Saturday, May 23, 2015

Memories and a feeling of home

The Duck points to the wisdom of buying store brands.A home is a collection of the people, stories and items I'm the house. The memories that familiar brands bring up is part of the story of our lives. The brands are like familiar friends along with us on the journey of life.

The memory of my mom bringing me Hawaian Punch when I had a fever are rich. My grandmothers love of Breakstone sour cream, Goodmand Egg noodles, flieshmans. My father liked fine deli Mustard and despised Frenchs and would only eat a Deli type mustard often Guldens. He still loves his Hebrew National products. My mom likes her Tide and Dawn.

Through the years many products have been linked to me. The first and foremost is Diet Mountain Dew. In fact it is a running gag at work and several others have started drinking the stuff. I love my P&G products. P&G products have been in the backdrop of many stories. In GA I walked miles to find 3X Body wash. Others in my class started using the stuff. There was the story when my local Duane Reade ran out of man soap and I was miserable all day.

There is the story how I switched to Hunts from Heinz when the stock was taken over. My first batch of Ketchup and Ote Ida tater tots was like being reunited with an old friend. Over the years some beloved brands got sold off. I got Breyers and Hellmans back when I bought Unilever. Unfortunately Hawaiin Punch remains with a company I don't own.

Yes the Duck is largely correct in that you save money with store brand. However, it isn't my home without P&G. The products have been with me my entire life. I like the smell of Tide and the way Dawn makes my plates shine. The familiar brands are almost supporting characters in my life story. The boss knows I am in when he sees the diet Dew in the Fridge. The girlfriend prefers the P&G products she asks for Bounty by name.

I prefer the name brand quality and memories over a few dollars here and there.

5 comments:

Mike's America said...

I don't believe it's necessarily true that store brands are better. It seems you like them for sentimental reasons. But it's hard to make the case for all of them that they are actually superior.

I'll give you an example. My mother always used to buy Cascade dishwasher detergent until she read in Consumer Reports that the no name brand from Wal-Mart did the same job at a much lower price. She passed that information on to me and was right.

On the other hand, and sticking with dishwashing, Dawn is superior to the no name knockoffs. You use much less product to get the same amount of suds.

Is it true that many of the big brand companies also provide generic products that are largely similar to packagers that provide no name products to stores?

For the products I do buy that are brand name I realize I am paying a premium for marketing. To offset that I only buy them on sale. It's it not "buy one get one free" or pretty damn close I can usually wait until it is then stock up.

beakerkin said...

I have a suspicion about Consumer Reports. On taste tests the matter is subjective.

I am guilty of the stocking up bit when things are on sale. The Mrs then trades the surplus. It is kind of bizzare watching her trade stuff with the neighbors but it is a Guyanese trait.

Ducky's here said...

Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup And 2% Or Less Of Each Of The Following: Concentrated Juices (Pineapple, Orange, Apple, And Passionfruit), Purees (Apricot, Papaya, Guava), Citric Acid, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Pectin, Gum Acacia, Sucralose (Splenda Brand), Glycerol Ester Of Wood Rosin, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, ...

beakerkin said...

The ingredients of my beloved Hawaian Punch.

beakerkin said...

Needs more rosin