Generic/Store Brand Stuff

JaneNY

I have found almost everything at Aldis to be just as good as name brand. They tend to have their own brands, but we really save a lot shopping there (which is a necessity at this point in our lives).

RKCNDY

PJ_Soul said:

HesCalledDyer said:

Medicine. I never buy brand name medicine unless there is no store brand alternative.

Ditto. Half the price and exactly the same thing, literally. I don't understand why anyone would buy name brand anything from the pharmacy section. That counts for stuff like vitamin pills too.

Generics are not *exactly* the same as name brand. The FDA allows a certain percentage of difference in the ingredients in meds so that they can be sold as 'generic'. I tried taking generic Sudafed, and it just doesn't do anything...I have to buy name brand. Some other stuff I can take as generic, like Advil, and ibuprofen.

FDA also doesn't govern supplements and vitamins, so technically a company can make dirt pills, call it a 'multi-vitamin', and sell it.

Wobbie

RKCNDY said:

PJ_Soul said:

HesCalledDyer said:

Medicine. I never buy brand name medicine unless there is no store brand alternative.

Ditto. Half the price and exactly the same thing, literally. I don't understand why anyone would buy name brand anything from the pharmacy section. That counts for stuff like vitamin pills too.

Generics are not *exactly* the same as name brand. The FDA allows a certain percentage of difference in the ingredients in meds so that they can be sold as 'generic'. I tried taking generic Sudafed, and it just doesn't do anything.

I hope you were using the sudafed for its intended purpose

Wobbie

shetellsherself said:

Given To Nap said:

We just switched to Costco brand toilet paper. I think it's just fine but my husband's not a fan. I told him to suck it up since we have about 30 more rolls to use.

Love Costco toilet paper except it's too damn fat to fit in my toilet paper holder. It gets stuck and won't turn >:P

glad I'm not the only one who thinks that. c'mom, costco......in this case, less is more. )

PJ_Soul

RKCNDY said:

PJ_Soul said:

HesCalledDyer said:

Medicine. I never buy brand name medicine unless there is no store brand alternative.

Ditto. Half the price and exactly the same thing, literally. I don't understand why anyone would buy name brand anything from the pharmacy section. That counts for stuff like vitamin pills too.

Generics are not *exactly* the same as name brand. The FDA allows a certain percentage of difference in the ingredients in meds so that they can be sold as 'generic'. I tried taking generic Sudafed, and it just doesn't do anything...I have to buy name brand. Some other stuff I can take as generic, like Advil, and ibuprofen.

FDA also doesn't govern supplements and vitamins, so technically a company can make dirt pills, call it a 'multi-vitamin', and sell it.

You just read the ingredients and find the ones that match the name brands. They're not allowed to lie about what exactly is in there and how much.

Sonja_S

PJ_Soul said:

Safeway Select brand is usually good, and President's Choice is also often better than name brands.

We rent apartments when we travel to Canada and after the first shopping trip the kitchen looks as if we were sponsored by President's Choice. I also always buy the sandwich bags to take home, they close so much better than the expensive zip-loc crap we get back home.

A lot of Shopper's Drug Mart's Life brand is great, too.

Over here, most discounters sell the brand stuff under their own name for half the price, but it's trial and error to find out what is actually produced by them after all :-&

RKCNDY

PJ_Soul said:

You just read the ingredients and find the ones that match the name brands. They're not allowed to lie about what exactly is in there and how much.

it's actually more than just that, the chemistry make-up can vary. When I was ordering pharmaceuticals, I had to be conscious about which manufacturer I was ordering from. Some companies use inferior ingredients, so they wouldn't work as well as other companies' generics. Even generics have prices that vary greatly-at least in the animal world. Like a gabapentin made in India would be cheaper than a gabapentin made in the UK or the US...manufacturers in India don't have the same standards as the ones in the UK or the US.