the same in the end. I only ever bother with name brands with strong flavours (chocolate ganache, icing etc) where someone might actually be able to tell.
Fun fact, I used to work at a factory that made oil filters. The only difference between an expensive Jaguar oil filter and a cheap Frahm Filter is the color of the paint.
In my experience, the store brand "toaster pastries" actually have significantly more filling than Kellogg's Pop Tarts. They're also about a third of the price.
pop tarts is actually the best example....... theyve been reducing the size of the filling since the 90s and im from the philippines and pop tarts is not easily available here so when you get one and its that small. youd really look for off brands.
You can also see this whenever Rhett and Link do that test where they try to guess the name brand. Most of the time they guess Great Value 😂 store brand is best Edit: another store brand that they seem to find really good is Kroger brand
I paused the video after the intro, cuz I already know where it's going, and I 100% agree with it. It's a good thing I've got the access to a Canadian brand that literally does this for most products: No Name! Seriously. It's always at least 10% cheaper than the brand version. They even have their own grocery store, although it's too far to more than once a month from where I live...
I’m open to every off brand food except JIF peanut butter, Oreo cookies, and Kellogg’s Raisin Bran. Other than those 3, I usually prefer the off brand!
It would be interesting to see crossed data between the decline of branded products and the fact that everything is becoming more and more expensive, thus leading the average mid to lower-class consumer to choose the cheapest option not by choice but to get to the end of the month.
My dad was a doctor at Weetabix, there is (or at least was) only 1 factory in the world making wheat biscuits and so every single one you'll find anywhere under any brand is from the same single source - I've seen wheat biscuits being sold in Turkey that were made in the factory back home (that's the furthest I've been and seen them). My mum despite knowing it's the same doesn't like buying generics because it's a class thing, the family she grew up in was working class while my dad was from upper middle and he knows that it's all the same (especially as he works in medicine where every day he is aware of how generics are the exact same as name brands) and it's worth trying out the generic first and if it's good enough stick with it, my mum wants to feel like she's moving up. I've seen this trend of apparent class reversals because my high class parent in-laws are fully on the generics train, if it can be a generic it is because they know to not waste money (they will spend money on quality but they won't waste it on branding or worse advertising), while my mum's side of the family will not only always buy name brands to feel like they're high class but they'll talk about brands as if they weren't communicating that they're slaves to corporations (not very high class behaviour). I'm fully on board with generics where I can. There's a handful of things where we will go name brand but just because it's noticably better and that the added cost over a year is worthwhile, a generic could be worse but we will still go for it if it saves a lot of money, and likewise we may go with an expensive name brand if we don't actually buy it frequently and so the added cost over a year isn't that much - have to pick the battles for the most beneficial result. Also picking a brand because of good memories is not a valid reason, I go with Heinz not because I grew up with them, it's because they've clearly put in a lot of care into making things the best (just don't look at the sugar content), and we buy their stuff infrequently and when we buy tins we buy in bulk at a discount.
I used to work in a food factory in the UK. When we were done packaging up 'National Brand' Products, we were packaging up 'Private Label' Products with THE EXACT SAME product as the National Brand. Sometimes it does pay to go for Private Labels as they're often the same product as National Brands.
There are companies in the U.S. that sell the same product under different labels. Just because the label shows same ingredients it doesn't mean the quality of the ingredients or amount flavoring/spices is the same in both cans.
I have known this for more than 40 years. When I was in college my project for a class in marketing was to see what effect marketing has on a product. This was right at the height of the Pepsi Challenge which was filmed for a commercial at my school. What I found was that if you took all marketing, efforts and labeling you could not tell the difference between Pepsi and Coke, even among those who claimed that they loved one and hated the other. As for my "generics" purchases I have found that Kroger and Wal-Mart branded products are not only cheaper than national brands but actually taste better.
Being allowed to leave ingredients off the lable sounds hazordess to the consumer's health (not that big companies care). Come to think of it, I wonder if that's why I can't pinpoint what in sour Skittles I'm allergic to. I compared the ingredients in sour Skittles to regular Skittles and a sour candy (I think it was Sour Patch Kids) one day at the store. The only listed ingredient in sour Skittles that wasn't in the other two was ascorbic acid, but that can't be what I'm allergic to because it's in plenty of other foods that I eat. So why did sour Skittles make my face red and itchy? I still don't know.
Could be a different dye. You might explain you’re allergic to the company and really need to know what the difference is in the dyes used. You can tell them you’re ok with the regular skittles but not the sour ones.
Whenever I think of sour skittles I have anti-nostalgia of having a pack of sour skittles at a movie theater and the acidity shredding my tongue and the insides of my cheeks
I need you to do one about Vitamins. Because, unless you have a defficiency, or dietary restrictions. They do litterally nothing, because having too much of vitamins messes up your body. So they just go straight through since your body doesn't want that much Vitamin C
@@TheFilthyRed these bots ruin the fun of reading comments and other peoples opinions i have to scroll through 50 different bots just to see a human comment
@@shravan1005 Yeah it's really ruining the comment section as of late. YT is focusing on the wrong things. "Let's look for ways to demonitize TH-camrs," rather than "Let's eliminate these bots."
Thank you for bringing more attention to this, people will be able to afford so much more. I belong to the millenial/GenZ group that shops more generic and I've noticed generic quality is not much different from brand name. Sometimes they're even better because they source locally and have less additives.
As a Chef matt is right all my raw ingredients is genericv vut my ready to cook stuff like frozen pizza for days im lazy to cook i have brand favorites
The fact that my brains memories can play a part in the taste actually might explain why I like our local Sprite knockoff which is just called Lemon Lime I have really good memories associated with it specifically so in my opinion it actually tastes sweeter then the Sprite
Pro tip: for those that don’t know there is a store brand of Girl Scout cookies at Dollar General that are 99% the same as the actual GS cookies to the point you won’t be able to tell.
knock off coke, Zip, is so freaking good. And its like a third of the price of regular coke. It actually tastes like it has spices and stuff instead of pure fizz and caffeine.
I worked in a Vegetable canning company for some years. I will tell you... Most of the time the difference in Name Brand Canned Veggies VS generic is salt level. Some times there is a slight difference in the veggies tgem selves such as size. Sometimes they had more blemishes. But 95% of the time it's just a matter of how much salt goes into the brine. And of course the labels. Everything else is the same.
I’ve been buying way more generic brands since I work at a grocery store and it’s basically the same but the packaging but sometimes there is a difference like vanilla ice cream feels different when it’s cheap of expensive. But I usually go for generic names.
In Canada, there’s a no name brand called “no name” and they have the funniest packaging ever. Like their version of coke is just a yellow can that says “cola”, it’s hilarious
The only time I've ever seen them use any kind of creativity was 20 years ago. Their knock off Corn Pops were called Corn Dunks and they used a basketball 🏀 in place of the "o" in corn. Seeing a small amount of creativity while the generic packaging remained the same was funny to me at 10 years old.
Former food manufacturing employee here; can confirm that we had four different labels slapped on to the EXACT SAME PRODUCT coming off of our processing line, two of which were for the same brand! They all had different marketing spins, too- one was "farm fresh", one was "all natural", you get the gist. All for the exact same product, no change in anything from the ingredients to the machine settings.
bruha
What was it?
Sometimes it’s just a different label desired by the same brand, which isn’t unheard of. They might want to distribute them to different areas, or help the product stand out more by having different wording, rather than the same packaging repeating over and over.
My advice is to always look at the ingredients, don’t assume they will be the same or remotely taste the same. Kroger edible cookie dough is trash compared to name brand edible cookie dough, for one anecdotal example. I had a hard time finishing it all, that’s how bad the taste was in comparison. Always check the list for yourself.
I've worked in a lab at a food manufacturing plant. It's true that some products LOOK the same or even have the same process. But this isn't true. The cooks are given different recipes or different measurements for each product. And on my end in the lab, the food product looks much differently under a microscope when it's "natural " "organic" or "conventional". That being said, the product comes through the same conveyor belts so take that information as you will.
