Best of the best. What brands will you not compromise on?

[tvguy]

I thought you were the Canadian expert!
Did you miss the huge outcry about the milk exports?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/usmca-milk-hormones-1.4849423
On top of the that we absolutely notice a difference between brands. We only buy Lucerne.

Well, that's a store brand (Safeway) and so I suspect they don't bottle it themselves.

 

[azdisneylover]

J'amoca Almond Fudge ice cream from Baskin Robbins. I cannot keep this in the house because I will eat it until it is gone! Now, if we have Dryers Mocha Almond Fudge ice cream in the house, I can have a scoop or two and I am good for a while!

Heinz Ketchup is a must here.

Strathmore for art paper. (sketch pads, etc)

Winsor & Newton for other art supplies, especially oil paints

 

[debjk4]

Just tried Promised Land Chocolate Milk and it's rich and divine!

 

[wishing4PA]

peas - LeSueur
tea bags - Tetley (British blend is my tea of choice). I cannot do other brands of tea as they taste like "nothing" to me. I even travel with tea bags in a ziploc. hehe

As I've aged, I've become less and less about brands. Or maybe it's just that things have changed. DH now has celiac, so the #1 thing I look for is whether there's gluten in the item.
But MsOnceUponATime is right. If it's canned peas, it's gotta be LeSueur.
And, she's totally messed up. I do like a variety of tea brands, but one I can't stand at all is Tetley.
I do have certain items in certain brands that I'm somewhat loyal to, though.
Friendly's Cookie Dough ice cream. (Just for me and DD.)
Diana's milk chocolate bananas.
Publix's chocolate covered peanuts.
Darn, there are too many sweets on this list.
Oh, there's one different item. Around every June, I must have Special K Red Berries cereal. I don't eat cereal the rest of the year, but when my blueberry bushes are producing oodles of berries, and I'm about the only one who eats them, I need my Special K Red Berries to put the blueberries on. Sometimes they get topped with whipped cream. And milk, of course, which goes without saying. But that can be any milk, as long as it's 2% or lower.
And here's a strange thing. My family has always liked Diet Dr. Pepper. But we've agreed that Diet. Dr. *anything* is acceptable. Even if the store brand has horrible colas and not any other acceptable flavor, Diet Dr. ___ is fine. Diet Dr. K, Diet Dr. Perky, whatever. It totally doesn't matter. And to top it off, lately it seems that Diet Dr. Pepper irritates my bladder and sends me off to the restroom way too many times. But none of the knock-offs do. So I'm Diet Dr. randomsoda all the way now!

 

[aprilchem]

About the only things I can think of are Duke's Mayo and Friendship brand cottage cheese. Duke's is local to me, and I try to support local businesses. Friendship is because it's just SO much better to me than any other brand.

 

[All Tangled Up]

Spices... Dollar store spices are loaded up with salt to cut costs.
I also like to support local when I can
Other than that, I am a Queen & name brands are beneath me!

 

[bcwife76]

I'm in Canada so a few of my brands might be different:

Heinz or French's ketchup only
French's mustard only
plastic wrap by Glad only (HATE Saran)
tinfoil only by Alcan
Kirkland toilet paper
Qtips cotton swabs
Heinz baked beans
Green Giant frozen veggies

 

[pcrum]

My go to brands for food are primarily determined by carb count and sugar content.

Mayo: Duke's
Pasta Sauce in a Jar: RAO or Paesana (found at Costco)
Yogurt: Two Good or Fage
Tuna: Starkist Lemon Pepper
Tea Bags: Bigelow Salted Caramel
Eggs: Trader Joe's Jumbo eggs (due to the low price)
Dish Detergent: Dawn Blue
Bath Soap: Dove Liquid for Sensitive Skin
Deodorant: Dry Idea Roll On
Laundry Detergent: Arm and Hammer for Sensitive Skin
Cat Litter: Tidy Cat
Toilet Paper: Kirkland (Costco)
Cola: I'm a Diet Coke girl and my husband will only drink Pepsi Zero, so we buy both!

 

[wishing4PA]

Tea Bags: Bigelow Salted Caramel
Eggs: Trader Joe's Jumbo eggs (due to the low price)
Dish Detergent: Dawn Blue
Bath Soap: Dove Liquid for Sensitive Skin
Deodorant: Dry Idea Roll On
Laundry Detergent: Arm and Hammer for Sensitive Skin
Cat Litter: Tidy Cat
Toilet Paper: Kirkland (Costco)
Cola: I'm a Diet Coke girl and my husband will only drink Pepsi Zero, so we buy both!

Wow! I have SO many reactions to this post!
1. Bigelow Salted Caramel -- Thanks for the reminder! I'd forgotten how good that is!
2. I am 100% a Ban Roll-on girl. Especially since I developed a skin condition that it helps with enormously as long as I ignore the instructions about using it only under arms.
3. TP: We are still on our first pack of Kirkland, the first TP I found during the pandemic. I love it!
4. We have both Diet Coke and Pepsi Zero in the fridge right now. Our favorite, Coke Cherry Zero, hasn't been on shelves for a while. DD16 is a bit picky, and won't drink any Pepsi, but I tried the Pepsi Zero one bare shelf day and I think its *almost* as good as Coke Zero (the 3rd kind in our fridge.)

 

[maxiesmom]

My go to brands for food are primarily determined by carb count and sugar content.

