For the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about faking it. No no no no NO - not THAT KIND OF FAKING IT. Rather, the fake that's about substituting.
It started when I was reading an article about so-called "name brands" versus generic/store brands. In so many cases, the generic brand is not only made the same way as the national brand, it can even be made BY the national brand. Crazy, huh?
This week I want to talk about fakes. Here's a small sampling of my REAL/FAKE list:
Must have national brand:
- when consumed: jelly beans. MUST be Brach's or they just don't taste right.
- ice cream. Oh dear, I am an ice cream snob and I wish I wasn't. I love me some Haagan Daas, but it's like buying frozen bits of GOLD, for the price they charge.
- Aveda face moisturizer. And this? Would be LIQUID GOLD.
Will accept fakes:
- just recently: Eucerin lotion. I'm a lotion fanatic (dry dry DRY skin) - and just recently I tried the Target brand (half the price, y'all) and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Lovely!
- ibuprofen, most pain relievers, cold medicine, etc.
- most cleaning products.
So tell me - what do you have to have the REAL thing of, and what items will you gladly purchase the fake?
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8 comments:
I've always heard fake peanut butter was gross. I'll take the fake version of most anything (I even tried fake tampons once), but I have to agree with you about Aveeno moisturizer. My unwrinkled skin is worth the extra cost.
Hair products. But then you know that I have funky hair. So I plunk down the cash for the good stuff.
Also, cat food. But in my own defense, the cats are healthier and need almost no vet care because I give them healthy food and keep them indoors.
Everything else I can accept generic on. The Husband is the weird one about certain brands. For example, the man has to buy Dixie Crystal sugar. Never mind that he's been to the plant and seen them putting the SAME SUGAR into generic bags, he MUST buy the Dixie Crystal sugar.
I shake my head a lot when we grocery shop together.
It's so funny you wrote about this today because last night I went to make my macaroni & cheese and stopped in my tracks when I realized I got the store brand, not Kraft. (they tricked me, the box looked just like the "real" thing) I was expecting it to not taste right, but it was just as delicious.
I aways compare ingredients and usually end up with the generic brand & some extra cash leftover!
Good topic!
I'm a name brand snob. I hate it, but I am. I've been attempting to get better at trying store brands so this post couldn't be at a better time!!
For me, dairy products have to be name brand. Especially cheese. I have these weird expired dairy product phobias, and have convinced myself that store brands just will not do!
Mike and I play this game all the time. Certain things just HAVE to be the real brand. It has to be Kraft Mac N Cheese for me. The store brand just doesn't taste as good. Of course I can't think of the others now. I may post again later!
yeah great topic whimsy. I look at it this way: which name brands have hooked me, i.e., I am loyal to them? Quilted Northern and Bounty are two that come to mind. I just don't like any others, and we all would say TP is important to us daily. I agree with the Kraft M&C -- the generic just isn't the same. I also like name brand Oreos and Kellogg's/General mills cereals. But stuff like canned vegetables/fruit (even like cream of chicken/mushroom), milk, CLOTHES/SHOES, sugar/flour, olive oil, I'll buy whatever's cheapest. Shanester sometimes is super picky... no fake cola, V8, shaving cream, etc. He's a brat about some stuff.
After some interesting trial and error, we've decided that generic peanut butter is not going to work for us. Also, it's gotta be Tide or Cheer for the laundry, though I recently read a Consumer Reports article that said that Costco's dye-free, fragrance-free detergent was at least as good as Tide's version of the same--but cheaper, of course. Those are a couple of the tried-and-true-gotta-be-name-brand items at our house. Most other stuff, we just buy whatever's cheapest. I agree: Target-brand fake Eucerin is the bomb.
Cool. I like this topic. I could go for a while on this however I think my choices tend to shift with the times. Most of the time I am totally happy with the fake tissues to deal with your average sneezes, wipes, etc. But when you have the raging cold of DEATH, then you need the rolls royce of tissues: Kleenix. My nose always thanks me in the end.
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