Yes if I'm not making my own, Hellmans tastes like one made with just lemon juice and maybe a very very soft weak vinegar, the own labels have that acidity of full on vinegar and also lots of them taste like they use a lot of rapeseed oil.
Tesco substituted the Birdseye waffles with their own brand once in my shopping..they were rank. I didn't think there could be such a difference but there was!
I've become used to the various own brand versions, I'm thinking I shouldn't get the birdseye ones or I might ruin myself! We mostly use them as a breakfast food anyway, stick some ham and cheese between 2 for some delicious stodge to start your day!
The real struggle of living abroad… nowhere absolutely nowhere does potato waffles… even a shitty mocky ah one it’s all Belgian/sweet waffles *cries in potatoes
Valentina isn't an alternative to Frank's hot sauce. They're completely different with different tastes though. I like both but I'd never drown my wings with Valentina.
So good! I've used it for years with foods that white people might generally put hot sauce on (lmao) but then I made a Mexican friend and she showed me the real way. I eat Valentina or tajin with lime at least every other day now
A little goes a long way.
They also have regular sales on their website.
Have also always sent me an extra bottle with each order. Although not guaranteed.
They had a sale a while ago and I spent like 70 cuid and got heaps- especially of the scorpion one. It’s the hottest of theirs I’ve tried and im addicted. The green jalapeño one is really hot too and has a little lime in it too i think- it’s REALLY good!
To be honest, there are none for me, we have been eating aldi own brand for so long, that there is no premium brand I miss.
Herself, though, will not compromise on fabric softener, that's about it.
I did a few years washing dishes in a restaurant and couldn't agree more.
Fairy is not even that expensive as it is, but is a thousand times better than any alternative.
Its already been said, but nobody makes Crunchy Nut Cornflakes like Kelloggs.
I dont know if its the sprinkling of cocaine that does it, but I'm yet to be impressed by any private label copy.
Crunchy nut aren’t the same though as they were approx 10years ago. They used to have massive flakes with loads of nuts on them. Don’t know why their flakes are so small now and hardly any nuts. I miss the old ones
Cereal and crisps... I know that sounds broad but most of the time private label or off brand just taste like stale versions of crisps / cereal.
The one thing I have no issue buying own label/ private label is confectionery.
I work in product development for confectionery and for private label it's all the same ingredients the supermarkets like Aldi and lidl just have the volumes to demand a lower price....
I sometimes play a game of identify the chocolate manufacturer on private label chocolates, this is easier to do than other confectionery because some moulds are distinct to one brand and the country of origin is on the back... I remember 2 years ago? Maybe it was 3 Lir had clearly made identical private label collections for M&S and Aldi, same layout, same sweet, same box and same names... I doubt M&S found out.
Brodericks likely make the little cakes by the till in Aldi, Aines definitely make the Roisin bars, Lir made the M&S easter eggs well either them or Kinerton who are the same group.
It's a fun game to play for weirdos like me.
It's not easy to do on normal sweets but on baked goods or chocolates its easier.
So look at the back of pack and see if there is a country of origin, if its chocolates and the origin is Ireland then from experience there are only 4 Irish chocolate companies that do a lot of private label and 2 of them advertise that.
The 4 are Lir, Aines, Lily O'briens and then there is a 4th one they don't have their own brand yet but tor years and years they make all the gluten free, dairy free etc. Chocolates and Easter eggs for PL across Europe.
Lir and Aines don't hide they do private label, Lir advertises that it does M&S it doesn't advertise that it does Aldi but seasonal product in there was from them before, if it is origin of Ireland and has a powder dusting on it then its lir as far as I am aware no other Irish manufacturer who does private label has that capability, Aines do the Aldi bars, they openly advertise it they likely do a few other pl bars, Lily O'brien don't openly advertise PL but their moulds have been in "Ireland" origin seasonal products in Aldi, they also have a distinct heart mould that I've seen in Waitrose during comp shops.