Mayo: Duke's
Pasta Sauce in a Jar: RAO or Paesana (found at Costco)
Yogurt: Two Good or Fage
Tuna: Starkist Lemon Pepper
Tea Bags: Bigelow Salted Caramel
Eggs: Trader Joe's Jumbo eggs (due to the low price)
Dish Detergent: Dawn Blue
Bath Soap: Dove Liquid for Sensitive Skin
Deodorant: Dry Idea Roll On
Laundry Detergent: Arm and Hammer for Sensitive Skin
Cat Litter: Tidy Cat
Toilet Paper: Kirkland (Costco)
Cola: I'm a Diet Coke girl and my husband will only drink Pepsi Zero, so we buy both!

I have to ask, is the Dawn dish soap good? We always used to use Palmolive, and lately it is horrible. No suds, doesn't cut the grease at all.

 

[easyas123]

We use Dawn exclusively, however both my husband and one of my sons are constantly covered in grease it seems, so it comes in handy and does work good!

 

[pcrum]

I have to ask, is the Dawn dish soap good? We always used to use Palmolive, and lately it is horrible. No suds, doesn't cut the grease at all.

I swear by the Blue Dawn. Works great. I also mix it half and half with white vinegar in a spray bottle as a general cleaner. This combination gets my glass shower doors very clean and removes the soap scum. Is also good for hard water stains.

 

[pcrum]

We joined Costco for access to toilet paper and the Kirkland brand has been great. I bought Scott when that was all that was available locally and it was like the tissue paper you wrap gifts in, very thin. So far, we are loving the Costco Kirkland brands.

I love the Orange Vanilla Coke Zero, but it has been hard to find lately. The Pepsi Max has also been hard to find. I don't know why some flavors are diet cola are in short supply now.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

We joined Costco for access to toilet paper and the Kirkland brand has been great. I bought Scott when that was all that was available locally and it was like the tissue paper you wrap gifts in, very thin. So far, we are loving the Costco Kirkland brands.

I love the Orange Vanilla Coke Zero, but it has been hard to find lately. The Pepsi Max has also been hard to find. I don't know why some flavors are diet cola are in short supply now.

Production of soda and other stuff is reduced due to COVID.
Companies are focusing on the big movers and not so much on the smaller sellers.

 

[KTSMOM]

These are the things I won't compromise on:

Crest toothpaste
Heinz ketchup
Coke products (esp Coke Zero)
Gold Bond lotion

Not 100% sold on not compromising if something else is a really good deal but I prefer:
Bounty paper towels
Charmain TP
Dove Dishwashing liquid
Cascade dishwasher tabs
Olay Bath Wash
Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce

 

[wishing4PA]

The more I read, the more I find out I'm more brand loyal than I thought I was.

I have to ask, is the Dawn dish soap good?

It's fine. I'm not personally brand loyal to Dawn, but DH is, so we buy Dawn.

I don't know why some flavors are diet cola are in short supply now.

Production of soda and other stuff is reduced due to COVID.
Companies are focusing on the big movers and not so much on the smaller sellers.

Raising my hand to answer this one! Okay, now, I read this somewhere just yesterday and I can't tell you where, but I remember the answer b/c it was not what I was expecting.
What I read was pretty much what BridgetBordeaux said, but specifically the issue is with the cans themselves. And there I forget the specifics of why it was, but they aren't able for some reason to produce enough cans with all the different soda names on them. So they make cans for the more popular brands and those of us who like Cherry Coke Zero are left to just wait it out.

Cascade dishwasher tabs

Cascade is it for us. We prefer the powder, but will use the Cascade tabs rather than brand-switch.

 

[maxiesmom]

I wondered what was going on with pop too. I like to have caffeine free Coke, and it has been darned hard to find. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I'm not particularly brand loyal to much of anything. We use store brand of tons of items. The only things I can think of off the top of my head that I buy the name brand regardless of the cost is Tide (we use the powdered kind) and Blue Dawn dish soap.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

We joined Costco for access to toilet paper and the Kirkland brand has been great. I bought Scott when that was all that was available locally and it was like the tissue paper you wrap gifts in, very thin. So far, we are loving the Costco Kirkland brands.

This. I bought a pack of Scott's for the same reason when TP was really hard to find. I now know why it was available. It's awful - like the cheap stuff used at stores. Normally I buy Kirkland - best stuff, especially for the price.

I'm not particularly brand loyal on paper towels, although I won't get the really cheap stuff. Usually I get Bounty or Kirkland. Anything is more absorbent than the brown paper towels in the schools. I am particular that the paper towels are plain, with no printed decorations. Those often bleed their colors, and I dislike that very much.

Coke
Dawn dish soap
Best Foods Mayo (Hellman's back East)
Tillamook Ice Cream, although Dreyer's (Edy's) will suffice
Heinz ketchup
Kraft mac & cheese

I know there's more, but this is a good start...

 

[colormegreen]

Soap dish: dawn. We have found that Palmolive is not as good. It doesn’t foam as much, if that’s the right word.
Mayo: Best Foods
Cereals: they do have to be brand names, the off brands just don’t cut it.
Soda: coke not Pepsi. I don’t drink it, but the husband does and he can taste the difference.
Toilet Paper: Kirkland brand.
Individual chicken breast: Kirkland and I can’t find them. I tried Tyson and those were huge, they just grossed me out, they seemed unnatural frown.

everything else can be substituted by the Kirkland brand, trash bags, etc.