Grocery Savings Hack: Ditch Brand Loyalty

As inflation continues to put pressure on consumer budgets – saving as much money as possible has never been more important. One grocery savings hack to doing so: show an open mind to different brands that make the same product.

Across just about every grocery store, from your local convenience shop to a Walmart, you’ll find name brands. These are the most recognizable items by consumers and include major snack brands like Pepsi and Oreos or meats such as Oscar Mayer.

How Much Savings?

However, consumers often pay more for these recognizable names as opposed to their cheaper counterparts, private label products.

In fact, making the switch can shave between 25 and 30 percent off your grocery bill, according to Consumer Reports. Considering an average family of four spends $1,380 on groceries under a moderate plan per month, according to Ramsey Solutions, citing data from the USDA, that would mean a household could save as much as $414 per month.

How much, of course, will depend on how many name-brand items are in your shopping cart usually.

The reason why private label products are generally cheaper is that marketing costs are lower for exclusive items. For example, Costco isn’t running TV ads to promote their Kirkland brand like Pepsi needs to do with their products, which are seen in just about every grocery store in the country.

A Few Examples

If you’re looking to find private label grocery products, Aldi and Trader Joe’s are both known for these selections and can provide some significant savings. But keep in mind that costs vary by location and store.

For some examples with Aldi, a 5-ounce bag of avocado potato chips costs $3.29, according to a local location viewed by HealthyonBudget. That’s 66 percent per ounce compared with Siete potato chips (also made with avocado oil), which go for $3.99 or 73 cents per ounce at Target.

Aldi’s Burman’s yellow mustard also provides significant savings, costing just five cents per ounce versus Heinz yellow mustard, which has one on sale currently for 11 cents per ounce.

Trader Joe’s, under its namesake 33.8 fluid ounce extra virgin olive oil, provides a great deal at just 33 cents per fluid ounce. Compare that to Bertoli’s extra virgin olive oil that sells for 50 cents per ounce at Target.

Those are just a few examples. Target makes its own grocery products under its Good & Gather and Market Pantry brands, with Walmart operating exclusively under Great Value and Marketside.

You can apply this outside of the food section too. If you need sandwich or freezer bags, Walmart sells these under its Great Value brand. This will again provide savings compared with national brand, Glad.

Check Brand Sales

That said, while switching to private label products is a good way to start, keep in mind that this doesn’t always guarantee the most savings. For example, if a name brand product is on sale, it may come cheaper.

For example, Target currently is selling Vital Farms’ Pasture-Raised Eggs (12) for just $5.39, a 20 percent discount from the regular price. That’s cheaper than Trader Joe’s pasture-raised brand that’s listed for $5.99 for a dozen.

In this case, it’s good to check your favorite stores’ mobile apps or e-commerce websites to see what’s on sale and compare by store.

But generally, your wallet will be better off by giving up on brand loyalty. Odds are the ingredients in your favorite grocery items will remain similar, as will the taste – so it’s worth a shot if finances are tight.

You don’t necessarily have to give up your favorite foods to save money. The only sacrifice is that brands may look unrecognizable in your pantry in the beginning.