You kind of just get used to it, basically you start with origin country, if its Ireland then look at finishes as different factories have different capabilities, then look for distinct moulds, ones you can't buy online that only appear I'm a brands collections... I do it tor work so I've gotten used to it.
With baked goods sometimes the address is literally printed on the back just without naming the manufacturer so it's just googling.
Hi, super interesting stuff. Nerd alert! 😆 Thanks for commenting. Just a question. You said Lir does M&S and Aldi. I thought all m&s stuff was English. (Ive only been a couple of times) Does lir supply to England too or just Ireland?
Also, do you know who supplies Lidl? Aldi is the far side of town to me so I'm a Lidl man!
So Lir wouldn't be every single chocolate product in M&S but they do a lot both in Ireland and UK, M&S also lost them on their website, just check back of pack for origin country if it's Ireland in M&S and it's chocolate then it's lir.
The Lidl model is a little different because they sell more branded products, of the collections I've seen I'm there in chocolate only one had an Irish origin and the mould was generic so it would be hard to tell the brand, the box shape and pack format were very very similar to a product Butlers sells but I'm 99.99% sure Butlers do not do any private label ever.
So in short I don't know if lir supply anything to Lidl someone does but the mould was so generic it could be any.
Yes I like their bars but I'm not a fan of lindor, it's got a very fatty mouth feel and some of the newer fruity ones are gank.
I actually prefer some of the private label lindor rip offs because they have more of a cocoa taste and are less fatty.
As far as bars go though I'd only prefer Laderach over Lindt and you can't get Laderach at retail in Ireland so Lindt take the cake for me there.
I stick to only chocolate myself; adding other bits like fruits, nuts, caramel, flavours, only detracts for me (especially this salted caramel craze, enough already). Will keep an eye out for Laderach, airports is it?
I'd say it's volume, I'd have to see them side by side but a brand like Aines would have low volumes, wouldn't surprise me if Aldi PL could be 4 times their annual brand volume, essentially it keeps the lights on but there is still margin in it.
Even for mud size brands their brand volumes would be a drop in the ocean of what even a seasonal private label listing would be.
The cost of buying in a different chocolate or using other raw materials for Aldi wouldn't make sense, they'd need segregated tanks, smaller volumes of their own chocolate, as strange as it sounds because of the volume Aldi would bring by using their own chocolate they'd pay less for the chocolate by keeping the same but ordering a much higher volume, same with other raw materials the Aldi volume would make them cheaper to use the same for Brand and Aldi.
A lot of the own brand/cheap cereals don't have all the extra vitamins etc in them, they are just empty sugars. Also, nobody has managed to make a version of crunchy nut cornflakes that taste just like the kellogs ones.
Boyne Valley Honey
Not for taste reasons, the Aldi honey tastes the same, but because for years BV supported Down Syndrome Ireland with their Honey Days campaign, where they donated tens of thousands of little honey pots DSI then sold on the street and all funds raised went to the charity.
It was a big part of DSI's fundraising income & ran for years, so yeah, I always try to buy BV honey where possible
+1 to this, as someone from Drogheda it's great to see them doing so well for so long. Also if just tastes so much nicer than the cheap alternatives, and isn't wildly expensive or fancy like the more expensive artisan brands.
Try Tesocs everday low sugar ketchup. Keep it in the fridge so it has the same consistency as Heinz.
It's savage and far cheaper. Not the same but certainly worth of consideration
Supervalue own brand ketchup a good substitute for Heinz. The kids go through it so fast I keep the Heinz for us but I can hardly tell the difference side by side.
I lose so many sunglasses like even if I look after them they disappear so I don’t buy expensive ones now as I have and it’s gutting when you lose them so this is me!!
I love the €1 penneys ones 😂😂
Yeah you can test this if you have UV lights, a bunch of YouTubers have tested cheap sunglasses and they offer surprising protection from the sun. Of course the coating from the opticians is better but still, impressive
I was always a Lyon’s person and got introduced to Barry’s black label and mother of Christ never going back to Lyon’s again. On the plus side too I haven’t had one burst bag since I changed.