@@keencolios591 Are you specifically talking about the food industry in Austria or Germany or some place like that in Europe?
i still remember having a "hol-up" moment working at walmart's stock room. started unpacking some crates of cereal, and noticing the generic and kelloggs brand ones all had the same product, batch and factory info on them. the literal only difference was the cardboard box.
@Racing Girl's 😘🤤 Wtf
I learned the same from a food chemistry engineer.
There are many things we are lied about.
It's not always this way, but sometimes it's the factory's way of putting out the "rejects" that don't look quite as pretty but are still perfectly edible. So it comes out looking like a knock-off just because these are the last bits if the batch that don't look quite right. That's my theory anyway.
Yup. You're literally just paying for the name. 🤑
Yep! Sara Lee makes tons of different brands of bread at their factory.
As an Ex-chef, when I cooked, I used 100% generic EVERYTHING, we (the restaurant) did have an issue were people insisted on a brand name cheddar cheese; however, when that very cheese as low in supply we switch it with generic and NO ONE ever knew the difference (yes we adjusted price). But to this day I do buy generic for my large party with my family, you honestly can't tell.
Then there are these so called "Italian restaurants" with certificate, that are far from Italy - which need to buy canned ingredients from Italy (eg. tomatos) instead of fresh local ones. And not any brand from Italy, but ones that prove they use specific types of tomatos Basically causing that brand ingredient is both more costly and lower quality than fresh one.
hey, people pay for authenticity with fresh food. Store bought processed garbaged? No. @@OldSkullSoldier
that would depend on the specific cheddar because i have had generics (lucerne being the worst) where they say they are extra sharp or some equivalent but there's no tanginess and the texture is just way too soft and not just the mouth feel but also how much it squishes in my ahnd before clumbling the only cheeses that are sharp enough for me are the top end of cabbot and tillamook and mild cheddar wont have as much difference if any because cheese has a minimum aging time anyway
@gamingwyithsam748 you win
7:20, i'd actually be really interested in seeing an episode like that about skewing blind taste tests
Yeah! It would be so cool to watch that!
Rhett and Link do that in a regular basis. They called "Knock-Off Knock-Out Taste Test".
Same
298 upvotes in 40 minutes WAH
Hi Celeste
As someone who grew up poor, I almost always buy generic. There are certain things like doritos where the generic taste nothing like the name brand and isnt accepted, but for the majority, generic works fine.
Yeah no one can copy Doritos
lmao spot on, doritos is about the only thing I can't find a decent generic of and kiddo still loves cheetos
Cinnamon Toast Crunch, at least the generic I had was absolute trash. Which is odd because it sounds so simple, but they messed up the cereal texture big time
@@monhi64 signature chew even when soggy
Heinz Ketchup and Jif Peanut Butter for me
I love how serious this episode is, hardly any jokes, you know matpat is truly intrigued with this topic because he has so much to say that he didn't pad the runtime with skits and jokes
Its these episodes that are the best episodes. I wish Matpat prioritized quality over quantity theories.
Are you joking? This one episode was one big joke. If anything, this episode proofs how dumb consumers are, and judging by all talking points, specifically consumers in USA. It is not how shops and brands work all over the rest of the world. For some reason it is only possible in USA.
@@yaroslavpanych2067 I kind of agree, to the extent that Americans are the epitome of “brand buying” a lot of them aren’t bothered to try new things and so just stick to brands so it’s a bit of a wake up call for them while people in different countries are just sitting there like “yo we’ve been doing that for years” idk tho
@Yaroslav Panych or in shorter we are spending more money on the same brand without knowing
@@yaroslavpanych2067 But branded just tastes nicer and makes me feel rich...
I live in the UK and whenever pringles changed the recipe for their sour cream and onion flavour to something honestly disgusting I started buying a knock off brand, the fact I got something for less than half the price and I tasted pretty close to how I remember just shocked me
yeah, the price to make something it's cheap the brand make it expensive
every new pringles can i buy the chips are not crispy. taste is different now. before it was true tat once you pop you cant stop. now i can actually stop in 3 chips cause its not good anymore
Hawaiian Punch changed their the recipe on on the original version. So when I’m in the mood for something like Hawaiian Punch, I buy the knock off brand because it taste like the classic Hawaiian Punch.
Maybe they're being altruistic and actually want to help you get over your chips addiction,@@robert-h2x 🤔
@@robert-h2x yeah i remember always getting it, now its not something i look forward to get
I'm surprised MatPat didn't mention another reason why the younger generations are buying generic more often: the power of the dollar. We are all painfully aware that minimum wage does not have the same buying power that it did 25 years ago. When you're living at or below the poverty line, as is the case for many of us nowadays, you simply cannot afford the extra 60 cents for the brand name. That 60 cents needs to be spent on fuel to get to work or transport your kids. Growing up in the 90's, I was raised by a single mom with an excellent job. We bought name brands pretty much exclusively. Today, I would rather save 30 cents here and there buying generic because I need to cut where I can to make sure I can purchase the essentials across the board.
But many people live above the poverty line today, as one of those people, I would rather buy a trusted product than save a few dollars for a product I can't even use if something happened. There's also the fact that there are always people who hates poor people and always buy the more trusted and famous product
For real. Sometimes those cents are the difference between me buying the generic or taking a trip to the food pantry. People have way too much loyalty in the big name brands when they are essentially the same thing. Marketing really sure does its job, that’s for sure.
Per the Statista website, in 2020 37% of people lived at or below the poverty line. Of that number, approximately 10% are seniors (KFF website), and the poverty gap increases as those seniors get older, usually due to the cost of prescription drugs. I'm a senior who buys generic whenever I have a choice. If they're just as good, why be bamboozled by brand name advertising?
Edit to add: I'm just mentioning these stats because too many in the U.S. are plagued by poverty.
@@admincommand2016 Same here, but I'd rather save up for other things where I can, so I decide by trial and error if a generic brand is as good, better, or worse than a name brand for any kind of product. And so I my shopping cart always tends to be a random-looking mix of generic and name brand.
Generalizations generally aren't good for your wallet, among other contexts, in my experience.
@@admincommand2016 You from Germany? XD
Heard many things from my folks talk about being trendy, buying expensive new stuff and throwing out stuff that wasn't even broken. Not insinuating yourself as one of the people that adhere to such a practice, just it sounds like you've got some experience in that department too.
Very nice. You just confirmed that the generic brands are literally the same in every way, and they're cheaper because the studies showed that people tend to trust big name brands more than the "knock off" versions. Wonder how many people are going to save more money now, because of this video.
Stop
Another useless comment from the guy with no stache
Everywhere I go I see just some guy without a mustache
Why are you everywhere?
Everything I watch you are commenting on it why?
He’s pretty sus ngl
6:30 As someone who used to work in a bread factory a few years ago, I can easily confirm that this is true. Let's say that we had to package 2000+ hot dog buns, we would usually be asked to package about 1100 in bags with a brand. Once we were done, without even stopping production, we would simply switch the bags for the No Name ones. Literally no difference whatsoever in the product. Not only would you get more buns in the bag & being less expensive, but it's the exact same quality.
And that's one of the things that we buy generic lol. We kind of mix and choose. Some things generic, some things name brand.
I work in HVAC - and I have also worked in multiple bread factories over the years and can confirm this is indeed the case. Absolutely no difference.
Nice
Yeah as a poor, I have always bought generic brands and have always loved them. At this point I actually prefer and seek them out in the store. I get mad when they're not available because I have to "settle" for the name brand 😂
Malt-o-Meal Golden Puffs are definitely better than Honey Smacks.
yeah publix and costco stuff are good
Yeah i like the generic products way better
Non name brands seem to be better sometimes and sometimes they seem to be worse but I do like them
It’s also what you get used to. I always buy Lidl cola,because the store is just across the street. And now I don’t like coca-cola that much anymore. It doesn’t taste right.
