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Viva v. Bounty and beyond


Fat Guy

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I prefer Viva -- it's softer and seems to be more absorbent. I don't know if scientific tests would show that it absorbs more or quicker, but in real-world use I vastly prefer it to Bounty or any other brand I've tried. If only Costco carried Viva instead of Bounty.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Viva! Viva la Viva!

P.S. I also wish Costco carried Viva. And Costco's Kirkland paper towels kinda suck. Uh, don't suck up enough, that is...

So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money. But when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness."

So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

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I got hooked on Viva as a young, broke, nursing mother who needed a pad to keep milk from spraying everywhere when feeding the baby. The pads sold for that purpose were way too expensive, so I found that I could fold up Viva's into a square for a whole lot less money. They served me well through 2 kids, and I've used them ever since. They are the softest and most absorbant, and I love them.

Stop Family Violence

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Brawny Pick-A-Size.

Only paper towel out there. I am always dissappointed with Bounty anymore. Too soft actually.

Dana, I did absolutely the same thing with VIVA. Many years ago, but they worked very well. I had only two children, but only 14 months apart. I was all about VIVA then, but you may want to give the big lumberjack a spin. He is kind of interesting. Outdoorsy and all that.

:biggrin:

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Brawny Pick-A-Size.

Absolutely - the pick-a-size is the most ingenious paper towel ever invented. Saves a ton of paper and absorption isn't too bad either.

Rich Westerfield

Mt. Lebanon, PA

Drinking great coffee makes you a better lover.

There is no scientific data to support this conclusion, but try to prove otherwise. Go on. Try it. Right now.

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Brawny Pick-A-Size.

Absolutely - the pick-a-size is the most ingenious paper towel ever invented. Saves a ton of paper and absorption isn't too bad either.

Agreed. You and I should rule the world PaniniGuy.

I can do one, two or three sections depending upon my needs. I have even torn off four sections when I wanted to.

Brilliant.

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You may not believe it, but I have the uncanny ability to tear one sheet of Viva in half! I betcha I could do quarters if I tried hard enough! :raz:

So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money. But when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness."

So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

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But is Viva outdoorsy?

I thought not.

Speaking of Costco and paper towels, I wish they would standardize their unit costs. I was trying to decide, functional differences aside, whether Costco's store brand represented a better value than the Bounty towels I normally buy, but one listed price per 100 sq. ft. and the other per 100 sheets (and no, the sheets weren't 12x12).

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Viva. No question about it, and we did a side by side up at the Cabin a couple of years ago. Now, if Viva only still made paper napkins...

Cheap paper towels suck, and quite often my local market has Viva on sale, and if there's a coupon in that coupon thingie in the Sunday paper, I stock up.

But, I don't use paper towels for spills and such, mostly for mopping grease off of food, etc. For most of the other stuff, I use dishtowels.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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Brawny Pick-A-Size here as well. Also the only paper towels I've seen locally that are white with no printed design. On the extremely rare occasion I want to nuke something, and cover it with a paper towel, that makes a difference, Nothing worse than a quesadilla with a lover-ly pastel floral pattern transfered to the top.... :wacko:

--Roberta--

"Let's slip out of these wet clothes, and into a dry Martini" - Robert Benchley

Pierogi's eG Foodblog

My *outside* blog, "A Pound Of Yeast"

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I buy whatever is on sale and white with no decorations. I cut some in quarters and keep them in my towel/dishrag drawer. Take that, Pick-a-size!

Like snowangel, though, I use cloth towels and rags for a lot of things.

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I buy whatever is on sale and white with no decorations. I cut some in quarters and keep them in my towel/dishrag drawer. Take that, Pick-a-size!

Like snowangel, though, I use cloth towels and rags for a lot of things.

But do you have a lumberjack looking all lumberjacky at you every time you peer into the cabinet?

I do towels and rags for a lot of stuff, but when I had kids at home we went through a lot of papertowels. Nature of the little beasties. :biggrin:

The laundry load issue was an issue back then. I only do two loads a week now, but there was a time when his, hers and ours made for two loads a day.

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I had never bought Viva until last summer when I was in a cake-baking frenzy and had read about smoothing icing with Viva (either under fondant or as it's own kind of faux-fondant). I bought a single roll and, while I can't say I never looked back, I certainly fell in love... I've been buying Brawny for general cleaning, but then I bought a multi-pack of Viva and NOW I might never look back. So soft, so smooth... mmmmmm... lol

Feast then thy heart, for what the heart has had, the hand of no heir shall ever hold.
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I've never tried Viva--will have to do so. I love Bounty--and Bounty paper napkins--as much as i adore the Brawny Guy--Bounty is the better paper towel.