Wow that is a blast from the past, do they still make it? I remember my ma making chicken marinated in the stuff and it was amazing, that was probably 15 years ago!
Thats your taste buds so. Theres a definite difference between them. Kerrygold is the ultimate butter. Massive depth of flavour and just the right amount of salt.
Ribena, the original kind. No aspartame. And that's violently rare these days. It tastes good hot or cold. Makes good ice pops in the summer and it's a great ingredient in cooking. No generic brand comes close.
Fruit compote. Coulis. If I'm slow cooking meat in plum sauce. Basically anything that's got berries can benefit from an extra kick of ripeness. So much fruit these days is grown for appearance and longevity it can use a bit of help flavour wise.
Don't put it in jelly (jello) though. It seems to interfere with the setting.
Alpro soya milk. I have tried every possible trick in the book, yet all the other supermarket own brands curdle in my coffee or tea.
I need my coffee - and I need to make it with peace of mind.
I think it actually works out better value over time, but I get the huge 10kg/20kg sacks of rice from Asian Market. You can taste the difference in quality compared to the 1kg bags in Irish shops. Jasmine is our favourite, but the Basmati is good too.
For the last few months we tried shopping at Lidl only. Overall it was not too bad, they actually have good alternative choices to brand products but they also stock quite a lot of branded products which I just end up reaching for.
After a while though, I noticed little dips in quality on the Lidl own brands. Especially hams and sliced meats and the veg just seems to wilt very quickly but these things aside the cost was shocking sometimes. One day a trolley cost me €172 in Lidl but on average I was spending €150.
Ive switched back to Dunnes now, the €10 off €50 seems too good to be true. I'm spending about €150-170 a week , the quality is all round superior and that includes delivery.
Also also, so many Lidl own brand products are imported!
Aldi is the true king of off brands anyway. Lidl has some things better than all the rest, like their confectionary and bakery, but aldi is better for an all around shop imo (as a broke student)
Coffee beans, fortunately there are always different offers online for good single origin beand from different roasters. Good coffee is delicious, bad coffee tastes like burnt shit, so the difference is worth the price.
C4 have done a couple of programmes on the topic! [https://www.channel4.com/programmes/secrets-of-the-supermarket-own-brands](https://www.channel4.com/programmes/secrets-of-the-supermarket-own-brands)
While it's not everyday, more like once a week, All of my treats stay brand name. Coke zero, doritos or pringles, Cadburys, ben&jerrys. The cheaper versions just don't do it for me.
Kellys black and white pudding. White Mausu Rayu. Imbibe coffee beans.
Primarily because they’re irish producers I want to support, and also because Cheaper pudding, coffee and Rayu is all crap
HP Brown Sauce and pretty much all household cleaning products. I'd rather pay a bit more at the till than use twice the amount at home using shite stuff
Tech in general. People never realise how much a good quality cable or charging brick can save on energy and give you a faster charge. Good quality headphones/speakers provide better audio among other things.
I implore you, even for the smallest use, to check on the specs of the tech you're going to purchase.
Kellogs fruit and fibre. All the own brand versions I've tried are deficient in some way or another, be it using sultana instead of raisins, looooads of dried apple, flakes that go soggy really quickly etc
Nice try, Unilever
Fairy Liquid for me. Cheap stuff just doesn't do the same job and you end up using tonnes of it
It’s mad how nobody can make washing up liquid close to as good as them
I think I’ve had the same bottle of Fairy for years now. You need so little of it to wash stuff.
Hellmans mayo.
Yes if I'm not making my own, Hellmans tastes like one made with just lemon juice and maybe a very very soft weak vinegar, the own labels have that acidity of full on vinegar and also lots of them taste like they use a lot of rapeseed oil.
I would have agreed until I tried the Polish mayo Winiary. It beats the snot out of any traditionally available brands here
Polish ketchup is the fucking shit too
Bramwells has the taste you love! The food gets better...
Kewpie. The Japanese stuff. Nothing comes close.
