Do you buy well known food brands?

In my opinion, the brand doesn't matter as much out here in Australia - they all taste the same.
However, if I'm thinking of cooking a recipe that I haven't tried before, then I try to go for the better, more reputable brand the 1st time, and then go to homebrands from them on (provided the recipe turns out alright!) :)

by Xarah

I tend to buy homebrand for things like flour, sugar, soft drinks and milk, but brands for fresh bread and coffee. I like to try different brands and homebrand products and more often find that the homebrand is just as good as a well known brand.

by Ivana Katz

A mixture of brands is good. It all depends what you see to buy. If tea I go gourmet. With items like toilet paper it does not matter.

by Justine Crowley

Yes I agree. I don't care about toilet paper, but will fork out for high quality organic tea.

I get a mix. I get big brand names for condiments and sweets like Marmite, Branston, Cadbury, but I get a lot of supermarket brands too. The quality of supermarket brands depends on which supermarket. Marks & Spencer's are very good quality, but Sainsbury's is a mixed bag.

by Bryony Harrison

Depends on what it is. Buy Paul Newman's Salad Dressing as I love that part of it goes to charity. Buy home brand for a lot of stuff - just can't taste or see the difference...

by Lydia C. Lee

Paul Newman's ranch dressing is the best thing on the planet as far as I'm concerned! Nothing could compare to that flavour.

This is a big one with me.

I have found only a few products are up to my standards as far as home brands.

You do get what you pay for.If anyone was to tell me less, I would not agree.

Time and time again, I have bought home brands, to be very disappointed.
It may mean I do have a high expectation...but I think after many years of buying in my younger days, products that just did not 'cut-it', I can not buy
poor quality any more.

Point in case, I opened a lower brand of Apricot half's last night, and half the tin was full of half ripe fruit.Two weeks before same kind of thing,with another product.
That means I had to throw them out, because they are not ready to eat.

There was no quality control, maybe they thought they would ripen, in the tin!!
Cleaning products are another pet-hate of mine, if you buy the cheaper brand
some do not do the job.

I hate waste, and land fill excess....so I have now the middle of the road, to the top brands in my shopping trolley.
We don't have a lot...but we don't waste what we have.

by jonaja

I go by the ingredients list. Unfortunately, a lot of the home brands use cheaper ingredients which aren't as good for one's health long term, so I like to check and buy things with natural ingredients, without artificial colours and flavours and additives. Some home bands like Woolworths Select and Macro Organic only use natural ingredients. In this case, I would try the home brand to judge for myself if the quality was up to my standard. I eat a lot of organic food and food that isn't processed these days, so can really tell the difference between cheaper grades and just can't make myself eat them (or my kids).

by Sarah Bell