Growing up, I always resented my dad for buying off-brand cereal at the grocery store. Bite-Size Frosted Wheat Squares were not the same thing as Frosted Mini-Wheats. It just wasn’t. It didn’t taste the same, and it didn’t come with a prize, either.
I’m sure I wasn’t alone in the struggle—the generic versus brand-name debate seems to be a rite of middle-class childhood in America. Ten-year-old you swears to your parents that when you’re old enough to start buying groceries, you will never stoop to the level of Honey Buzzers. Until you actually are old enough to start buying groceries, and you realize that Honey Buzzers are a dollar cheaper for twice the amount of cereal as Honeycomb, and that they essentially taste the same once you get them in the bowl.
If you’re stuck in that ten-year-old mindframe and aren’t already saving yourself money by buying generic items, let YouTube Channel AsapSCIENCE convince you of your error. Because not only are generic brands cheaper—a lot of the time they’re actually the same item in a more boring-looking box.
“The truth is that many large brand-name manufacturers often use their excess capacity and expertise to produce generic-label products, as well,” the video explains. Case in point: a 2012 recall of contaminated Peter Pan peanut butter that extended to Walmart’s Great Value brand of peanut butter. Protip: compare nutrition labels and ingredient lists when you’re shopping. You’ll find that they’re not all that different.
The debate extends beyond food products, though—most of the time you can save your heard-earned cash money on the pills you take, too. Generic drugs are strictly regulated and are actually required to be bioequivalent to the brand name. That’s why one tab of ibuprofen is one tab of ibuprofen, whether it’s labeled as Advil, or is just one of those salmon-colored off-brand pills that taste kind of gross if you have them without water. Sure, the fillers and flavorings might be different, but in the end, you’re getting the same dose of the same medicine.
Ready for a few more ways to save on your grocery bills? Try out some Naturally Imperfect produce (because eff your beauty standards!) or maybe just stop buying groceries altogether—it can be done. Or if all else fails, dumpster dive. Apparently there’s riches to be found in them there garbage bins.