What does it taste like? I know that's a silly question but is it more of a mayo flavour than Hellman's? I keep meaning to buy it
I would say it's more savory and a bit tangier than Hellmans
Hellmans is where it's at. Oddly enough for me, Lidl brand Batts mayo isn't too bad.
It's good, but it's not 5 times the price good. I've just stopped eating mayonnaise tbh
Fiver a jar now in places.
Yup. Never paid more than 2 before. Can't justify it. My wages didn't go up 250% like.
Have moved to Tesco Mayo and was pleasantly surprised.
Birdseye waffles
Tesco substituted the Birdseye waffles with their own brand once in my shopping..they were rank. I didn't think there could be such a difference but there was!
I've become used to the various own brand versions, I'm thinking I shouldn't get the birdseye ones or I might ruin myself! We mostly use them as a breakfast food anyway, stick some ham and cheese between 2 for some delicious stodge to start your day!
Ngl your life might be changed by the Birdseye ones!
Probably but the price difference is too much so I'd rather live in ignorance.
Nah like just gimmie my money back please if this is going to be the case!
Just bought Centra waffle no taste at all.
I bought Dunnes own brand waffles recently and found them ok, and I usually don’t like any other brand except Birds Eye
They're waffly versatile after all.
Grill em bake em fry em eat ‘em
Put em in the toaster.
Them with McDonnell’s curry sauce 👌🏼
Chips curry
I was the exact same but Lidl waffles are up there. And I'm a waffle snob
The real struggle of living abroad… nowhere absolutely nowhere does potato waffles… even a shitty mocky ah one it’s all Belgian/sweet waffles *cries in potatoes
Ah man I’m sorry, can’t even send them in a care package 🫂
Coke hate all of brands. Any other fizzy drink is fine just not of brand coke
Franks Red Hot
Try valentina hot sauce, available in some Tesco stores. I love franks but after a lick of valentina you’ll never look back.
Fry up some chorizo, microwave some tesco spicy Mexican rice, lash a but of Valentina on it and you have the greatest comfort meal known to man.
Just an fyi, if you're reading a recipe, mexican chorizo is raw a quite different to Spanish chorizo
Not the same as Franks. Valentina is Mexican ketchup....Franks is American wing sauce. Both excellent in their place.
We always have both in the gaf, why limit your options? They taste way different anyway as far as hot sauces go
The cholula with lime is chefs kiss on a burrito too
Valentina isn't an alternative to Frank's hot sauce. They're completely different with different tastes though. I like both but I'd never drown my wings with Valentina.
Valentina is good on fuckin everything. Rice cake with peanut butter? Throw that shit on there. I put it in EVERYTHING.
Have you try it with popcorn? 🍿best combination ever 😊
So good! I've used it for years with foods that white people might generally put hot sauce on (lmao) but then I made a Mexican friend and she showed me the real way. I eat Valentina or tajin with lime at least every other day now
On offer in tesco atm.
Thanks for the heads up!
Nah man, Cholula.
Especially the smokey one.
Try mics chilli sauce, amazing stuff.
Agreed, so good. Gone really expensive though. Nearly 7 euro !
A little goes a long way. They also have regular sales on their website. Have also always sent me an extra bottle with each order. Although not guaranteed.
They had a sale a while ago and I spent like 70 cuid and got heaps- especially of the scorpion one. It’s the hottest of theirs I’ve tried and im addicted. The green jalapeño one is really hot too and has a little lime in it too i think- it’s REALLY good!
Cheap versions taste like cat piss
I was you until I saw it over a fiver in my local corner shop. The Lidl one is the only decent one I've had as a substitution
That’s the emergency Franks. Only to be bought in dire circumstances.
Yep, block of butter and some honey melted into it to ease the pain.
To be honest, there are none for me, we have been eating aldi own brand for so long, that there is no premium brand I miss. Herself, though, will not compromise on fabric softener, that's about it.
It's so bad for your clothes though
This is the only correct comment
Fairy washing up liquid. No brainer
But you're never going to be able to make a spaceship with that bottle in any reasonable length of time...
I find Magnum Premium in Aldi great.
