Are budget foods just as good as premium brands?

I am a Christmas pudding enthusiast and find the premium puddings too rich for me, especially if I’m going to have a decent portion. Gluttony comes but once a year. Or maybe twice.

I am happy with the standard rather than premium versions of different brands. None of them beat home-made Christmas pudding of course.

Pemium foods ???just again a big con to tempt a few stupid programme spend more money on something most people would happily do without. Most sellers of anything willtry to con the public to by things that most do not need all over every day I find a new one. !

Supermarkets usually had three grades of own-label food product – basic/value/economy, regular/standard, and premium. In many cases now the choice has been whittled down to just two grades. The premium grade tends to be at a shade lower price than the national branded equivalent and could even be virtually the same product. It seems to me there is often no difference in food quality between own-label and branded products but the branded ones tend to have the taste and texture that people have grown used to. Once people have acquired a liking for the supermarket version satisfaction levels can exceed those for branded foods.

Many people are dissuaded from buying the basic level products because they don’t like the plain packaging – that is a marketing technique success since it would cost no more to make the appearance of the product just as appealing as the higher-priced items but keeping it low-key and putting it on the bottom shelf says to the consumer “you won’t like this – go for the upmarket version“. Snobbery is a powerful emotion to feed.

I have noticed that in a number of categories supermarkets are reducing the number of branded alternatives to their own-label products or de-listing them altogether so the only choice is own-label. Nevertheless, the game goes on: Tesco’s own-label chocolate chip cookies are available at two price points, 40p for the 250g ‘everyday value’ version and 60p for the 250g standard pack. The individual cookies look the same, taste the same, are the same diameter, and even the store cannot tell me what the difference is [other than the price]. The packaging for the basic product looks alright, that for the 50% more expensive version is more colourful and tries to mimic the Maryland branded product for which the ‘normal’ price is supposed to be £1.15 for 250g. The Maryland cookies seem to be either out-of-stock or available on special offer [57p currently]. If they are not all made by the same company [Burton’s Biscuits] I am a ginger nut. Since as often as not choc-chip cookies are dunked in tea the cheapest is probably the best.

It’s worth looking at the contents labels. How much meat does a sausage contain (I find the value versions ghastly)? Chicken Kiev – reformed chicken or whole chicken breast – I prefer food that has not been tampered with too much, like reformed ham vs whole. How much decent meat in a steak pie or lasagne?

However, i think much also depends upon confidence in the quality of the shop you might use. Rump steak from some is best used under your shoe, from others is the tastiest of steaks and as tender as it should be.

I enjoy food, am dubious about food of unknown origin or quality, to some extent believe I get what I pay for but, in the end, there is a perception – if I am confident in what i have bought I will enjoy it more.

I watched a programme on TV last night about a family which used to buy a lot of manufacturer-branded food products and were persuaded to switch to mostly supermarket own-label or cheaper commercial brands. It was called “Eat Well for Less” and was on BBC 1. It was also about healthier eating [the family of six were getting through 70 packets of crisps a week and had a whole cupboard under the stairs full of snack foodstuffs]. The programme overwrapped the contents of their food cupboards and fridge/freezer with plain product descriptions and substituted various lower-priced items for higher-priced products and asked them to tell if they were as good, better or worse than their regular foods. In most cases the family liked the tastes of the replacements as much or actually preferred them to what they had previously been eating. When all was revealed they could hardly believe that their new Cola drink [Pepsi at 99p] was better than their previous staple [brand leader Coca Cola at £1.15], that their new supermarket own-label Fish Fingers were superior to the branded products they previously bought, and that Dad’s can of supermarket Beer was – to his great astonishment – nicer than his regular and much more expensive tipple. Overall the family found they could save £85 a week but this included significant changes in eating habits and meal arrangements, fresh food instead of ready-meals, and drastic reductions in snack consumption which was replaced with home-prepared alternatives. The programme is part of a series and there is another one next week. It also contains good dietary advice and has irritating presenters [don’t they all?].