Supermarket own brand identical to branded products

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

wordofwarning wrote: »

IMO I think a lot of butcher meat is horrific quality. Supermarkets are pushing for less fat, salt etc. Your local butcher in a working class area does not care about how much fat he is putting in a sausage.

Irish supermarkets push to use Irish meat. I have seen butchers with Dutch chicken breast, 'Irish' which were from NI.

This idea supermarket meat = bad, local butcher = world class meat is not always though. A lot of butchers in Dublin have inferior quality meat relative to supermarkets for the same price. Aldi steaks can be amazing.

I haven't bought sausages from them, just usually chicken fillets, mince, whole chicken, turkey burgers, pork chops, turkey mince. I noticed with the chops they don't shrink on the grill whereas the supermarket ones are tiny when cooked. The chicken tastes better. I don't know, I'm no meat conniseur but I'm happy buying from the butcher over supermarkets for now

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

wordofwarning wrote: »

IMO I think a lot of butcher meat is horrific quality. Supermarkets are pushing for less fat, salt etc. Your local butcher in a working class area does not care about how much fat he is putting in a sausage.

Irish supermarkets push to use Irish meat. I have seen butchers with Dutch chicken breast, 'Irish' which were from NI.

This idea supermarket meat = bad, local butcher = world class meat is not always though. A lot of butchers in Dublin have inferior quality meat relative to supermarkets for the same price. Aldi steaks can be amazing.

It obviously depends on the Butcher but, in my long experience, supermarket meats, of all types, are vastly inferior to what my local butcher supplies.

homerjay2005

bubblypop wrote: »

Of course own brands are made by named brands!
There's hardly a Dunnes stores factory producing thousands of own name brands!

would it not be the opposite? the smaller brands, that are making the goods for the names brands, are making them for the brands also?

also, i think the likes of Dunnes and especially Tesco and Super Value, do have their own supply channels that are exclusive to them. their network is so vast and turnover so high, they can actually make vast quantities in their own "brands" to maintain a good network.

looksee

I find Lidl fresh veg does not last any time at all compared with Tesco. When they start putting a readable date stamp on their veg I may look at buying it. The basic quality is fine, I think it just spends too much time on a lorry.

Otherwise I like a lot of the Lidl products, and quite a few I would prefer. Tesco had own brand crisps at 99c for 6, Walkers were €2.50-ish for 6, so I got a pack of each and we did a taste test. There was possibly the very slightest difference between the two, (and even then it was different, not better or worse) but not €1.50's worth!

Oasis1974

Slugworths chocolate bars is made in Willy Wonka's factory i do believe.

fussyonion

Oh wow, I bought Aldi's fabric conditioner today; the blue one, 95cent for 1litre, thinking it might not be great but sure 95c, can't go wrong. (I usually buy Comfort).
Well I LOVE it.

The smell is unreal. Absolutely gorgeous; you could smell the clothes on the washing line outside, then when they were dry and I brought them indoors, the whole house smelt of them.

Couldn't believe it. I've never smelt Comfort that much but this is gorge.
Definitely sticking with it!

prinzeugen

odyssey06 wrote: »

Just to be clear... it's parasitic trading if they're trying to con the consumer with sumilar packaging into buying their different product... I'm perfectly happy with own brand stuff as long as it's not trying to be something it isn't!

Just look at the "why buy this when you can have this" ad campaign to see how similar the packaging is.

By having similar packaging, they are trying to fool people into thinking the Aldi/Lidl product is in some way the same or similar.

gizmo81

No McGrath's is horrible. Fallon's has to be Barry's?

Deleted User wrote: »

I assume Aldi mcgraths tea is "made by" Barry's tea

Beyondgone

fussyonion wrote: »

Oh wow, I bought Aldi's fabric conditioner today; the blue one, 95cent for 1litre, thinking it might not be great but sure 95c, can't go wrong. (I usually buy Comfort).
Well I LOVE it.

The smell is unreal. Absolutely gorgeous; you could smell the clothes on the washing line outside, then when they were dry and I brought them indoors, the whole house smelt of them.

Couldn't believe it. I've never smelt Comfort that much but this is gorge.
Definitely sticking with it!

In work, we deal with a lot of smelly stuff. Your nose goes blind to most odours after a bit. Bung in a new one and it's all G again. Stick with the Aldi one for a while then go back to Comfort and smell all new and golden again..

ted1

While a factory may make produce for different brands it doesn't equate to the same product. Different receipes are used asare the quality of the product.

ted1

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

stefanovich wrote: »

There is a difference, one has been sprayed with pesticide and the other hasn't.

