I have spent the past 25 years testing different items at Krogers to see if buying the Kroger brand of a particular item was really worth the savings in price. The following is a list of a few items that I switched from buying the name brand item to the Kroger brand:

Applesauce (not as sweet at Mott’s which tastes better). Tin foil. Paper napkins and paper towels. Dryer sheets. Salad dressing (Krogers actually tastes better than most others). Bathroom spray cleaner. Dental floss. Deli sliced cheese and turkey (Private Selection). Daily vitamins. All kinds of noodles including spaghetti. Hydrocortisone. Acid Reducer (cimetidine tablets). Pocket tissues. Q-tips. Ibuprophen. Window cleaner. Kitchen garbage bags. Large green garbage bags. Baggies. All spices except seasoned salt and pepper. Frozen vegetables. Milk.

Here are some Kroger brand items that I thought were much worse than the name brands, so it’s worth paying the higher price for the name brand:

Kroger Grapefruit juice (has a horrible after taste). Pies from their bakery. Cakes from their bakery. Kroger brand pasta salad from deli. Chicken or tuna salad in deli department. Potato salad from deli. Cleaning sponges. Cream soups for cooking (I prefer Campbell’s). Cascade dishwashing powder (Kroger brand made my dishwasher smell bad).

Here are some name brand items that I have chosen to buy because I save money as they are often on sale at Krogers and there are often coupons for them in the Sunday newspaper:

Colgate toothpaste. All detergent. Palmolive dishwashing liquid. Maybelline make-up. Cheerios cereal. Land-o-lakes margarine. Old English furniture polish. Cottonelle toilet paper. Puff’s tissues.