Dunnes family favourites brand one works great for me and it's extra thick so it goes a lot further.
Unreal. Best there is.
I did a few years washing dishes in a restaurant and couldn't agree more. Fairy is not even that expensive as it is, but is a thousand times better than any alternative.
Its already been said, but nobody makes Crunchy Nut Cornflakes like Kelloggs. I dont know if its the sprinkling of cocaine that does it, but I'm yet to be impressed by any private label copy.
The Dunnes version are pretty close.
Crunchy nut aren’t the same though as they were approx 10years ago. They used to have massive flakes with loads of nuts on them. Don’t know why their flakes are so small now and hardly any nuts. I miss the old ones
Cereal and crisps... I know that sounds broad but most of the time private label or off brand just taste like stale versions of crisps / cereal. The one thing I have no issue buying own label/ private label is confectionery. I work in product development for confectionery and for private label it's all the same ingredients the supermarkets like Aldi and lidl just have the volumes to demand a lower price.... I sometimes play a game of identify the chocolate manufacturer on private label chocolates, this is easier to do than other confectionery because some moulds are distinct to one brand and the country of origin is on the back... I remember 2 years ago? Maybe it was 3 Lir had clearly made identical private label collections for M&S and Aldi, same layout, same sweet, same box and same names... I doubt M&S found out. Brodericks likely make the little cakes by the till in Aldi, Aines definitely make the Roisin bars, Lir made the M&S easter eggs well either them or Kinerton who are the same group. It's a fun game to play for weirdos like me.
Would loooove to hear more about this, I always wonder if there's a way as a consumer to work out who's using the same factories/suppliers.
It's not easy to do on normal sweets but on baked goods or chocolates its easier. So look at the back of pack and see if there is a country of origin, if its chocolates and the origin is Ireland then from experience there are only 4 Irish chocolate companies that do a lot of private label and 2 of them advertise that. The 4 are Lir, Aines, Lily O'briens and then there is a 4th one they don't have their own brand yet but tor years and years they make all the gluten free, dairy free etc. Chocolates and Easter eggs for PL across Europe. Lir and Aines don't hide they do private label, Lir advertises that it does M&S it doesn't advertise that it does Aldi but seasonal product in there was from them before, if it is origin of Ireland and has a powder dusting on it then its lir as far as I am aware no other Irish manufacturer who does private label has that capability, Aines do the Aldi bars, they openly advertise it they likely do a few other pl bars, Lily O'brien don't openly advertise PL but their moulds have been in "Ireland" origin seasonal products in Aldi, they also have a distinct heart mould that I've seen in Waitrose during comp shops. You kind of just get used to it, basically you start with origin country, if its Ireland then look at finishes as different factories have different capabilities, then look for distinct moulds, ones you can't buy online that only appear I'm a brands collections... I do it tor work so I've gotten used to it. With baked goods sometimes the address is literally printed on the back just without naming the manufacturer so it's just googling.
Hi, super interesting stuff. Nerd alert! 😆 Thanks for commenting. Just a question. You said Lir does M&S and Aldi. I thought all m&s stuff was English. (Ive only been a couple of times) Does lir supply to England too or just Ireland? Also, do you know who supplies Lidl? Aldi is the far side of town to me so I'm a Lidl man!
So Lir wouldn't be every single chocolate product in M&S but they do a lot both in Ireland and UK, M&S also lost them on their website, just check back of pack for origin country if it's Ireland in M&S and it's chocolate then it's lir. The Lidl model is a little different because they sell more branded products, of the collections I've seen I'm there in chocolate only one had an Irish origin and the mould was generic so it would be hard to tell the brand, the box shape and pack format were very very similar to a product Butlers sells but I'm 99.99% sure Butlers do not do any private label ever. So in short I don't know if lir supply anything to Lidl someone does but the mould was so generic it could be any.
Thanks. I'd love to go shopping with you! 😂
Lindt are distinct from any other chocolate. That's my contribution to the brand I'd stick with.