There is no difference in taste though

Oh dear..
Are you not one bit concerned about what you are putting into your body ?

ted1

LexieOnRale wrote: »

I've always been a little weird about buying own brand stuff. With the exception of bread for some reason, I can't tell the difference between a good loaf and a cheap loaf. Though the Aldi version of kopperberg is sold in cafe en seine at like 6.50 a bottle so it can't be all bad

Pick up the boxes and compare ingredients look at the nutritional info

Patty O Furniture

looksee wrote: »

I find Lidl fresh veg does not last any time at all compared with Tesco. When they start putting a readable date stamp on their veg I may look at buying it. The basic quality is fine, I think it just spends too much time on a lorry.

Otherwise I like a lot of the Lidl products, and quite a few I would prefer. Tesco had own brand crisps at 99c for 6, Walkers were €2.50-ish for 6, so I got a pack of each and we did a taste test. There was possibly the very slightest difference between the two, (and even then it was different, not better or worse) but not €1.50's worth!

I've found out that with bread & fruit with both Aldi/Lidl, as they must be under an air conditioner, as you can see the inside of the packaging when it comes out of the store.

There was a controversy recently on KP's Hula Hoops packets turning up in Aldi's Snackrite brand in which both products are made in same factory, no doubt someone put them in as a prank?

quadrifoglio verde

ted1 wrote: »

Oh dear..
Are you not one bit concerned about what you are putting into your body ?

You have walked around Dublin recently.
Car after car after car spewing out lovely diesel fumes. Net result, inhalation into your body if harmful cancerous particles.

Unless you eat a 100% organic diet 100% of the time, then it's pointless. Except for taste. I'll pay more if the price is worth the improved taste. However if I can't taste any difference, then forget about it.

There's a hell of a lot worse things than non organic porridge oats that I could put into my body though.
Like a bar of chocolate. Or a bag of sweets. Or ready made meals.
You'd swear cereal farmers were growing them in landfill sites the way some people go on.

draiochtanois

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osarusan

Some people in the Netherlands bought McDonald's chicken nuggets and brought them to some organic food fair and had people waffling about how superior they were.

And I've posted this before, but there was a documentary on the BBC in which they visited a wine-tasting club and served up white wine that had been dyed red with a tasteless, odourless dye, and they all went on about the full body and fruity flavours and all the words associated with red wine.

They also got a can of peas from a cannery (which used green dye to make its product fresh-looking) and asked the producer to make one without the green dye. The canning process turned them a kind of pale green-white. They took the non-dyed one out onto the street for tasting, and people thought it was awful.

The point, rather than just poking fun at them, was to highlight that a lot of what we taste (and think is great or terrible, fresh or stale, etc) has a lot to do with perceptions. To simplify, a lot of what we taste is we think we are going to taste.

Anyway, my taste buds are perfect so when I pay more for certain products it's because there's a genuine difference in quality, but when others pay more for certain products that I wouldn't pay more for, they are obviously hipsters, full of crap etc., and that's all there is to it.

Uncle_moe

Organic is really a bit of a farce. the Food Standards Agency in Britain found that there was no evidence that organic products were either safer or nutritionally advantageous. The taste is also rarely superior as well, anyone tried organic wine or cheese? Gastronomic nightmare.

mel123

Uncle_moe wrote: »

Organic is really a bit of a farce. the Food Standards Agency in Britain found that there was no evidence that organic products were either safer or nutritionally advantageous. The taste is also rarely superior as well, anyone tried organic wine or cheese? Gastronomic nightmare.

Have to agree with you here. Working in an industry that's involved in pesticides and the likes, the laws to be able to make food 'organic' are a joke in Ireland (not sure about other country's regulations), you might as well not bother!!!

Billy86

Obviously people are going to have some particular things they are attached to or feel there is a significant difference on, but 90% of the time the own brand stuff's only noticeable difference is the price tag.

Billy86

wordofwarning wrote: »

IMO I think a lot of butcher meat is horrific quality. Supermarkets are pushing for less fat, salt etc. Your local butcher in a working class area does not care about how much fat he is putting in a sausage.

Irish supermarkets push to use Irish meat. I have seen butchers with Dutch chicken breast, 'Irish' which were from NI.

