There is a personal side to this one. Having been a chef, it surprises a lot of people that I actually prefer no name brands. Think to yourself honestly: If you took a package of Primo, DeCecco, or any other spaghetti and compared it to a no name brand, how many people in a blind test could point out which one is which? I’m skeptical. So, this is more than just numbers. My ego is on the line as I persuade you readers that it doesn’t make a damn difference.
Meet The Homemaker
The homemaker is a resident of Vancouver and typically does their grocery shopping at Superstore. With the exception of the produce and meat, they buy the name brand products when it comes to non-perishables (pasta, flour, sugar, canned goods, and so on).
What the homemaker doesn’t realise is that the no name brands at Superstore are on average 20% less than the name brand counterparts. The homemaker’s home consists of two adults and two children. On average, they spend $1500 per month on groceries, $500 of which is for non-perishables. Let’s assume that they want to switch over and convert to using all no name products and that whatever money they save will be invested at an average 8% return.
The Results
A savings of 20% on $500 worth of non-perishables comes to $100 each month. If they’re putting aside and saving $100 per month, here are the numbers…
- 10 years – $12,000 contributed, $17,384 market value, $5,384 earned
- 20 years – $24,000 contributed, $54,914 market value, $30,914 earned
- 30 years – $36,000 contributed, $135,940 market value, $99,940 earned
- 40 years – $48,000 contributed, $310,867 market value, $262,867 earned
Food Snobs, Take Heed
If we’re really honest with ourselves, do we really enjoy name brands more than the no names? I’d dare to say no. I feel most of the time, it’s more a matter of familiarity than it is superiority. So, give no names a shot and see how much money you save.
Who on EARTH spends $1500 a month on groceries?
I used an example of a family of 4. So in my mind I just plugged in $1500/month, which works out to $50/day, which works out to $12.50/person. I thought that was reasonable.
I think you’d be VERY hard pressed to find a family of four living on $1500/mo for groceries. That’s almost $400/week! Cut that down to $120-150/week for a family of 4 and it’s way more realistic. Even as a single person, my grocery bill’s usually around $120 to $200 per MONTH. You can seriously stretch a dollar much further. If a family of 4 was spending $1500 at superstore, I’d expect it to last them at least two months. Otherwise, I’d expect they did all their grocery shopping at Whole Foods or Meinhardt’s or Urban Fare.
I’m surprised you’d use such a large figure for groceries. You should know how many meals you can get from an entire rotisserie chicken or how versatile dry goods are.
The number were crunched from the 2010 Stats Can report. The avg household income of 2.5 people was $85k. The average spendings on groceries per household was 10%. 10% of $85k is $8500. if that’s for 2.5 people, it would work out to $13600/year. So I don’t think I was that far off. The average may or may not be reflective of your own spending habits.
Still seems really off to me.
Aaron, those numbers are not even close to real life. I have a family of 4, well 5 now with my 8 month old. I make $31,000 a year from one job and $17,030 from the part time job. That is $48,030 a year, which is nowhere near $85K that you quote.
My family spends $120-$175 a week on groceries. I buy a mix of name brand and store brand and will confidently state that you can tell the difference. If I bought nothing but off brand stuff my family would revolt and I would spend even more money on eating out.
It may still seem off, so don’t get hung up on the number since it’s only an illustration. It could have been $50 or $100k. The point remains the same.
Yeah I agree. I saw that and I also thought the numbers seemed way off, but the point still stands.
If you buy a non-name brand product, you’ll save a heap of money.
I know a family of 4 that spends figures like this.
If you buy meat and branded product your dollars fly away easily
Even I don’t spend $1500 a month in groceries and I have a mini-me living with me that eats more than some adults. LOL!
hahaha, but calculate in your eating out!
Yeah, I’m with them…$500 a week for groceries sounds like a lot. $50 a day? Maybe if you started each day with absolutely nothing and had to buy oil, salt, pepper, etc.
I would say $400-$600 is the average. My mom used to be able to feed my two brothers and I on about $200 a month, and we always had more than enough food stocked.
It also depends on how many meals you eat out, etc.
$1500/m on groceries may be a tad on the high end. But this is including dry goods and all the rest, so I don’t think it’s really that far out there.
If you live on rice and lentils, you can live on $120/m per person, sure. But very few people actually do that.
I’m married with a 4yr old. We spend on average $1k/m on groceries for the 3 of us. Beyond rice and lentils however, we don’t eat any dried or canned goods. Most of our produce is organic and our meat products mostly come straight from the farm… but we don’t shop at Whole Foods. Actually I spend a lot of time in Superstore.
The $1k includes other household sundries though – toilet paper, cleaning products, etc. Plus we don’t eat out, which is a huge savings.
I remember one time I was piss broke, I lasted a whole month on rice with sriracha. I probably spent $15 the whole month.
As I just stated above, my family of 5 lives on no more than $175 a week at the upper end. Holidays we might have one week of $250.
I always buy no brand products when they are not directly connected with my health… for example… hair products…skin products…. i always buy a brand that i can trust…
That’s a great point. I feel the same way. Although I find myself making excuses for things that are especially important to me. For example I got a soft spot for instant noodles.
I think it depends on the product too. Generic cotton swabs, I find, just aren’t as good as Q-Tips, but I don’t really care about generic facial tissue (vs. Kleenex, etc). A matter of personal preference and priorities, I suppose. I do find that, say, generic cola tastes different than Pepsi or Coke.
I’d say even for health there are some cases where it’s perfectly OK to go non-name brand. For example, simple paracetamol. I don’t know about North America, but I’ve heard they can cost as little as 1/10th in the UK, and it’s similar in Australia.
I wouldn’t go off-brand with potentially life-saving medicines, but conveniences like paracetamol (also known by the brand name Panadol) it’s a great idea.
I buy generic ibuprofen all the time and it’s fine.
I usually buy no name brands!
I’ve also try to catch discount coupons and buy only the items for sale if I can
We’re a lot a like Mike. I would say I almost always opt for the no names.