By Marshall Zelinger
m.zelinger@krdo.com

COLORADO SPRINGS - Lower gas prices may have you saving money, but much of that savings is probably still being spent at the grocery store.  Coupons can help, but what if your product doesn't have a coupon?  NEWSCHANNEL 13 walked the aisles of local grocery stores and found a possible generic solution.

You already know generic brands tend to cost less, but did you know they offer more?  We found many generic brands with cheaper prices and bigger boxes or containers.  At Safeway, we found Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter in a 16.3-ounce jar selling for $3.49*, while the store's generic sold in an 18-ounce jar for $2.99*.  Honey Bunches of Oats cereal sold for $3.39* in a 14.5-ounce box.  The generic Oats and More with Honey sold for $2.19* in a 16-ounce box.

*All prices assume you don't have the grocery store discount card.

"I have to get the most bang for my buck," says shopper Brenda Abbott.  "And I go a lot with the generics."

To save you money, NEWSCHANNEL 13 researched not just how much you're paying for food, but how much you're getting in return.

*All prices assume you don't have the grocery store discount card.

"You're getting the same quality for a lot less price and you can save a lot of money doing that.  You're paying more for less," says Abbott.  "Unless there's some particular reason that you want to go for name brand, the other stuff is just as good most of the time."

Is it?  We put that statement to a blind taste test.  We had three NEWSCHANNEL 13 employees and one of their sons taste a sample of some of the examples from above.  Producer Abby Miller, Graphics Operator Shawn Pacheco and Newscast Director Tracy Little with his son Cole, taste-tested four products: peanut butter, mayonnaise, cereal and ice cream.  They only knew the products as "A" or "B".

Shawn said the generic peanut butter tasted thicker, which he liked.  Tracy thought Skippy was lighter which he preferred.

Everyone noticed the generic mayo looked more yellow than Best Foods brand.

"It looks more like butter," says Abby.  "'A' (generic) would look fine if it's on its own, but when it's compared to the white is when it looks gross.  It tastes the same though and if it's on a sandwich you're not looking at it open-faced.  If you just handed it to me, I would be fine with either one, but if they were out on display and I had a choice between choosing each one, I would definitely go with ‘B' (Best Foods) over ‘A' (generic), based on looks."

"Visually, ‘B' (Best Foods) looks more enticing.  ‘A's' (Generic) pretty yellow," says Shawn.  "I didn't expect ‘A' (generic) to be as good, but they're pretty similar."

By looking at the cereal, Abby thought the generic cereal looked like the "name brand".
 
"I think ‘B' (Honey Bunches) is just sweeter, so it just tastes like there's more sugar on it, but there's more flavors in ‘A' (generic)," says Abby.

"'B' (generic), easily.  ‘A' (Honey Bunches) is pretty bland.  I would guess ‘B' (generic) is the brand name, it definitely tastes better," says Shawn.  "'B's' (generic) much tastier, more substance, better texture."

"I'm going to go ‘B' (generic) on this one, ‘A's' (Honey Bunches) a little too sweet," says Tracy.

"I kind of like ‘A' (Breyer's) better, but it's pretty dead even," says Abby.

"These are pretty close, I don't have a preference on the ice cream," says Tracy.

Our non-scientific research shows generics will save you money, but in some cases, may not save your taste buds.

"Sometimes I try it and they're not quite as good.  There's some generic brands that I do try and stay with," says shopper Mike Grondalski.  "If I had to make ends meet, then yeah I probably would be forgoing brand names for generics.  If there's a big enough difference between generic and brand name, then many times I'll go with generic."

King Soopers/City Market offers a generic brand guarantee.  Its website states:

"We are proud of the quality of all Kroger products. However, our guarantee statement says, 'Try our brand, if you don't like it, we'll give you the national brand free.' Our store will be glad to assist you with your concern if you kindly return the dissatisfactory product."