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What generic items are as good as brand names?

I have a few items which seem to taste the same no matter what the brand.

1.Tomato puree
3.Instant oatmeal

Anyone got any more?

Also can anyone really tell the difference between white and brown eggs - I never in my life heard there was supposed to be a difference until I came to live in the U.S.

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  1. Brown eggs are laid by a breed of chickens known as a Rhode Island red. The yolk is a little bolder yellow on a brown egg, but they have always baked and cooked the same.

    1 Reply
    1. re: Kelli2006

      oooh brown eggs are a richer darker yolk and a deeper flavor. we raised chickens for a long time when i was growing up, and we always wanted the brown eggs, the white ones didn't have nearly as much flavor.

    2. DEPENDS WHERE YOU LIVE. i'm in mass. sometimes a store brand is as good as a name brand because it IS the same as a name brand. ex. Stop and Shop store brand plain yoghurt tastes the same as(is made by) Columbo yoghurt (a Boston manufacturer).
      that practice is called 'Private labelling'.

      1. cottage cheese
        vegetable oil
        10x sugar
        tomato paste (not sure I agree on the puree)

        1. I agree about the milk but generic sugar is not something I will ever buy on purpose, it is made from beet sugar adn dies not cook the same way. Cottage cheese varies greatly from producer to producer, the sweetness and saltiness of tomato puree and paste can vary greatly. No way instant oatmeal is coming into my home so, yeah I'll concede the milk and cooking oil.

          2 Replies
          1. re: Candy

            That is interesting about the 10x sugar-- I will have to check next time I'm at the store. I always by Domino's but have done the generic 10x with no discernible diff. This may also depend on what your generic brand is-- I'm sure some are better than others. I still hold with the tomato paste-- whoever tastes it on its own anyway? I guess this is just something that IMO makes very little difference to what your cooking-- can't remember the last recipe I made that called for more than 1 T of paste (puree is a different story since it often stands alone in sauces and such). Yeah, people claim cottage cheeses taste different but I guess I just don't get (or care about) the subtleties there (whereas I do about yogurt-- just a personal thing). We might all be surprised if we did a blind testing of some of these things-- generic v. name-brand-- I'm just not that confident in the abilities of my taste buds to know the difference. Personally, I think we're sucked in by packaging and marketing on a lot of things...

            1. re: Procrastibaker

              actually i like the local generic brand of canned tomatoes better than the name brand.. imo all of it depends on your personal tastes, so no one brand is "better" than another

          2. Milk was a somewhat recent topic with several of us having a favourite brand: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/321085

            Not all milk is created equal.