In a few cases, the generic brands will use less artificial/processed ingredients than the name brand. Great Value in particular has ingredients that are less artificial. My family found this out when shopping for ice cream. The Great Value ice cream uses milk, cream, and sugar as their first few ingredients, while some brands use high fructose corn syrup or coconut oil so the ice cream is less hard when very cold. We tend to prefer food that is cheaper and you can pronounce all the ingredients in the first couple lines.
Yep! You are right. I have noticed that, too.
@@beatrix4306 Kysorville without the orville
I actually LOVE the Great Value brand of beef jerky.
It tastes so much better than the main brand for some reason.
Wow. Walmart getting something right for once.
Just because something is artificial doesn't mean that it's bad or unhealthy. That's a naturalistic fallacy right there.
Similarly, it's quite fallacious thinking that just because you can't pronounce a word that it's therefore less trustworthy in terms of health. This one just doesn't make any sense and it baffles me that so many people seem to share your sentiment.
This is why I love Aldi so much, pretty much the same stuff but cheaper
Exactly. Aldi or tesco own brands run our homes. Plus aldi is a student life saver for cheap food
Only Aldi brand of there's that I've found inferior is their knockoff Doritos, which tbf I don't think anyone has ever replicated well
True
Aldi is every uni students faviroute store
I love Aldi! I love that the are expanding the the fresh food area so I only have to make one stop.
An interesting thing I learned while truck-driving is that just about all generic canned goods are the same, like literally. The cans are shipped to a warehouse blank without a label and are then labeled for the store that they are getting shipped to and sent right back out.
I apologise for the two bots under your comment.
Dry foods are like that too
th-cam.com/users/shorts_G3EpHKcLTY?feature=share
@Racing Girl's 😘🤤 bot
Here in the UK most off brand items come from the same factory as the branded ones. I used to work in a Candy/sweet factory and all the store brand candies were also made there, we literally just changed the packaging they where being packed into. You are often buying the exact same product at a cheaper price if you get the off brand version.
I remember reading a story in the newspaper about a guy in Liverpool who found a packet of Hoola Hoops in a multipack of Aldi's own Brand "potato hoops" so yeah quite literally the same production line.
I've basically been staying away from commercials, got TH-cam Red, dont watch TV and have anti-ads on computer and... I've been way less interested in buying brand names, simply since I dont have a reason to. Its crazy how much ads we see on these days and how much your choice is already made for you before even stepping into the stores.
What's TH-cam red?
@@aizichi its youtube premium
Hasn't been Red in a long while but same concept.
@@aizichi original name for youtube premium
E
It amuses me that MatPat's first comparison was vitamins, given that in 2015 there was a pretty big news story about non-national brand supplements having drastically incorrect ingredient labels, to the point that many didn't have the ingredient on the front label at all.
th-cam.com/video/xkPrx1gaXJY/w-d-xo.html
And now you know why these are just theory videos, not factual since the amount of research done is inadequate.
@@Kindlesmith70 "theory"
*hearsay
No, they're not synonyms.
@@Jason75913 lol
He was comparing food in the video, not vitamins though. and unlike supliments which can basically get away with outright lying on their labels, the fda and usda regulate food pretty stringently. Most of the trade secrets are usually listed under natural or artificial flavors. Wheat, dairy, egg, and soy ingredients have to be clearly identified. So with food at least you usually can trust the label and preference comes down to taste. Sadly though when it comes to vitamins and supplements though, not much has changed there and you have to rely on 3rd parties to verify they actually contain what they say they do.
I met someone that was allergic to sulfites which is in a lot of things but isn’t always labeled so they would face a lot of allergic reactions. Thats why all ingredients should always be listed regardless if its a secret or not, people can be allergic to those things
That’s really messed up yeah. I get company is not wanting to have to leak every single thing but if it’s something that literally any human could be allergic to, you should have to list it
@@PurgPurg couldnt have said it better.
The EU requires a warning for all products containing: "Sulphur dioxide and sulphites at concentrations of more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre in terms of the total SO2 which are to be calculated for products as proposed ready for consumption or as reconstituted according to the instructions of the manufacturers;"
They don't have to list ALL ingredients, but they must mention "contains sulphates" if it is at that concentration limit. Celery, mustard, and sesame also needs to be labelled. And any allergen on the list must be written in BOLD on the ingredients (so it will say something like "whey protein (MILK)"
As a generic buyer to begin with or who is cheaper... I find ingredient lists should expose all. It should be companies forced to compete on quality with no real secrets.
hmmm If I were a target or walmart I know how to sniff those secret ingredients now lol
I remember the first time I bought Hydrox cookies thinking I was getting a cheap knock off Oreo only to have my mind blown by how much I loved them and how they tasted better. Later I found out the real history of the two cookies.
I want to try those.
You should clarify that Oreo was the knock off of Hydrox
They're better?
@@katharineball585 I think so, they are definitely different. To me hydrox has a bit more cocoa taste and the crème is smoother
@jonservo hmm interesting
I have always bought off-brand products. Most of them just taste better, have less sugar or come from farmers around my place.
I find my trust in the people around me and in the health value for me and my kids :3
I don't believe that someone that has kids would type out:
:3
@@Salah.Ad-Din they most definitely are sorry to burst your bubble
@@Salah.Ad-Din Facebook my friend
I always buy the off brand Cinnamon toast crunch
It's softer, stays fresh longer, and even seems to taste better
u broke
I find it ironic that Matt says “Are we drinking the Kool-aid when we should be drinking the Flavor-aid” considering Flavor-aid was the actual drink used in the Jonestown Massacre, not Kool-aid.
Nice catch.
Didn’t know that thx lol
I noticed that too givin the origin of that saying and Matt being an intellectual did he make that joke intentionally if so that is kinda dark
Off topic but you should be a model
The title, the title... It's like saying Johnny Test is better than Dexter's Laboratory
In the 80's my mother used to work in a well known potato chip factory. She told me that when they produced a specific amount of bags of chips for the day, the remaining chips we packaged into a generic chip bags. I have a feeling there are companies who are still follow that practice.
Manufacturing companies, since the orders are fullfilled, the rest can't go to waste or they'll start eating the profit margin considering that all those spent resources were used to make them and not get the money back.
When my local brewery is making it's own brand of beer, they clean out their plumbing and machinery beforehand. For no name beer, they just let everything run longer after having made their own stuff.
Your hunch is spot on, Gary! Actually most generic brands ARE repackaged national brands! Great Value, for example isn't a company at all. There's no manufacturing plants, distribution lines, or warehouses anywhere to be found. Because they are just other brands with a label swap!
P&G still does it!
@@danytalksmusic - Walmart, owner of that particular brand buys products for it from different manufacturers.
Even in Puerto Rico they buy from local manufacturers such as AgroSur (hamburgers) or Empresas Kikuet (fritter snacks ready to fry), to name a couple.
As an Aldi employee, I'd love to see a theory done about the company growing even though the majority of their products are private label and the stores are severely smaller!
What you might find intersting is that in Poland, where I come from, those smaller stores are very popular, if not majority. Apparently, stats say that polish people work a lot, so we don't want to waste a lot of time shopping. We do shopping often and smaller. As a result stores like Aldi, Lidl etc win. Especially in bigger cities, where more often people use public transport for shopping, instead of cars. Smaller and more local wins. Also, fun fact, one Portuguese chain posed as polish one, so to encourage people to buy from them on patriotic ground. Not many people still know it is foreign corporation. But still, all smaller chains advertise "local sourcing" for products in Poland.
i thought Aldi was closing stores all around these days.
@@gargoyled_drakejust opened 2 here
@@gargoyled_drake I keep finding more and more in the Metro Detroit Area.
