Buying store or corporate brands - Part 2 Kroger prices - WRDW.com

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Tue Jul 28 10:37:54 PDT 2009

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Reporter: Jill Maxwell

Buying store or corporate brands - Part 2 Kroger prices

Today, I made a visit to Kroger to compare national brand pricing with corporate brands. I discovered several things. First, wandering the store with a pen and tablet in hand certainly gets some stares! The good news is - you can really save some money by using the Kroger brands! In my check, I used the mid-range Kroger brand. It’s easy to find on the shelves and there are a lot of them! According to Kroger’s corporate office, they offer more than 14,400 Kroger brand items in the three tiers!

I selected random products ranging from daily staples (milk, bread, margarine), to staples (flour, oil, catsup) and some often used items that are pricey (cheese, dishwashing detergent and cereal).

There doesn’t seem to be a pattern in what saves the most money. You just have to pay attention to the prices. They have the breakdown right there on the shelves for the “per ounce” price. This is the key to the price. Just because the packages are the same size, doesn’t necessarily mean the weight of the contents is the same!

Another thing to think about when purchasing corporate brands is what you’re going to use it for. If the margarine is for cooking, you can go cheaper and use more herbs for flavoring. The same goes for frozen or canned vegetables; butter; and condiments such as catsup, mustard and spices.

Even things like jarred spaghetti sauce (this was over a 50% savings) just need to be doctored up a little. Add some herbs, a little parmesan cheese and the kids will never know!

I’ve tried some of these items and here’s what I’ve discovered:

Milk is milk – I can’t tell a difference!

Butter – I always buy the least expensive, unless I have a coupon that makes buying the national brand worthwhile and this does happen sometimes!

Frozen vegetables – For vegetables like corn, peas, and carrots I buy the least expensive. Broccoli and Cauliflower I’m a little pickier about since the less costly brands tend to have more stem.

Dishwashing detergent – I am now a fan of Kroger’s Everyday Living detergent. It’s 33% cheaper and it does the same thing!

Lunchmeat – we buy the Kroger brand and have seen no difference.

I bought some Kroger coffee to try and I’ll let you know on that. If you’ve tried any of the Kroger brand products and have any input for our fellow shoppers, please post a comment on my blog to let people know! I can’t try everything out there, but I’ll do what I can!

Now, here’s your info – a chart of the prices I found today:

ITEM NATL. BRAND PRICE KROGER SAVINGS

Milk - 1 Gallon	Coburg	$ 5.49	$ 2.18	60.29%
Bread	Sara Lee	$ 1.99	$ 1.29	35.18%
Butter	Land o Lakes	$ 3.49	$ 2.39	31.52%
Margarine	Country Crock	$ 1.39	$ 0.88	36.69%
Cheese - chunk	Kraft (24 oz.)	$ 8.97	$ 4.49	49.94%
Coffee	Folgers (11.5 oz.)	$ 3.69	$ 3.39	8.13%
Juice, Apple	Juicy Juice (64 oz.)	$ 2.49	$ 1.99	20.08%
Frozen Corn	Bird's Eye (11 oz.)	$ 1.79	$ 1.39	22.35%
Dishwashing Detergent	Cascade (75 oz.)	$ 4.37	$ 2.89	33.87%
Canned Tomatoes	Del Monte (14.5 oz. can)	$ 0.75	$ 0.65	13.33%
Lunchmeat: deli sliced ham	Hillshire Farms (9 oz.)	$ 3.50	$ 2.50	28.57%
Canola Oil	Wesson (48 oz.)	$ 3.79	$ 2.99	21.11%
Flour	Gold Medal (5 lb.)	$ 2.79	$ 1.83	34.41%
Spaghetti Sauce	Prego	$ 2.11	$ 1.00	52.61%
Macaroni	Ronzoni (16 oz.)	$ 1.39	$ 1.00	28.06%
Cereal	Honey Nut Cheerios	$ 2.99	$ 2.54	15.05%
Catsup	Heinz (32 oz.)	$ 2.19	$ 1.49	31.96%

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Buying store or corporate brands - Part 2 Kroger prices

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