WHAT TO BUY?

We are all aware of the power of advertizing even if we claim not to be influenced by the money thrown at the project. I have no problem buying generic for non-edible items, but I have more hesitation when I am going to put it in my mouth. I once bought “Fred’s Split Pea” soup at Grocery Outlet. The price was terrific so I thought it was worth a try. I like split pea soup and enjoy a couple of different brands – both well known. But, of course, they cost way more than Fred’s. On, this was not a recent purchase. I did this went I had enough to buy Campbell’s.

I have no idea what Fred’s complete recipe is, but I can tell you it tasted like it was mixed in mud and I know mud. I ate mud when I was young. But Fred’s mud was bland and had added sand. I am not a picky eater but could not get even one bite down. Fred is no longer in my list of great food buys. No, I do not mean Fred Myers

I know this is ancient history, but there were several things my mother did not prepare me to handle when I left for college. She made sure I had laundry detergent, toothpaste, deodorant, soap and several other essential products for beginning life on my own. What she did not do was discuss how one selects these products is you didn’t keep the empty package or write the name down before disposal. As I ran out of the initial supplies I walked to a nearby grocery store to buy replacements. I had not idea what to buy. When I faced this mammoth aisle of laundry detergent I was overwhelmed. I could see the different prices, but had no idea what was good. I am grateful for TV as I ultimately chose Tide because it made clothes whiter than white and who wouldn’t want that. I bought Peposodent toothpaste because I wanted to wonder where the yellow went when I brushed my teeth with ——— (fill in the blank).

TV told me all I needed to know about what products to buy. I bought what I saw advertised. Maybe it came from the radio, newspaper or a magazine, I’m not sure. I do know I never bought an item I never heard of and my friends and I did not sit around discussing the value of various products compared to any others.

It took awhile to get over this. There was a time I wanted to buy my wife a portable dishwasher. Maytag was the brand I knew and therefore wanted. A salesman at Eaton’s (Canadian department store) gave me a lesson in brands. He took me through their mammoth dishwasher selection and showed me a number of brands made by Maytag. He told me to ignore the outer trappings and design, look on the inside. Yes, there were several identical on the inside and on closer inspection the dials and buttons on every one of them were placed in exactly the same place. They had different face designs, but the faces were completely interchangeable.

My wife and I toured a pretzel factory in Pennsylvania and noticed that at the end of the line the same pretzels were being packaged in different brand bags. All were for sale in their gift shop. There was a large price different between the brands that I have just seen come from the same ovens. I was told Andersons were just the baker. Anderson’s was one of the largest pretzel bakeries in the world yet there was no Anderson pretzels sold anywhere. They were sold everywhere — just under different names. There was over a $2.00 price difference amongst the various bags.

No house brands of grocery stores are made them. They taste test various options and choose the best and then suddenly Starbucks make their house brand coffee. What a devious trick.

I did some taste testing for Western Family foods several years back. I was shocked at how many Western Family brands were sitting right next to the company that packages their house brand. Guess which one was always cheaper. The deceptive little devils! Had I known this as a student I would had saved a pile of money.