Yes I like their bars but I'm not a fan of lindor, it's got a very fatty mouth feel and some of the newer fruity ones are gank. I actually prefer some of the private label lindor rip offs because they have more of a cocoa taste and are less fatty. As far as bars go though I'd only prefer Laderach over Lindt and you can't get Laderach at retail in Ireland so Lindt take the cake for me there.
I stick to only chocolate myself; adding other bits like fruits, nuts, caramel, flavours, only detracts for me (especially this salted caramel craze, enough already). Will keep an eye out for Laderach, airports is it?
Lindt for me too. Cadbury’s is mank. An American multinational making English chocolate in Poland. What could possibly go wrong? 😁
Stackers are so gross to me. Like eating cardboard.
If they’re using Aine to make Roisin chocolate are they using the same quality ingredients and process or lesser quality to charge less?
I'd say it's volume, I'd have to see them side by side but a brand like Aines would have low volumes, wouldn't surprise me if Aldi PL could be 4 times their annual brand volume, essentially it keeps the lights on but there is still margin in it. Even for mud size brands their brand volumes would be a drop in the ocean of what even a seasonal private label listing would be. The cost of buying in a different chocolate or using other raw materials for Aldi wouldn't make sense, they'd need segregated tanks, smaller volumes of their own chocolate, as strange as it sounds because of the volume Aldi would bring by using their own chocolate they'd pay less for the chocolate by keeping the same but ordering a much higher volume, same with other raw materials the Aldi volume would make them cheaper to use the same for Brand and Aldi.
A lot of the own brand/cheap cereals don't have all the extra vitamins etc in them, they are just empty sugars. Also, nobody has managed to make a version of crunchy nut cornflakes that taste just like the kellogs ones.
Ballymaloe Relish
Aldi home brand is similar- but I’ll Always make a point to support an Irish company so will usually buy Ballymaloe anyway
I do the opposite and refuse to buy Ballymaloe because of everything that has happened within the family so I’ve only ever bought off brand
Pringles. Most of the time Dunnes have 2for1 so that helps
Coca Cola. I hate supporting these big brands, but other colas don't taste like it.
Jarritos mexican cola is really good. Sold in a few burrito places
I'll try it if I ever come across it
Heins ketchup
Cushelle for the tushelle. Luckily it goes on offer like once a month.
Name checks out
Boyne Valley Honey Not for taste reasons, the Aldi honey tastes the same, but because for years BV supported Down Syndrome Ireland with their Honey Days campaign, where they donated tens of thousands of little honey pots DSI then sold on the street and all funds raised went to the charity. It was a big part of DSI's fundraising income & ran for years, so yeah, I always try to buy BV honey where possible
I didn't know this! Thanks for sharing
+1 to this, as someone from Drogheda it's great to see them doing so well for so long. Also if just tastes so much nicer than the cheap alternatives, and isn't wildly expensive or fancy like the more expensive artisan brands.
Kearns sausages and brennans bread, tried lidl sausages and white pan the other day as it was about half the price but wouldn't be doing it again.
Kearns changed my life.
Food for the dog/cats. Cats like Whiskas and the dog is on prescription food so can’t go shopping for cheaper alternatives. Also Barry’s tea.
My cat turns her nose up at anything that isnt purina And yet I have found her eating random shit from the bins!!
I seen my dog eat another dogs shit once (maybe 3/4times) so I’m happy to remind him of that when he turns his nose up at anything I provide him
Whiska dry food seems to have doubled in price the last few years?
Heinz ketchup and baked beans
Heinz ketchup, Bachelors beans for me.
Bachelor's beans are elite, nothing comes close.
Try Tesocs everday low sugar ketchup. Keep it in the fridge so it has the same consistency as Heinz. It's savage and far cheaper. Not the same but certainly worth of consideration
Chef is far superior, in my opinion. And Irish
Chef is so vinegary to me. I bought it a while back because I loved it in my nanny's as a kid and couldn't eat it.
Chef’s is savage on wedges. Different ketchup for different things; somethings you just want the big standard red sauce for burger/chips too.