This idea supermarket meat = bad, local butcher = world class meat is not always though. A lot of butchers in Dublin have inferior quality meat relative to supermarkets for the same price. Aldi steaks can be amazing.

Compared to other countries I've been in Irish butchers are very good quality, to be honest.

Uncle_moe

Agree that butcher shop quality is very much a mixed bag. I try to stay clear of any processed meats in butcher shops as most is of pretty poor quality. You really have to know about the overall quality of the shop. I personally wouldn't buy sausages or other processed meat from a butcher I wasn't familiar with.

Fratton Fred

I had a party recently and my wife told me, under no circumstances, was i to buy Aldi beers, they had to be good quality as everyone would know.

So, I stocked up on O'Sheas IPA and Golden Ale. It went down really well, everyone was asking me where I got these beers from. O'Sheas by the way, is O'Haras but slightly weaker and a lot cheaper.

For lager I just got what ever was on the best offer in Tesco at the time (San Miguel I think) cos that stuff all tastes the same anyway.

fussyonion

I use a very good local butcher but I do also buy meat in Aldi and I'm very impressed by it.

The whole chickens always come out gorgeous. Never dry or tough and loads of flavour. The mince beef is just perfect and not stringy like most supermarket mince.

The pork chops are lovely and thick and I can't get enough of the maple rashers.

I know a lot of people will avoid supermarket meat but I recommend you try Aldi's range. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

pedigree 6

draiochtanois wrote: »

No they are not

Butter is butter, milk is milk, cream is cream.

Only thing that is different is the packaging.

Ya might think that milk is just milk.

BUT as a dairy farmer who gets paid on the constituents of the milk that couldn't be further from the truth.
I see differences in the fat, protein, lactose on every collection and then big differences between whether the cows are on an indoor diet or out on grass and then the type and growth stage of grass and then whether the Sun is shining or not and then breed of cow differences between high volume low constituents Holstein milk or low volume high constituents Jersey milk or Friesian milk which is in between the two and then stage of lactation differences in constituents of the milk also.

But shur milk is just milk.

draiochtanois

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ohnonotgmail

draiochtanois wrote: »

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Assuming the above is true why are there such differences in best before dates between own brand and branded milk? The own brand milk regularly has best before dates a week shorter than the branded milk.

HeidiHeidi

Lord knows what kind of a ****-storm I'm going to bring down on my head with this... but here goes....

Butter - I've done the rounds of branded and unbranded (they're all branded, but you know what I mean) - and I'm convinced they're not all the same. Some are softer than others straight out of the fridge (do they mix something in it to stop it going rock hard? I'm sure I remember butter from my childhood that you'd need an axe to get into straight out of the fridge), and I think some are saltier than others. Couldn't be scientific about it though.

Bottled water - I can DEFINITELY taste a difference between them. Softer, harder, metallic.... I've never done a taste test but I'm fairly sure there's one or two I'd identify no problem in a blind test.

HeidiHeidi

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

Assuming the above is true why are there such differences in best before dates between own brand and branded milk? The own brand milk regularly has best before dates a week shorter than the branded milk.

That would in my book be a good thing!

3-week best before dates on milk slightly freaks me out if I'm honest. What on earth are they putting in it / doing to it to make it last that long? :eek:

Same with bread.

pedigree 6

draiochtanois wrote: »

And Farmers are farmers, thinking they know everything about everything.

While the above is true it bears no relevance to what I said unless you bottle and sell your milk in individual bottles.

As you probably know if you thought about it the milk from your bulk tank gets blended with your neighbours on the truck that comes to collect it (which also samples if for the constituents. That milk is further blended at the liquid milk processing plant. That same milk is often sold in two different cartoons

Super market own brand e.g Supervalu and branded Avonmore

Milk as a consumer buys it is milk, butter is butter, etc

So all the milk in the country is being blended together in one big vat?

You do know that some farms are filling the tanker on their own.
So that milk docket that comes testing that milk is the same for that whole tanker and how that farmer fed the cows and the other variables I mentioned before still stand.
Then when it goes to the processor it depends on that particular processor whether they take the whey protein, butterfat, lactose out and how much they put back into that carton or whether it goes back at all.
Then you have the different minerals produced and cows out on grass fulltime will have more at this time of year than cows indoor in the winter.

Then that butter you eat with that yellow colour. That comes from beta carotene.
Only produced from grass fed cows.