The knock off brands are getting SO EXPENSIVE,the NATIONAL brands look like they work...WHERE ARE MY HYDROX cookies at!?! Getting real tired of Oreo & supermarkets gettin' in the way...Aldi is NO DIFFERENT.
Matt was there for my childhood and now he's looking out for me as an adult, never gonna stop watching the theorists now!
Same
2050 : MattPat launch a new theory channel for the elderly.
@@Los_HermanitosCruz pretty
Actually, you'll save a lot of money opting for the "Theorists of Media" channel, rather than the "Theorists" brand of channels
@@vukkulvar9769 graveyard theory
Fun fact: Oreo used to be a knockoff brand, but became the brand everyone recognizes when they brutally murdered the previous name brand, Hydrox.
Theres a food theory about this!
Well that's what happens when you name your cookie after I don't think you'd find the cleaning department
I almost exclusively by only generic brand foods, but no one seems to be able to make a perfect Oreo- except Oreo. Most generics don't have the right chocolate flavor, or tend not to be as "dunkable" They are the one product I pay full price for (but still usually only buy them when BOGO)
@@SuperSaiyanBroku In 1908, Hydrox didn't have that connotation. They wanted a name that would convey "purity and goodness" and mixing hydrogen and oxygen (the ingredients for water) seemed like a good way to do that. The big problem, is that a certain bleach company (Clorox) had almost the same exact idea a few years later.
Tottaly
6:50
My dad used to work as a truck driver and stocker for Bimbo Bakeries, occasionally I would go with him to help stock shelves when I was younger. Something I noticed is that he would deliver and stock both Bimbo products and Great Value products to Walmart. I was first confused about this, but now this makes a bit more sense.
That's wierd Wal mart usually has their own people stock their brands.
@@SpockBorg5 Fresh bread is different from the other products. Store brands will use a local bakery and whoever is the cheapest delivery and merchandising service of existing vendors (Usually Bimbo/Bairds or Flowers/Wonder)
This does get a little muddy as some "fresh" breads are frozen and then ship to the stores to thaw on shelves (Bagels, english muffins, hawaiian breads, and most ready pastries)
Heheh bimbo
wamart
@@CT-Raft Lol, didn’t notice that
I once worked for a chips factory of a national brand. They also produce for a LOT of store brands. The thickness may vary, the exact recipe for the flavor will vary, but it’s the same quality, and it really comes down to taste. And often, the taste of the store brand is better or at least more noticeable. I’ve been buying store brands almost exclusively for years now, except for when I want a really specific flavor of something that isn’t offered by a store brand.
I remember the Pepsi crew getting mad at my mom for being able to tell which was coke and which was pepsi in the Pepsi challenge and she preferred Coke every time.
While they're very similar they're different enough to have a definite difference and while many fail at the Pepsi challenge, I saw her "Win" multiple times when they would perform the challenge in malls back in the 80s/90s.
No, she never appeared in any of the commercials for obvious reasons as she didn't fall into the whole scheme of showing the ones who couldn't tell them apart.
I've always said M&Ms taste like pepsi. Not like coke, like pepsi. Nobody's ever believed me bc neither M&Ms nor pepsi are very popular in my country 😂
There is a very obvious difference between the two, so much so that I was always curious as to how that challenge succeeded. Pepsi has more of a "smooth" taste to it while Coke has a "bite" or "kick" to it.
@@dag1984 - me likewise. Maybe they just had to go through a lot of people to find ones who chose as they wanted.
I wonder if many people’s taste buds are dead. When Coke switched to high fructose corn syrup from sucrose (cane sugar), I had no trouble at all telling the difference between the old and the new Coke when their labels were transitioning, saying either/or. They taste very different with the different sweeteners (and yes, cane sugar does taste significantly better).
Likewise , the taste difference between Pepsi and Coke is hard to miss.
companies in 1860 "I will give you a loaf of bread for a quarter, the bread contains plenty of ground up bugs we missed when cleaning, and will either last you a few days or two months."
companies now "No You cant just tell the difference between us and our competitor how dare you, you cheater you don't get to play with us anymore"/"I will give you a bag of highly processed corn chips, half of the bag is just special air to keep it crunchy but that air is wasted after you open the bag. I will give it to you for $3. It might last anywhere from an hour to two days depending on the size and your behavior."
I mean the taste is pretty obvious
Heh even knowing that the generic is made in the same factory, my dad refused to change coffees. So my mum just bought the cheep one and put it in the old expensive jar.
Did it work
Did it work?
DID IT WORK!?
*DID IT WORK???????????!*
D I D I T W O R K ! ! ! ! !
I’ve worked at a factory that made condiments before and one of my biggest take always was but generic. We would put the same product in different bottles whether it was supposedly high quality stuff or Kroger generic brand
@Racing Girl's 😘🤤 jo
There's a lot of times where this isn't the case, but for I'd say 90%+ of products, the generic brand is indeed the same thing
Worked in sales and logistics for a box retailer and can confirm. If the packaging is the same size, weight, and shape, it's almost always the same product
I worked for Kroger back in high school and part of our training was explaining that their store brands were just that - name brands in different packaging
Cool
I just want to take a moment to thank your editor because the spin on the packaging at 1:13 looks amazing and I’m sure took ages to do
I mean, us poor people have known this for decades.
We buy generic out of necessity, not preference.
Some of the generics are actually better than name brands too.
Like certain processed meats, drink mixes, and stuff like tuna fish and some snacks.
It's mostly personal preference, but most of that stuff is just as good if not better.
yea honestly it mostly tastes the same
Yup, I'm somewhat disappointing that this isn't just basic knowledge. Whales beats Goldfish every time.
All of this, yup 👍🏾
Tuna is one of the few things I grew up on where I noticed the name brand is definitely better
Fr, some of the people in these comments have never been poor before and it shows 💀
Something you might find interesting Matpat, in Canada, there is a store chain called No Frills. They actually lean into the "no name" phasing, making it the name of their store brand (ie. no name veggies, no name paper towels, etc)
Its not only the No Name Phrasing. They keep, or at least last I saw them, kept the bland yellow packaging as he mentioned.
We used to have something very similar in Australia
I will actually go shopping at No Frills because of the No Name brand, and their commercials really hit that point home in terms of branding
Yeah, and superstores in Canada rock the yellow no name like a boss
Also No Name is not just in No Frills. No Name is one of the dozen different store brands owned by Loblaws, who has the largest share of the market in Canada with a pile of different supermarket chains. So you'll find No Name in some of the other Loblaws controlled store chains, mixed in with their other store brands.
"THEY'RE acceptable" was the funniest thing I've heard on this channel in a long time
i heard it and i agree
A mocking of 'theyyyyy're great!' of the motto from Tony the Tiger of Frosted Flakes/Frosties
Indeed. Seeing the commercials for Frosted Flakes and its life changing effects. 😎🎸
But dad does the shopping....so that disappointment was real!
the bots are copying you btw
Ya know...i had my doubts about food theory...i mean...I've never heard of theories and food being in the same sentence...much less in the same title...but the editing, explaining and how he tells a story in every video is engaging enough that it gets me hooked. Matt Patt and his crew are Golden TH-camrs and I wish them all the greatest success in the world. I love the theory team and all their channels/videos
The deep irony of that opener is that "Drinking the Koolaid" actually comes from an incident in which Flavoraid was used
@E L E N A • wtf
It's the kleenex/bandaid effect.
@@coolhyperspace They are bots just report them, they are also on other comments
Wait, *what?*
*sweats in Jones Town Massacre*
As a kid, I remember the first time I tried Cheerios. I was so excited, as my mom rarely bought brand name, and we always had Toastee O's. To my surprise, I found that I really did not like Cheerios and much preferred the off-brand.
if only the same went for corn flakes
anything that isnt actual kellogg's ones go soggy in 3.6 seconds
@@Redddragon and the off brand one always tastes way worse
@@therealsonicrb I think somethings depends on what you first grew up with though tbh. For eg, my family always brought off brand baked beans for years when were were poorer, then for the first time in 15 years we tried the name brand stuff we found we didn't like the taste and went back to the generic even though we're better off now lol.