BUT, unfortunately I read awhile ago that Marcal is the only brand made of recycled paper so i am forced by my conscience to buy only Marcal.

I hope you all appreciate my sacrifice .....Zoe

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I actually prefer something that is a bit harder and absorbent but not too absorbent. And cost per sq foot is always a concern. Never did care for Bounty or Viva - even if they were on sale. I usually look for a sale on Scott's in the full size roll (the thinner diameter rolls have a cheaper per roll price but are a sucker bet on the per sq foot unit price).

Scott's has, for me, the ideal balance of density, texture etc. If I use them to sop up water I can even leave them out on a dish rack or across the faucet stem overnight and reuse a few.

But this past weekend I was shopping in my local Evil Empire store (don't blame me - target takes twice as long to get to form my house so I go there far less often). After doing a quick heads up on the various Scott's multi-pack pricing and even toying with the idea of giving Coronet yet another chance (despite the fact that thjey've broken my heart so many time before) - I spotted these:

Bounty Basic

Yes - Bounty is now going after the price sensitive paper towel shopper. It's about time. The unit price was not quite as low as the cheapest bargain brands but at first glance it appears to be a better product. I'll find out in a week or so when my current stock of Scott's runs out and I switch over.

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I actually prefer somehign that is a bit harder and absorbent but not too absorbent. And cost per sq foot is always a concern.  Never did care for Bounty or Viva - even if they were on sale.  I usually look for a sale on Scott's in the full size roll (the thinner diameter rolls have a cheaper per roll price but are a sucker bet on the per sq foot unit price).

Scott's has, for me, the ideal balance of density, texture etc.  If I use them to sop up water I can even leave them out on a dish rack or across the faucet stem overnight and reuse a few.

But this past weekend I was shopping in my local Evil Empire store (don't blame me - target takes twice as long to get to form my house so I go there far less often).  After doing a quick heads up on the various Scott's multi-pack pricing and even toying with the idea of giving Coronet yet another chance  (despite the fact that thjey've broken my heart so many time before) - I spotted these:

Bounty Basic

Yes - Bounty is now going after the price sensitive paper towel shopper. It's about time.  The unit price was not quite as low as the cheapest bargain brands but at first glance it appears to be a better product. I'll find out in a  week or so when my current stock of Scott's runs out and I switch over.

Yeah, well I may have to pick up a roll and see. But I have personal issues with Bounty because it is a Procter and Gamble product. That's just me though, and should in no way influence anyone else's purchase decisions. I can say that I don't care for the Bounty standard issue paper towel.

Scott's? For many years I was a Scott's toilet paper fan and would allow nothing else in my home. I got cheap in a convenience store and bought Cottonelle one day. Haven't looked back since.

Coronet is just a tease. A mean tease.

So are we consumers. And the lumberjack rules.

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We'll get whatever brand is on sale, as long as it's a pick-a-size version. Most recently, that means our grocery store's brand. I've never noticed much of a difference, other than using less if it's pick-a-size compared to one-size-fits-none.

I'm very excited to have a paper towel holder in my kitchen, for the first time in nearly nine years of marriage!

MelissaH

MelissaH

Oswego, NY

Chemist, writer, hired gun

Say this five times fast: "A big blue bucket of blue blueberries."

foodblog1 | kitchen reno | foodblog2

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Brawny Pick-A-Size.

Absolutely - the pick-a-size is the most ingenious paper towel ever invented. Saves a ton of paper and absorption isn't too bad either.

I am not really a fan of the pick-a-size concept because I inevitably seem to "pick" the wrong size. I always seem to pull too little or too much. Often instead of getting two sheets, which would make a regular size sheet, I pull three resulting in about 50% more towel than I need.

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I like Viva as well, although for general cleaning, I am more apt to use my microfiber dish cloths and kitchen towels that I picked up at Costco.

Regards,

Michael Lloyd

Mill Creek, Washington USA

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I've used nothing but Viva for years.

But it's pricey the way I go through them.

I just got a large pack of the new Brawny Basic.

We'll see. It seems the manufacturers are finding out many of us have discovered microfiber towels and their sales are falling.

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Guess I'm way out numbered, but I prefer Bounty select-a-size. Of course the market seem to always have everthing but!

Chris

Cookbooks are full of stirring passages

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I just tried the Bounty Basic and it's a big thumbs down. They are too thin. Due to a unique sort of tetrahedral or geometeric pattern in the surface they seem to have reasonable strength but absorbency is the issue. They don't hold enough water. Generic grocery store paper towels and brands like Coronet are IMO a better value at that price point.

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