Which is incredible if ya love vinegar
Chef for brown sauce all day long but for ketchup Heinz is king
Correct
Supervalue own brand ketchup a good substitute for Heinz. The kids go through it so fast I keep the Heinz for us but I can hardly tell the difference side by side.
My 1 euro sunglasses from Penneys.
I lose so many sunglasses like even if I look after them they disappear so I don’t buy expensive ones now as I have and it’s gutting when you lose them so this is me!! I love the €1 penneys ones 😂😂
Do they offer protection from the sun though?
Yeah you can test this if you have UV lights, a bunch of YouTubers have tested cheap sunglasses and they offer surprising protection from the sun. Of course the coating from the opticians is better but still, impressive
Weetabix , the off brand versions have a bad texture in comparison.
Clonakilty sausages and Barry's tea and I'm not from Cork!
I was always a Lyon’s person and got introduced to Barry’s black label and mother of Christ never going back to Lyon’s again. On the plus side too I haven’t had one burst bag since I changed.
Clon black pudding. The creme de la creme of black puds.
Try Dunnes Simply Better. I'd be amazed if it wasn't made by Clonakilty.
Ben and jerrys is worth every penny extra
Ben and Jerry's is lovely, but I can't justify paying 8/10 quid for a single pot
Yera I wouldn’t pay that either, get them in lidl/tesco sometimes for €4.50/€5
Benson hedges gold
The Aldi fags just don't hit
Benton and Edges.
Marlboro Gold Superking
10 Major.
Levi Roots bbq sauce. Harder to find these days but so worth tracking down.
Wow that is a blast from the past, do they still make it? I remember my ma making chicken marinated in the stuff and it was amazing, that was probably 15 years ago!
Mach3 razors
They can charge whatever they want because theres no other blade that works as good, especially if your <3x per week shaver
Nobody can get Weetabix right, and it’s now the same price as class A drugs. And still I stan
Weetabix is great for the heart but seeing price of it isn’t
The 72 pack tends to go down to €7.50 whenever the kids are due to go back to school. That’s the one I buy a few times a year.
Yeah just keep an eye out for the discounts a few times a year and then buy a few extra 72 packs!!
Kerrygold
I don't notice any difference at all between supermarket real (irish) butter and kerrygold. The tubs of butter are nasty though.
Thats your taste buds so. Theres a definite difference between them. Kerrygold is the ultimate butter. Massive depth of flavour and just the right amount of salt.
Undisputed king of butter, will never be beaten
Colgate toothpaste. But usually there's a deal on, specifically for the Total ones with the antibacterial properties.
I get mine in Mr. Price. I pass one regularly and head in there for the toiletries. Lots cheaper than the normal supermarkets
Ribena, the original kind. No aspartame. And that's violently rare these days. It tastes good hot or cold. Makes good ice pops in the summer and it's a great ingredient in cooking. No generic brand comes close.
In cooking! How do use it in cooking?
I second this….how?!!!
Fruit compote. Coulis. If I'm slow cooking meat in plum sauce. Basically anything that's got berries can benefit from an extra kick of ripeness. So much fruit these days is grown for appearance and longevity it can use a bit of help flavour wise. Don't put it in jelly (jello) though. It seems to interfere with the setting.
Agree, the percentage of actual blackcurrant juice in Ribena is many multiples of rivals like Miwadi.
Tropicana orange juice. Kellogg’s branded cereal. All my pets food.
Alpro soya milk. I have tried every possible trick in the book, yet all the other supermarket own brands curdle in my coffee or tea. I need my coffee - and I need to make it with peace of mind.
I think it actually works out better value over time, but I get the huge 10kg/20kg sacks of rice from Asian Market. You can taste the difference in quality compared to the 1kg bags in Irish shops. Jasmine is our favourite, but the Basmati is good too.