I am the opposite. I've never tried a cereal where the generic was better.
@pithe202nd to be fair, I think Cheerios was the only one I actually had this experience with.
Generic poptarts are stuffed almost double as much with filling, and has more icing on it. The weight for what you get on the package is almost double, and the filling is even better and more natural tasting. Best generics Ive found.
Which store did you buy that
@@bazil4146 yes
agreed! and they have a significantly better structure, they dont crumble as much
Ew
@@bazil4146 kroger, meijer, etc... most off brand poptarts are better than actual poptarts
11:20 WE TOLD YOU TRIX IS FOR KIDS
Agent 47 has a new voice actor
"you silly rabbit...."
In the UK we have a program called 'Inside the Factory'.
One episode went to the Kellogg's factory making Cornflakes. At the end the flakes were on a belt with holes in it. The host of the show ask what the hole are for.
The guy said the big flakes are for Kellogg's Cornflakes and the small ones that fall through the holes are for shop own brands.
Wdym
So basically the same, but if size don't matter than perfect.
@@texanplayer7651 size matters
@@texanplayer7651 What every man wishes she says "Size doesn't matter"
@@king_pathik lol
"Turns out the store brand is exactly the same, if not better!" *Dadpat intensifies*
Please, dont buy off brand pringles, they taste like the can that they came in. One of the worst mistakes of my life.
@TurretBox don't also buy apple just because of the brand because the new phones are more powerful and more features ful.
Store brands are hit and miss. Like, Meijer potato chips are amazing and have flavors you don't see often. Peanut Butter is so different from brand to brand that you just have to pick the one you like and never stray. Especially any brand that uses the Jiff color scheme.
@@TheGamerGoy Agree. There are some store brand chips that have tasted the same as name brand, but other store brands that were so weakly flavoured you could hardly tell they were seasoned. The only thing name brands do better than store brand is that they remove the uncertainty. Of course that's pretty useless when it comes to staples like flour, sugar, bread, etc. like MatPat said. Always better to opt for store brand in that case
Matpat: Stores don't want you to see it as no name brand
Nofrills: Literally puts no name as the brand
Sadly americans dont have the joy that is no name
Not just No Frills Lawblaws as well and Canadian Super Stores
no name brand is so good, their twitter is also hilarious.
@@KingKalashnikov oh I’m not on Twitter but that’s cool
@@michaelsegal3558 ooh same PFP, hello brother.
For most things I have switched to generic brands and some of them are honestly better and half the price. Two things I don't compromise are condiments and sodas
Fun fact: I worked in a brewery for 5 years. Their standard beer was exactly the same as more than half a dozen other beers made by the same brewery. And I mean _LITERALLY_ the same, in the sense that the filler ran continuously putting the beer into bottles, and all we changed out that day were the labels and boxes they went into. Several of these beers retailed for much less than the "name brand" one. But it was literally - and I cannot stress this enough - *LITERALLY* the same beer.
That's awesome
I used to work at McCormick, the same goes for extracts like vanilla, same tank, same product, different bottles and boxes including store brands
🧌
lololololol
Same thing for pet food. They capitalize on stupid people spending more thinking that somehow that means they love their pet more. It's crazy how people fall for the psychology that goes into marketing.
“And your Oreo cookies”
Hydrox: *am i a joke to you*
th-cam.com/video/xkPrx1gaXJY/w-d-xo.html
sad
@@havesomerubicon6097 why
@@cerencaymaz6231 dude what
@@iamamazing7771 ikr
I'd love to see a theory on the accuracy of blind taste tests! It sounds like a relatively interesting theory, given how related it is to this episode after all!
I remember seeing something about this with French wine and the French thinking theirs was better...and yet time and again in blind tests, they chose the American wines. I don't drink alcohol and to me, all of it tastes bad, but that had to be quite embarrassing given how confident they seemed. Not sure how long ago this was, may have been a century or so ago.
I, too, am interested in seeing that sorta theory.
Actually, good mythical morning will sometimes do this! check around for videos of those!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dating Special for you
💋 NUDE.SNAPGIRLS.TODAY/SIESTA?Squirt💋.
Gaze: "Amazed"
Lips: "Sensual"
Smile: "Sweeter"
Body: "Colder"
Жизнь, как красивая мелодия, только песни перепутались.
#однако #я #люблю #таких #рыбаков #垃圾
if you want something kindve close, rhett & link do a lot of blind taste tests for generic vs brand
True. Often store brands can be ever bit as good as the name brand products and sometimes even better, but not always. There are a few brand name products out there that just can't be matched for taste and quality. I can't seem to find a store brand salsa in a jar that I like as well as a couple of the name brand salsas.
Mat Pat says that “we” should be buying the store brand, yet he’s still drinking Diet Coke instead of the superior store brand from whatever that supermarket he did blind taste tests with.
th-cam.com/video/xkPrx1gaXJY/w-d-xo.html
He’s gonna get that sponsorship 👀
probably more convenient. maybe he doesn't regularly shop at the store and its not worth going out of the way to save $0.50 on a 12 pack. Also whenever you go somewhere to eat it's coke or Pepsi. can't exactly ask McDonald's for your store brand diet cola.
@@hampsterblade6195 He's also not exactly hurting for money either, so why bother to buy something cheaper when he doesn't NEED to.
I'd hypothesize that it's kind of inconvenient to go out to Harris Teeter for one thing when you shop for everything else at a different store. That's why I get Dr. Pepper instead of the superior store brand version because that version is specific to Basha's and I don't go there very often.
in canada there’s a generic brand called “no name” and their branding is yellow packaging with the name of the product just neatly arranged on it lol
Even their office building is yellow and says no name lol
Oohh there’s a brand called “no brand” where I live I think, they also have yellow packaging
i saw a couple of their marketing campaigns a year or so ago. Honestly might have worked if I lived in canada lol
No name is the stuff. They have unbeatable sesame rice crackers
I didn’t know we only had that here. I thought it was American brought up here.
I remember hearing a conspiracy theory that the knock offs were the exact same product as the original, sold by the same company, so they could have their cake and eat it too. Sell it cheaper for the people who are stingy, sell it more expensive for the people who are susceptible to branding and wanting "higher quality"
*I heard* that if a brand name product doesn't sell, the store can return some of it. *THEN* the company repackages stale product and sells it to 3rd party manufacturers or even to be packaged as store brand. Literally the "fake" cereal /knockoff is the REAL cereal. Just a lil too old for the Brand manufacturer.
Ive literally had knock off cinnamon toast crunch from Aldis and they arent the same i have no idea what yall be talking about
@@LucyWest370 thats why I said "conspiracy theory" it is unproven, a little absurd, and most likely not true, but there are people that believe it. I don't really care, its just something I read someone talking about before
my dad works at an egg factory and has seen the same value eggs be packaged for the generic brands and the pricier ones, so I've got my tin foil hat I guess
@@Sorrowdusk a distributor can always reject shipped product for the most part. I also highly doubt they'll have that many rejections to repackage for 100s of stores. Most manufacturers just credit the distributor and let them keep the product cause they don't want to pay for it to be shipped back.
A little story.
LIDL have their brand tools Parkside. Which are green.
They were selling Parkside pressure washer for 100 EUR.
Thing is I had already one Karcher. Which costs 250 EUR.
But staring at Parkside watching it and it looked EXACTLY the same.
I have a friend working at the factory where they make Karcher. He told me they are exactly the same tool. One is green and says Parkside on it, other is yellow and says Karcher. That was the ONLY difference for 100 vs 250 EUR price...
I find it concerning that ingredients are allowed to be left out if its part of the trade secret. What if someone is allergic to those formulas or later they are found to be dangerous?
exactly. but they dont care for customers, only profit
profit my friend profit
you think they care about consumers?