But shur what would I know.
I'm only an ignorant farmer.

draiochtanois

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C3PO

optogirl wrote: »

loads of supermarkets do this - they contract the likes of Premier Dairies Or Dawn or Kellogs to make their cereals/juices/whatevers and package in own brand packaging

Probably mentioned somewhere else in the discussion but Kellogs don't manufacture for anyone else ... nor do Coca-Cola!

my3cents

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Lord knows what kind of a ****-storm I'm going to bring down on my head with this... but here goes....

Butter - I've done the rounds of branded and unbranded (they're all branded, but you know what I mean) - and I'm convinced they're not all the same. Some are softer than others straight out of the fridge (do they mix something in it to stop it going rock hard? I'm sure I remember butter from my childhood that you'd need an axe to get into straight out of the fridge), and I think some are saltier than others. Couldn't be scientific about it though.

Bottled water - I can DEFINITELY taste a difference between them. Softer, harder, metallic.... I've never done a taste test but I'm fairly sure there's one or two I'd identify no problem in a blind test.

Interesting case in point with the bottled water. We had some problems I forget what were with bottled water from Lidl and I was talking to a neighbor who is a sales (manager/director?) for one of the big Irish manufacturers and mentioned it to him. He wanted to know if the water had got any better because his company had recently taken over the supply of it for Lidl. Same bottle same label same packaging but completely different supplier and water source.

JupiterKid

Aldi products are very good quality. Tesco own brand products are fine except for their "value" range which is sub par. Dunnes own brand products are rubbish.

M&S products are the best but of course you pay a good bit extra for them.

One product that I always buy branded is Fairy washing up liquid. Everything else is inferior.

HeidiHeidi

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Lord knows what kind of a ****-storm I'm going to bring down on my head with this... but here goes....

Butter - I've done the rounds of branded and unbranded (they're all branded, but you know what I mean) - and I'm convinced they're not all the same. Some are softer than others straight out of the fridge (do they mix something in it to stop it going rock hard? I'm sure I remember butter from my childhood that you'd need an axe to get into straight out of the fridge), and I think some are saltier than others. Couldn't be scientific about it though.

My mother works in a creamery where they make butter for lots of different retailers. You can tell by the numbers on the back of the packets, each creamery has their own unique number.
The butter is all exactly the same for all retailers. Except if it's a specific low salt butter, which is done early in the week, then all other orders are done after.
Exact same ingredients.

Parchment

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Bottled water - I can DEFINITELY taste a difference between them. Softer, harder, metallic.... I've never done a taste test but I'm fairly sure there's one or two I'd identify no problem in a blind test.

Im the same - i cannot drink Volvic (salty), Rover Rock (claggy taste - makes me even thirstier) or any of the cheapo brands like "celtic water" or whatever, they all taste plasticy/salty.

I find Ballygowan tasteless so thats ok but Evian is the best. Lovely smooth taste, it has to be to do with the high silica % in it. Other brands dont have silica in the water.

I gag at the taste of most tap waters. i really wish i could drink it easily but i cant. I hate that i buy bottled water (about 6 big bottles a week) because of the plastic bottles but otherwise i wouldnt be able to drink as much water as i need.

First world problem for sure but i could id bottled water in a blind taste test.

HeidiHeidi

bubblypop wrote: »

My mother works in a creamery where they make butter for lots of different retailers. You can tell by the numbers on the back of the packets, each creamery has their own unique number.
The butter is all exactly the same for all retailers. Except if it's a specific low salt butter, which is done early in the week, then all other orders are done after.
Exact same ingredients.

I'm certainly not going to argue with you (or your mother :eek: ) but how come then some butter is noticeably softer than others when taken straight out of the fridge?

I had assumed (and yes, I know what they say about assuming!) that oils or emulsifiers are mixed in to keep it from going rock hard, and amounts of this varied between brands.

(Just realised I'm in danger of completely derailing this thread into a how-do-they-make-butter one, for which apologies! My last post on the topic, I promise)

HeidiHeidi

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

I'm certainly not going to argue with you (or your mother :eek: ) but how come then some butter is noticeably softer than others when taken straight out of the fridge?

I had assumed (and yes, I know what they say about assuming!) that oils or emulsifiers are mixed in to keep it from going rock hard, and amounts of this varied between brands.

