What supermarket items do you go cheap with?

[BarbaraY]

My budget may be tight but I just won't skimp on some things. One has to watch the boneless chicken breasts on special because they often have 18% solution added and the texture and taste are horrid.

Best Foods or Banquet brand mayo are the only ones I will buy.

I agree that Safeway Select are usually good products. We buy some of the cereals, jam, and a few other products, however I go to another store for meats.

[purplewiz]

I kept this topic in mind as I went grocery shopping today, and it was interesting to evaluate what I bought against whether I was going cheap or expensive.

Cheap:

Seltzer water. Store brand on sale since we're only going to mix it with sugar free syrups to make our own soda anyway.

Meat. I love scratch and dent meat (you know, marked down because it's going to "expire" in a day or so), and since I freeze it anyway, I don't care what the date is on it. Got a fabulous buy on pork chops today - did a quick marinade and threw them on the grill for dinner. The freezer is full of $0.99/lb pork country ribs and bags of IQF chicken breasts.

Canned tomatoes. I don't care if the recipe says to use the expensive imported variety, I can't taste the difference. (Also includes tomato sauce and tomato paste.)

Cold cuts. Deli ham vs. the Primo Taglio ham - I like Primo Taglio better, but not that much more per pound.

Eggs. Didn't buy any because they weren't on sale and I only kind of needed them.

Fresh tomatoes. Whatever's cheapest - they're not homegrown, so they all need ripening at home (which helps the flavor immensely).

Fresh vegetables in general. What was on sale dictated just about everything I bought, from preshredded cole slaw mix (buck a bag) to mushrooms to green onions.

Expensive:

Soda. We like what we like, and cheaper versions will not substitute for Diet Vanilla Coke.

Yogurt. There are very few sugar free versions, and many of them taste lousy. This seems to be a trend with sugar free products - some taste great, some taste like a chemical factory. I'm willing to pay more for the stuff that tastes better.

Chocolate. 70% cocoa solids or better, not too acidy, and yes, it's expensive and no, I don't care.

There seems to be a third category: cheap with a limit, where I do go as cheap as possible while still having what I consider to be acceptable quality. An example is sliced cheese. I love Tillamook, but the Safeway Select is significantly cheaper and tastes almost as good. But even though the American Process Cheese Food-Alike is even cheaper, it is horrible, so I won't go there.

Canned tuna is another. I like the cheap chunk light, and I get either the Safeway Select or Whole Foods 365 brand. It's still more expensive than Bumblebee, et. al., but their quality is so bad it's not worth it at any price.

Finally, as I was going over my grocery receipt, I got a good laugh as I realized that almost everything I bought was either on sale or had a coupon. I guess I go cheap overall :-).

Marcia.

[Susan G]

Cheap: flour, sugar, baking soda/powder, canned veggies, rice. If it's part of a recipe, and the individual ingredient will never be noticed, no need to spend extra money (in my opinion).

Splurge: Artisanal breads, cheeses, chocolates, or organic meats. Anything that stands alone. Special splurge: Prosciutto di Parma.

[choux]

Wow, I'm surprised so many people don't have a preference on canned tomatoes. I've tried many brands and always come back to the same one. It actually tastes like tomatoes and has a thick red juice rather than some insipid watery stuff. While it is not actually more expensive than the regular store brands, I have to go far out of my way to get them and I won't use any other brand. I usually buy a case at a time.

The single thing that I couldn't skimp on would be toilet paper. I hate that thin and scratchy stuff! Soft and fluffy for me!!

[evongvisith]

Cheap: Pasta, noodles, ordinary canned mushrooms, canned or frozen veggies and beans, tomato paste, vegetable oil, peanut butter, commonplace Asian ingredients like canned water chestnuts or bamboo shoots.

In the middle: Jam and jelly, cream cheese, American "cheese" (I'll admit to buying this, and yes, the cheapest stuff really does taste far worse than Kraft), fresh fruits and veggies, oat-nut bread, seafood, soy sauce, oyster or hoison sauces, jasmine rice in bulk from the Korean grocery down the block, fruit juice, tea.

Splurge: Olive oil, good table cheese, non-factory farmed meat and eggs, certain imported fruits and vegetables like lotus root or lychees, Tommyknocker soft drinks, exotic mushrooms fresh or dried, imported and/or organic chocolate.

Also, Nutella is one of my regular must-haves; I don't know if it counts as a splurge because there's (AFAIK) no equivalent generic brand.

choux said: The single thing that I couldn't skimp on would be toilet paper. I hate that thin and scratchy stuff! Soft and fluffy for me!!

Me too. I like to be comfy, but sometimes I do wonder why I'm paying so much for something I'm just going to flush down a toilet...

[SuzySushi]

I'm really surprised that more eGulleteers don't seem to have a preference for the more expensive pasta or rice, as there's definitely a difference in quality from the cheap stuff.

Also, sugar, there's a definite difference in baking performance between cheaper beet sugar (often listed just as "sugar" on packages) and cane sugar. After making that mistake once, I now always make sure I'm buying cane sugar!

[Carlovski]

Wow, I'm surprised so many people don't have a preference on canned tomatoes. I've tried many brands and always come back to the same one. It actually tastes like tomatoes and has a thick red juice rather than some insipid watery stuff. While it is not actually more expensive than the regular store brands, I have to go far out of my way to get them and I won't use any other brand. I usually buy a case at a time.

The single thing that I couldn't skimp on would be toilet paper. I hate that thin and scratchy stuff! Soft and fluffy for me!!

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Sometimes cheap canned tomatoes are a false economy - it takes longer to cook to get them to reduce down to a sauce consistency, so more gas, and less sauce at the end. The good quality ones just sort of collapse with a minute or two of heating. If I'm chucking them into a long braise or casserole, then it doesn't matter so much.

[BarbaraY]

I'm really surprised that more eGulleteers don't seem to have a preference for the more expensive pasta or rice, as there's definitely a difference in quality from the cheap stuff.

Also, sugar, there's a definite difference in baking performance between cheaper beet sugar (often listed just as "sugar" on packages) and cane sugar. After making that mistake once, I now always make sure I'm buying cane sugar!

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I definitely agree about the rice. I use Jasmine rice for most things but short grain for Japanese meals and sushi. My daughter a got brand of Jasmine rice that isn't my usual brand and it is too soft when cooked. It isn't as fragrant as the usual one either.

[rooftop1000]

one way to tell straight up if you are cheap is to sign up for U-Promise..college fund....tied to grocery etc shopping brand loyalty points.

I signed up 2 years ago, have about 80 cents in the account

T