If any ingredients have a risk of a allergic reaction they have to be listed, it's not like you can have nuts as a secret ingredient
if something like nuts is in there but its part of a secret recipe they have to say there's nuts but not what ones they are i think.
Y’all are stupid. They are legally required to list allergens. If it doesn’t say “egg” in the ingredient list, it would say “may contain eggs” or something along those lines. You seriously think they could’ve gotten away with putting poison in their stuff without telling anyone? What next? Are you going to say you think the Earth is flat? My god some people smh…
I work at a cream cheese factory and we put the EXACT same cheese in name brand vs great value. It comes from the same tank nothing changes but packaging
That's quite interesting. I bake a lot and the few ingredients that there's a noticeable difference between brands is cream cheese and butter. Cheesecake and frosting are richer from the name brands and puff pastries are so much crisper with the more expensive butter. Might try a blind test soon to make sure.
@@SloMoMonday exactly, maybe it’s just me but I THINK that i can taste the difference between butter but know I’m doubting myself 😂
@@beatrix4306 beep you, im a 11 yr old kid btw
This is the story ive heard. Private label is just that. A label.
@@SloMoMonday the placebo effect is an incredibly powerful thing, if you believe it'll taste better it'll taste better
The ABSOLUTE irony of MatPat's "have we all been drinking the Kool-aid, when we should be drinking the Flavor-aid?" line. The cult DID drink the off-brand. So yes. We should be.
"People used this brand to commit suicide" isn't a great marketing pitch IMHO
th-cam.com/video/xkPrx1gaXJY/w-d-xo.html
There are some things where I absolutely have to have the name brand. One of those items is Peanut Butter, I generally always go with JIF EXTRA CRUNCHY. If that's unavailable then my second choice is SKIPPY Super Chunk.
I wonder if part of the shift away from name brands also has to do with the radical decline of traditional tv viewing, you see alot less name brand products advertised to you if you only watch on digital streaming platforms.
I learned this when buying pain relievers. Thought to myself, “these are regulated chemicals, one can’t really be better or different than the other”. Sure enough, same active ingredients, same dosage, different prices.
Pretty much what I taught my chem class.
With medicines for sure this stuff is so regulated and the formulas and chemicals are you really are just paying for the label. But yeah I had the same experience. "Why am I paying $14 for 100 Tylenol when I can get 500 Acetaminophen Pills for $9?"
Of everything to buy generic, medication is definitely the best, exactly because they're regulated. The Ranitidine in Zantac is going to be the exact same as it is in the store brand, same with the acetaminophen in Tylenol, and countless other over the counter, and prescription drugs.
Yup, the difference in meds are usually inactive, dyes and that. The reason brands cost more is patents (brands who first create it, get first bite at the apple and they never change the price even after the patent expires, so generics use cheaper inactive ingredients, don't need the make back research money and thus can undercut.
The truly dad/hillarious is how many drug companies ALSO make generics...of their brand names. So their undercutting themselves, but get all of the cash.
@@Crow_Smith If it's new, you're paying for research, but yeah, for drugs long out of patent just get generics unless you may have a reaction to the cheaper "fill" ingredient (always possible).
I go for generics on nearly everything due to my income (yay social security), and I've never really noticed a problem be it drugs or noms.
Due to growing up with not a lot of money, my family's always been fine with generic stuff. I'd say ~90% of the time it tastes just as good (or at least fine) and occasionally is better. I've even tested a few over the years to check and, while rare, there have been some that were better (though taste is obviously subjective).
Generally, the only ones that seem to really matter are those with the Trade Secret handle, such as Doritos, Hellman's, and Krave. They have a distinct taste that knock-offs don't. Otherwise, I generally go with generic on everything else.
KaleidOs from Kroger stores are actually better than Oreos.
Edit: like genuinely, they're better, but they don't have quite the variety of flavors. If I want like Mint, or Regular I'll go for KaleidOs, but if I want Carrot Cake Oreos I'll get regular Oreos(don't judge the flavors till you've tried them, it's actually pretty good)
@@sauvagess agreed Doritos are one of the few the generics can’t touch but for most stuff go generic
same
Hm in my case we always had money but since I was gamer since 6 years old my brain was wired to always mid max everythinggg...so I realized in very early age that brand names are just marketing trick. You can get same amount of pleasure by much much cheaper products that just don't have that well known brand name. And ever since and to this day I haven't bought any brand name items to the point I would actually feel really bad if I had to buy one. Like it would sicken me inside. Sometimes I get present and encounter brand name food items to consume by parties and whatnot. But I am so acustomes to noname brands that many times it actually taste worse when tasting brand name ones.
I have worked in factories where they would package a name brand and then package the same thing with a generic label. I have told people about it and they would say that the factories had to change some thing. I would tell them that it was the same thing. Of course, they wouldn't believe me. I call it, "everyday brain washing." 😀
This actually made me buy the generic brand pringles at my store and I found I like them better and they are half the price and healthier..
snack n’ stack are really good i prefer them too
I had no idea that was a generic brand tbh
I will go to my local grocery store and see if I have it.
If I don't, it's probably not even a generic brand.
Oh I thought that was name brand too😭
I do generics for most things, excluding dairy where the taste really does make a difference. Yogurt, especially. Most yogurts are sicky sweet and plastic, even the plain varieties (to which I can add my own fresh fruit additions, should i want, and I have a quality yogurt I want to eat. I suspect in the case of much dairy knockoffs, they're trying to emulate the terrible plastic name brands, ie Yoplait.).
Oh, I would like to find that generic peanut butter cup, made with DARK chocolate, rather than that chalky Reese's peanut butter cup made with that bleah milk chocolate.
As a young adult learning to buy groceries for himself on a tight budget... Thank you.
Agree, I’m 20 and my girlfriend and I moved into our first apartment a few months ago 😅 you never realize beforehand how expensive groceries actually are
Dollar Tree is great place too for certain things, they also sell brands for cheap
Idk haven't got my own place yet but i don't really give a care about food brands though brands for technology and whatever im collecting does apply
It's very good advise. Just... do note that there are some national brands that are legitimately better. If you have one in your area, I recommend shopping at Aldi. Many of their products are made by the same people who do the national brands. Like their cereal is made in the same factories that make General Mills, using the same ingredients.
If you've never been, do note that they will not pack your groceries, you have to bag them and you have to pay for the bags even (I generally go without bags). And you need to take a coin (in the US a quarter, in Europe a euro) to be able to get a shopping cart. You get the coin back if you take back the cart though.
@@kaldogorath aldi’s has always been a go to for me and my family, they’ve been living in the future making sure those carts are returned, too 😂
No frills here in Canada calls their generic brand products “no name” literally. They even made an anime to advertise which makes them the best grocery store hands down.
Edit: No frills really likes satirizing grocery store conventions, what a great store. I sound like a no frills commercial. I swear I’m not a sellout hired by no frills to tell you what amazing no name chips they have like barbecue or even better spicy barbecue. Sold at the great price of 1 dollar.
no name's packaging is amazing
The packaging tastes amazing
Sounds pretty awesome
ya in superstore mainly and ya im Canadian
As a Canadian myself, I have to say that I agree, though not all "no name" stuff is created equal in terms of quality.
I really thought this was going to be an episode where Matt and his wife blind tastes national and generic brand items to see which one they liked more.
Me too.
My father in law works in a food production plant. He's told me that when they do a batch of sauce, let's say pasta sauce, it gets divided into two batches, and put into two different jars. One goes to the value section of a large supermarket chain for £0.89, and the other goes to a higher end supermarket for their organic range at £2.19 per jar.
Its the exact same sauce.
That's how generic used to be done in the US. But then "generic" disappeared, replaced by "store brands" where every store does its own thing. And now it's just as competitive as name brands. Maybe even more so. The good old days of "generic" are long gone here. It's kind of sad, actually.