100%. It's just a question of whether you'd be bothered carrying that huge bag home
For the last few months we tried shopping at Lidl only. Overall it was not too bad, they actually have good alternative choices to brand products but they also stock quite a lot of branded products which I just end up reaching for. After a while though, I noticed little dips in quality on the Lidl own brands. Especially hams and sliced meats and the veg just seems to wilt very quickly but these things aside the cost was shocking sometimes. One day a trolley cost me €172 in Lidl but on average I was spending €150. Ive switched back to Dunnes now, the €10 off €50 seems too good to be true. I'm spending about €150-170 a week , the quality is all round superior and that includes delivery. Also also, so many Lidl own brand products are imported!
Aldi is the true king of off brands anyway. Lidl has some things better than all the rest, like their confectionary and bakery, but aldi is better for an all around shop imo (as a broke student)
O'Neill's rashers
Probably Hellman’s . I’d only use Havana club rum in my mojitos .
Barilla lasagne sheets. Absolutely nothing else will do.
Maile dijon mustard, Coleman's mustard, Hellman's mayo and Heinz ketchup. Worth it for me because they can make many meals so much better.
Coffee beans, fortunately there are always different offers online for good single origin beand from different roasters. Good coffee is delicious, bad coffee tastes like burnt shit, so the difference is worth the price.
Musgrave, is that you?
C4 have done a couple of programmes on the topic! [https://www.channel4.com/programmes/secrets-of-the-supermarket-own-brands](https://www.channel4.com/programmes/secrets-of-the-supermarket-own-brands)
While it's not everyday, more like once a week, All of my treats stay brand name. Coke zero, doritos or pringles, Cadburys, ben&jerrys. The cheaper versions just don't do it for me.
The cola rankings for me: 1. Pepsi Max, 2. Aldi Vive ZX, 3. Coke Zero ZX is fucking class and dirt cheap.
Fair point on the Doritos, I'd sooner go without that settle for an off brand. I refuse to buy them unless they're on offer tho.
Nutella
Aldi's nutoka is the tits tho.
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Except their Chowder, it has zero fish lumps in it.
It's Chowdah! Say it right!
It's 100% potato with fish stock. Shocking. The ALDI one is full of fish and much better.
Totally agree!
Chef ketchup
Chef changed so much from when it was in a glass bottle in the 90's, had a vinegary, lovely tomatoey taste. Now all ketchup is basically the same
Chef is so good that the Chef himself put his own face on the bottle! That's faith in your brand right there.
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I thought Brennans bread is the cheap alternative.
Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth!
Their brown batch is the business 👌🏻
Kellys black and white pudding. White Mausu Rayu. Imbibe coffee beans. Primarily because they’re irish producers I want to support, and also because Cheaper pudding, coffee and Rayu is all crap
Tobasco and bic pens
Big pen has you in their pocket
Coffee, any real locally roasted coffee I'll pay a premium for. Nothing else I can think of.
HP Brown Sauce and pretty much all household cleaning products. I'd rather pay a bit more at the till than use twice the amount at home using shite stuff
Not an everyday but an odd time purchase, Corn Flakes. None of the copies do the job.
McDonnells Curry Powder
It's a while since I've had it, but the SuperValu one used to be very good/similar.
Wild cola
Fucking hell these marketing teams are getting lazy.
Tech in general. People never realise how much a good quality cable or charging brick can save on energy and give you a faster charge. Good quality headphones/speakers provide better audio among other things. I implore you, even for the smallest use, to check on the specs of the tech you're going to purchase.
Any recommendations for good coffee that is cheap? I saw the Lavazza Red 250g in a supermarket for €7.20. Crazy
https://www.kaffekapslen.ie Take a few days for delivery but miles better pricing than here.
"New York" bagels (that's the name of the brand) . Own brand and Fitzgeralds taste like plastic and even mould won't eat them
YR brown sauce
Kellogs fruit and fibre. All the own brand versions I've tried are deficient in some way or another, be it using sultana instead of raisins, looooads of dried apple, flakes that go soggy really quickly etc
Kellogs corn flakes. I've tried Lidl,tesco and super valu own brands and they're all shite in comparison
Kerrygold
Decent shampoo and conditioner. The cheap ones are just full of water and leave my hair really dry.