Generic Food

[viscousmemories]

Does anyone else remember the original "generic" food? The stuff with a plain white label and black print? You could get all kinds of canned and dried goods for a fraction of the cost of name brand stuff, and it was all labelled like "Mushrooms" or "Chicken Soup" or "Spaghetti". Just exactly what it was, no frills or fuss. Of course they eventually started sprucing up the packaging a little here and there, and before long they were spending almost as much money on packaging and marketing the "generic" stuff as the name brand, and the price rose accordingly. So now what they call "generic" (like Kroger's "Private Selection" stuff) is really not a lot cheaper than the name brand. Idiots.

[Skep]

The Piggly Wiggly store I shop at has a small selection of the generic products you remember. Mostly snack foods like corn chips, and paper goods. I think their disappearance has much to do with low profit margins on generic products; they can sell shelf space to major brands for more than they can make on the generics.

[viscousmemories]

Piggly Wiggly is a cute name for a store.

I'm really surprised you can still get products like that. I don't think I've seen them since I was a teen. Good point about the shelf space. I forget that companies pay to distribute their products.

[Ensign Steve]

The Malt-o-Meal knock-off of Honey Nut Cheerios (you know, the one in the bag) tastes like crap.

[inland wave]

I remember seeing some of the generic stuff at the grocery store, but mostly I remember it from my grandparents going monthly to the court house to pick up dry goods and cheese all with black and white generic labels. That was years ago. Now the government just gives them vouchers so they can pick up stuff at the grocery stores.

[Dingfod]

http://40ouncebeer.com/extrapicts/generic.jpg

[viscousmemories]

Cool. :cool:

[Beth]

Piggly Wiggly is a cute name for a store.

I'm really surprised you can still get products like that. I don't think I've seen them since I was a teen. Good point about the shelf space. I forget that companies pay to distribute their products.Oh gosh, I always hated that name and never went to one. Even when we traveled up north, I was snobbish about going to them. I remember generics, but like you, I can no longer find generics. We never bought them growing up, even though we were poor, my parents always said they were inferrior food. I wouuld, on occasion buy generic when I shopped for us, though. I was actually jealous of the kids who had generic food, it seemed all my friend's parents bought tons of generic foods.

[Sauron]

http://40ouncebeer.com/extrapicts/generic.jpg

Of course, this is still considered haute cuisine in Oklahoma. :chin:

[Skep]

Piggly Wiggly is a cute name for a store.

I'm really surprised you can still get products like that. I don't think I've seen them since I was a teen. Good point about the shelf space. I forget that companies pay to distribute their products.Oh gosh, I always hated that name and never went to one. Even when we traveled up north, I was snobbish about going to them. I remember generics, but like you, I can no longer find generics. We never bought them growing up, even though we were poor, my parents always said they were inferrior food. I wouuld, on occasion buy generic when I shoped for us, though. I was actually jealous of the kids who had generic food, it seemed all my friend's parents boughtt tons of generic foods.
I like shopping The Pig. :piggy: I like their Food Club house brand products and it's the only chain grocery store from which I'll buy meat, though rarely.

My mom bought generics when they first became available but we found that, for canned goods in particular, the quality was inconsistent and/or inferior to store brands.

[lisarea]

Remember the generic can of "Food" in Repo Man?

We got all kinds of generic stuff when I was a teenager. I used to DRINK that generic beer to try to put on weight because I was poor and I did some math and figured that was the biggest and quickest caloric bang for my buck.

God, that stuff was vile.

[RevDahlia]

Remember the generic can of "Food" in Repo Man?
Damn you, woman, I was just going to post a Repo Man reference and you had to go and sabotage my display of useless pop-culture knowledge.

The "Food" and "Drink" cans in that movie were, IMO, a cue that the story takes place in an alternate dimension. Maybe I just think this because I've never seen the thing sober.

[Ymir's blood]

Generic food is still available. Stores changed tactics. It is now called 'store brand.' Usually now it is packaged similarly to a 'regular' brand with a similar name. I was in Walgreen's (drug store) today and for every name brand of OTC drug, there was a WalX (where X is almost equal to the name brand's name.)

[Beth]

I remember seeing some of the generic stuff at the grocery store, but mostly I remember it from my grandparents going monthly to the court house to pick up dry goods and cheese all with black and white generic labels. That was years ago. Now the government just gives them vouchers so they can pick up stuff at the grocery stores.I remember getting huge blocks of government cheddar (like 10X12 blocks) when I was way little. They would last several weeks. I loved them and missed them the rest of my life.