I buy mostly generic and have for years with a few exceptions. The exceptions are usually when I tried the generic and it really does taste different from the name brand in a way I don't like or the texture is off. Mostly this happens in the cereal isle. They just haven't replicated the taste of diabeetus quite right in my favorite sugary cereals that I buy to splurge on occasion. Kroger's Private Selection labels are my favorite. Their marinades are amazing
Yes, I tried some generic frosted flakes once. Yuck!!!! Tasted horrible, never done that again.
Milk a big exception for me, everything generic has always just tasted so much more watery whereas my name brand of choice is drastically more creamy.
as a fan of The Thing - and a Diabetic - - - I appreciate this joke ;) lol man this made me laugh!
@@bsgtrekfan88 I'm glad! Though I didn't make a Thing reference on purpose so I missed that one if it's there 🙃
@@kageisuke diabeetus - Wilford Brimley joke - he played Blair in The Thing ;)
Generics got such a hard rep for being lower quality. I’m glad to see that we’re slowly doing away with it to align with taste and value.
E
Why so many bots?
@@penninna I’m quite popular.
Fun Fact! "Drink The Kool Ade" was based on Jonestown, but Jonestown primarily used Flavor-ade
I love how the Theory-O’s package says, “may contain traces of FNAF” 😂
I didnt even notice it
Lol
@Racing Girl's 😘🤤 fucking bot
Says "traces" chunks of metallic tasting fur on the inside of every box.
*I suspect
@@skarlett007 Its Not A Bot Its A Stranger Trying To Steal Kids!
I love how Aldi's own-brand dr.pepper is called Professor Peppy.
Dr Perky (Food Lion) is god tier
@UCwmCdhYK8llK_x7Ayo56mrg
That's are temporary but THE CURSADE IS ENTIRNAL
I actually love how Aldi packages their products in almost the same packaging as the branded products!
Aldis nuts
Which Aldi? I just left Aldi after 10 years and never saw a Dr.Pepper variant there. I worked in Illinois
"Theyyyyyyy're acceptable!" was the funniest part of the video.
Given how many people watched Adventure Time, that slogan should attract more buyers than Frosties'.
@Racing Girl's 😘🤤 but hey.. that’s just a theory!
LOL And, sadly, the most accurate part of the video. In my many years of store brand experience, that sums store brands up nicely. They're not as good, but they're not (usually) awful. You get what you pay for. LOL But who needs a frozen pizza that costs so much anyway? At the end of the taste-test day it's still a frozen pizza. LOL
Goomy :0
Family Guy reference I believe
My general rule of thumb, the simpler the product is, the more likely I am to not notice the difference between generic and name brand.
I grew up on near exclusive national brands. Generics I’m still discovering.
I mostly grew up on generic brands, and I have to say there are a handful of things you don't want to compromise on. For example, name brand cheese is soooo much better than generic, and it makes such a big difference in your cooking. When I was finally able to splurge an extra $20 per grocery trip on getting better versions of the few things that actually made a difference, it was such a huge quality of life improvement.
i remember looking at cheese singles a while back and the store brand didnt even have milk in it. they have changed it now though.
When going with cheese, I usually go with Kraft or Sargento.
@@coolguy5133 kraft has always felt weird to me. Maybe it's just the texture but it doesn't feel right.
You're definitely right when it comes to Cheese. Name brand is so much better. We got Giant Tiger cheese once and it was gross to me. I'd rather just eat my burger without cheese in that case.
he did say that chefs chose generics except for in the dairy section which includes cheeses even if he didn't mention them specifically
In Canada, there’s a no name brand called “no name” and they have the funniest packaging ever. Like their version of coke is just a yellow can that says “cola”, it’s hilarious 😂😂
Yeah lol Real Canadian Superstore!
No Name is actually so sus LOL
I prefer President's Choice when I go shopping
No way! In SA, one of our chain stores has a house brand called No-Name!
Dude I think Bahamutzervn12 stole your comment and changed the laughing crying emojis to haha in an Asian language...? Possibly chinese
@@FC12. Urgh I hate when people do that, thanks for letting me know!
As chef, this 100% true. Buying the cheapest basic quality ingredients to make something good. It's those highly refined foods you really need to watch out for.
Also the reason why off-brand "Doritos" never taste like the real stuff, but the store-brand paprika chips are sometimes not just as good but better than Lay's and such.
The less processed the food, the more private labels shine, and coincidentally that's also the stuff you should go for over chips with 28 different ingredients on the label...
@@edim108 Premium brand cheese (sargento) always tastes much better to me than store brand. Creamier, better texture, etc.
@@AdamsBrew78 With cheese big labels is usually the way to go in grocery stores, bc most of them make their own cheese, so you absolutely can notice the difference.
Cheese making is a difficult process so any differences in the manufacturing process will impact the taste, texture, smell, etc.
I've experienced this first hand when I bought two packs of Gouda from two different manufactures the other day. They tasted so noticeably different that I had to double check that they're the same type of cheese. Some products are absolutely worth paying a bit extra for the "name brand" and it's mostly case by case so you'll never know if you don't try both side by side...
@@edim108 I think also cheese is one of these candidates where you can taste quality very, very easily. Low quality cheese won't taste like much.
@@AdamsBrew78 😢😮😅😊🎉😂❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😢😢😢😢😢
My dad often got the local store chain ice cream tubs and cereal claiming it was from the same manufacturer, good to know he wasn't lying to get little me to eat the cheap stuff.
In Germany we have a series of "Test Magazines" which compare a lot of stuff and one thing is always the same: store brands get mostly A's while named brands often get C or below... and obviously they are way more expensive.
th-cam.com/video/xkPrx1gaXJY/w-d-xo.html
I am not surprised to hear that chefs mostly choose generic outside of dairy products. I know it has to do with sponsorship, but on Top Chef when they shop at Whole Foods, they do make gourmet meals with mostly 365 products outside of high-quality butter or things like that. I always like to say that if it is good enough for them, it is good enough for me.
they have enough knowledge themselves, they don't need outside experts to tell them what to use
I sell baked goods as a side thing and I do the same. Unless it's an expensive product or is going to be the centre of the show, just go generic. I think you could beat me over the head and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between name brand and generic flour, sugar, eggs etc. They all taste the same in the end. I only ever bother with name brands with strong flavours (chocolate ganache, icing etc) where someone might actually be able to tell.
Fun fact, I used to work at a factory that made oil filters. The only difference between an expensive Jaguar oil filter and a cheap Frahm Filter is the color of the paint.
I can swear on anything that most of the Oreo Knock-offs taste way better than the original ones
In my experience, the store brand "toaster pastries" actually have significantly more filling than Kellogg's Pop Tarts. They're also about a third of the price.
Better texture too!
It's bonkers but I've definitely seen the same. Pop-Tarts brand sucks these days
pop tarts is actually the best example....... theyve been reducing the size of the filling since the 90s and im from the philippines and pop tarts is not easily available here so when you get one and its that small. youd really look for off brands.
But if you compare the nutrition label toaster pantries probably have way more sugar.
oh my generic pop tarts are so much worse than the brand name. there is more filling, but the "bread" is worse.
You can also see this whenever Rhett and Link do that test where they try to guess the name brand. Most of the time they guess Great Value 😂 store brand is best
Edit: another store brand that they seem to find really good is Kroger brand
Kroger too.
People need to see this lol.
Rhett and Link have a couple years worth of documentation to back this up.
I love the episode they did with name brand against Walmart, and Link just kept picking the Walmart brand as better, lmao
I've said once and I'll say it again. Walmart KNOWS food. I've never gotten a Great Value brand food item that I was disappointed with.
Yep they even did drinks
I paused the video after the intro, cuz I already know where it's going, and I 100% agree with it. It's a good thing I've got the access to a Canadian brand that literally does this for most products: No Name!
Seriously. It's always at least 10% cheaper than the brand version. They even have their own grocery store, although it's too far to more than once a month from where I live...