(Just realised I'm in danger of completely derailing this thread into a how-do-they-make-butter one, for which apologies! My last post on the topic, I promise)

I don't know, I wouldn't keep butter in the fridge ever, gets too hard!!
But it's the same ingredients. Just check the numbers on the back, they're in a little circle thing with letters as well. You can tell which butters are made by the same factory.

Agree about the water, but that's obvious enough, if you drink from different wells in different parts of the country, it tastes different. All to do with the soil make up I guess.

prinzeugen

bubblypop wrote: »

I don't know, I wouldn't keep butter in the fridge ever, gets too hard!!
But it's the same ingredients. Just check the numbers on the back, they're in a little circle thing with letters as well. You can tell which butters are made by the same factory.

Agree about the water, but that's obvious enough, if you drink from different wells in different parts of the country, it tastes different. All to do with the soil make up I guess.

The numbers only show the factory. The process and ingredients are likely to be different.

Same factory does not equal same product. Fact!

prinzeugen

Parchment wrote: »

Im the same - i cannot drink Volvic (salty), Rover Rock (claggy taste - makes me even thirstier) or any of the cheapo brands like "celtic water" or whatever, they all taste plasticy/salty.

I find Ballygowan tasteless so thats ok but Evian is the best. Lovely smooth taste, it has to be to do with the high silica % in it. Other brands dont have silica in the water.

I gag at the taste of most tap waters. i really wish i could drink it easily but i cant. I hate that i buy bottled water (about 6 big bottles a week) because of the plastic bottles but otherwise i wouldnt be able to drink as much water as i need.

First world problem for sure but i could id bottled water in a blind taste test.

Bottled water is the biggest con going. Water is water. Any claims that X brand is healthier than Y brand is bull****.

I do agree that river rock makes you more thirsty however.

If you like water with silicates (sand) in it, look forward to kidney stones.

HeidiHeidi

prinzeugen wrote: »

Bottled water is the biggest con going. Water is water. Any claims that X brand is healthier than Y brand is bull****.

I do agree that river rock makes you more thirsty however.

If you like water with silicates (sand) in it, look forward to kidney stones.

I haven't seen anyone claiming that one water is healthier than another?

They do taste different, though.

MarkY91

Weetabix are obviously not the real ones but to be honest, I prefare the taste of the own brand ones. SuperValu ones to be precise. Real weetabix taste weird to me at this stage.

Some own brand stuff I just cannot eat. Like mayonaisse and ketchup.

Will I Am Not

Who makes the Fallon's tea that you get in Lidl. It's class.

prinzeugen

prinzeugen wrote: »

The numbers only show the factory. The process and ingredients are likely to be different.

Same factory does not equal same product. Fact!

Well, when it comes to butter, the process & ingredients are exactly the same, apart from the low salt butter.

I love Sean nos

Worked in a factory in my teens making chicken burgers, chicken kievs, etc. The trays and labels changed depending on which supermarket was buying, but the product was unchanged.

Parchment

Parchment wrote: »

Im the same - i cannot drink Volvic (salty), Rover Rock (claggy taste - makes me even thirstier) or any of the cheapo brands like "celtic water" or whatever, they all taste plasticy/salty.

I find Ballygowan tasteless so thats ok but Evian is the best................

River Rock is just tap water filtered to some degree
Ballygowan is actually spring water.

Can't fathom how people buy River Rock and other bottled city water options when actual spring water as available at the same price.

prinzeugen wrote: »

Bottled water is the biggest con going. Water is water. Any claims that X brand is healthier than Y brand is bull****..........

There's a huge difference between spring water and the stuff that's after having chlorine, flouride etc added.
The difference is actually detailed on the label for you.

Uncle_moe

Really interested in the butter question. Obviously there are different grades, the sea salt butter in marks from Brittany is amazing. The milk it's made from has a higher fat content so it tastes much richer, the salt is also superior in texture at least.
However, why do some Irish butters very so much. Some that claim to be butter are so soft even from the fridge which seems odd, and have an inferior taste to Kerrygold. I assume Kerrygold don't make stuff for anyone else?

draiochtanois

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Uncle_moe

draiochtanois wrote: »

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They only say they pack and market Kerrygold though, they don't claim to produce it.

draiochtanois

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srsly78

prinzeugen wrote: »

Bottled water is the biggest con going. Water is water. Any claims that X brand is healthier than Y brand is bull****.

I do agree that river rock makes you more thirsty however.

If you like water with silicates (sand) in it, look forward to kidney stones.

Many of those brands quite literally are tap water. River Rock certainly is.