No Name and President's Choice I think are the biggest and best generic brands in Canada.
Almost every grocery store has their own instore brand - Safeway Select for example!
Honestly a couple of No Name products are better or at least no different than the brand name along with it being better priced.
gggg%
What Aldi is for in uk
I’m open to every off brand food except JIF peanut butter, Oreo cookies, and Kellogg’s Raisin Bran. Other than those 3, I usually prefer the off brand!
It would be interesting to see crossed data between the decline of branded products and the fact that everything is becoming more and more expensive, thus leading the average mid to lower-class consumer to choose the cheapest option not by choice but to get to the end of the month.
That's a really interesting point.
I would love for a clip of Steph’s reaction to Matt coming home without the vitamins but saying he has a new theory
Yes
Yes
"Matpat what are you talking about! I sent you to get vitamins not theories!"
"The fake is of far greater value. In its deliberate attempt to be real, it's more real than the real thing."
~Deishuu Kaiki
Wow that’s wise 🤔
@@diamondsrubies1964 its from the monogatari series
My dad was a doctor at Weetabix, there is (or at least was) only 1 factory in the world making wheat biscuits and so every single one you'll find anywhere under any brand is from the same single source - I've seen wheat biscuits being sold in Turkey that were made in the factory back home (that's the furthest I've been and seen them).
My mum despite knowing it's the same doesn't like buying generics because it's a class thing, the family she grew up in was working class while my dad was from upper middle and he knows that it's all the same (especially as he works in medicine where every day he is aware of how generics are the exact same as name brands) and it's worth trying out the generic first and if it's good enough stick with it, my mum wants to feel like she's moving up. I've seen this trend of apparent class reversals because my high class parent in-laws are fully on the generics train, if it can be a generic it is because they know to not waste money (they will spend money on quality but they won't waste it on branding or worse advertising), while my mum's side of the family will not only always buy name brands to feel like they're high class but they'll talk about brands as if they weren't communicating that they're slaves to corporations (not very high class behaviour).
I'm fully on board with generics where I can. There's a handful of things where we will go name brand but just because it's noticably better and that the added cost over a year is worthwhile, a generic could be worse but we will still go for it if it saves a lot of money, and likewise we may go with an expensive name brand if we don't actually buy it frequently and so the added cost over a year isn't that much - have to pick the battles for the most beneficial result. Also picking a brand because of good memories is not a valid reason, I go with Heinz not because I grew up with them, it's because they've clearly put in a lot of care into making things the best (just don't look at the sugar content), and we buy their stuff infrequently and when we buy tins we buy in bulk at a discount.
I used to work in a food factory in the UK.
When we were done packaging up 'National Brand' Products, we were packaging up 'Private Label' Products with THE EXACT SAME product as the National Brand.
Sometimes it does pay to go for Private Labels as they're often the same product as National Brands.
There are companies in the U.S. that sell the same product under different labels. Just because the label shows same ingredients it doesn't mean the quality of the ingredients or amount flavoring/spices is the same in both cans.
I have known this for more than 40 years. When I was in college my project for a class in marketing was to see what effect marketing has on a product. This was right at the height of the Pepsi Challenge which was filmed for a commercial at my school. What I found was that if you took all marketing, efforts and labeling you could not tell the difference between Pepsi and Coke, even among those who claimed that they loved one and hated the other. As for my "generics" purchases I have found that Kroger and Wal-Mart branded products are not only cheaper than national brands but actually taste better.
Being allowed to leave ingredients off the lable sounds hazordess to the consumer's health (not that big companies care). Come to think of it, I wonder if that's why I can't pinpoint what in sour Skittles I'm allergic to.
I compared the ingredients in sour Skittles to regular Skittles and a sour candy (I think it was Sour Patch Kids) one day at the store. The only listed ingredient in sour Skittles that wasn't in the other two was ascorbic acid, but that can't be what I'm allergic to because it's in plenty of other foods that I eat. So why did sour Skittles make my face red and itchy? I still don't know.
I know, I was shocked when I heard that!
Could be a different dye. You might explain you’re allergic to the company and really need to know what the difference is in the dyes used. You can tell them you’re ok with the regular skittles but not the sour ones.
@@Asfgxff Vitamin C? Yes.
Whenever I think of sour skittles I have anti-nostalgia of having a pack of sour skittles at a movie theater and the acidity shredding my tongue and the insides of my cheeks
@@vibaj16 Oh, don’t we all? It’s the flame of memory, dissolving our tongues.
I still have yet to find a generic version of Mountain Dew that taste as well as Mt. Dew.
I need you to do one about Vitamins.
Because, unless you have a defficiency, or dietary restrictions.
They do litterally nothing, because having too much of vitamins messes up your body. So they just go straight through since your body doesn't want that much Vitamin C
This Is A Good One. Let's Hope The Bots Don't Ruin Your Chances Of Being Seen
Yup. The dose makes the poison. Too much Vitamin B12 can increase the risk of cancer.
@@TheFilthyRed these bots ruin the fun of reading comments and other peoples opinions i have to scroll through 50 different bots just to see a human comment
@@shravan1005 Yeah it's really ruining the comment section as of late. YT is focusing on the wrong things. "Let's look for ways to demonitize TH-camrs," rather than "Let's eliminate these bots."
@@RemedieX yup yt is adding bullshit features like shorts different types of comments and such rather then working on this MASSIVE bot problem
Thank you for bringing more attention to this, people will be able to afford so much more. I belong to the millenial/GenZ group that shops more generic and I've noticed generic quality is not much different from brand name. Sometimes they're even better because they source locally and have less additives.
Who needed their attention brought to this though? Only pretentious people obsess over name brand.
@@grabble7605 But....I thought millennials were supposed to be pretentious?
As a Chef matt is right all my raw ingredients is genericv vut my ready to cook stuff like frozen pizza for days im lazy to cook i have brand favorites
The fact that my brains memories can play a part in the taste actually might explain why I like our local Sprite knockoff which is just called Lemon Lime I have really good memories associated with it specifically so in my opinion it actually tastes sweeter then the Sprite
the bots are sus
U just got more taste buds than the average person. I actually have less taste buds than the average person.
Pro tip: for those that don’t know there is a store brand of Girl Scout cookies at Dollar General that are 99% the same as the actual GS cookies to the point you won’t be able to tell.
knock off coke, Zip, is so freaking good. And its like a third of the price of regular coke. It actually tastes like it has spices and stuff instead of pure fizz and caffeine.
Idk man, I like my a&w root beer or my purple crush grape soda
And Zip most likely has less ties to N*zi Germany as Cocacola does.
Try Vergil’s root beer it is so much better than A&W, and is a bit cheaper
I worked in a Vegetable canning company for some years. I will tell you... Most of the time the difference in Name Brand Canned Veggies VS generic is salt level. Some times there is a slight difference in the veggies tgem selves such as size. Sometimes they had more blemishes. But 95% of the time it's just a matter of how much salt goes into the brine. And of course the labels. Everything else is the same.
Man, we really have become adults, and it shows in the content we enjoy on TH-cam nowadays. Great episode Mat.
aging like fine wine bro
I’ve been buying way more generic brands since I work at a grocery store and it’s basically the same but the packaging but sometimes there is a difference like vanilla ice cream feels different when it’s cheap of expensive. But I usually go for generic names.
In Canada, there’s a no name brand called “no name” and they have the funniest packaging ever. Like their version of coke is just a yellow can that says “cola”, it’s hilarious
lol i saw it
The only time I've ever seen them use any kind of creativity was 20 years ago. Their knock off Corn Pops were called Corn Dunks and they used a basketball 🏀 in place of the "o" in corn. Seeing a small amount of creativity while the generic packaging remained the same was funny to me at 10 years old.
Good ol Loblaws lmao
99% Invisible did a great episode about No Name and Loblaws.
It’s episode 411.
I've seen "No Name" do a few commercials making fun of their own packaging. They're pretty funny.