The rising cost of living has caused many people to seek out alternative ways to make ends meet. The prices of food and petrol have risen significantly over the past few years, prompting people to find other ways to get these items. One alternative that has become popular is home brand foods.

Home brand foods are usually cheaper than their name-brand counterparts, and they can help people save money on groceries. However, some people worry that home-brand foods are not as good as name-brand products. In fact, these used to be considered to be subpar goods by certain people.

However, their high nutritional value and widespread availability in supermarkets may contribute to improving public health, especially malnutrition and hunger. According to research, home-brand foods improve food safety standards by increasing accessibility and availability of more affordable food options.

While the availability of home brand goods has advantages, the question of whether they are healthy remains open.

So, in this article, we will share what some experts think about the nutritional value of home-brand products.

Home brand foods are usually cheaper than their name-brand counterparts, and they can help people save money on groceries. Credit: Getty Images/iStock Photos.​

Budget goods

The low cost of home-brand items is made possible thanks to the reduced expenditures involved with research and development, marketing, and packaging of these goods. Subsequently, we cannot assume that lower costs imply cheaper or inferior ingredients.

Additionally, supermarkets can manipulate the ingredients and manufacturing of home-brand items by benchmarking against known brands.

Retailers will also dictate the price of the product to the producers before it is manufactured. Manufacturers frequently decide to employ the same components and production techniques as name-brand goods but in larger quantities or reduced labour to reduce production costs.

This means that between producing various items, there is no need to clean or reprogram machinery. It also means that, except the packaging, the majority of products sold under the home brand are virtually similar to those sold under the name brand.

For mixed foods like breakfast cereals and pre-made sauces, however, the manufacturer may alter the contents by using less expensive or fewer ingredients to cut down the costs.

So, are home-brand foods healthy?

‘The most important thing is to carefully read the food label to make sure you are getting the food you like at a price you are comfortable spending.’ Credit: Getty Images.​

There is hardly any nutritional difference between home-brand and name-brand goods for simple, unprocessed items like milk, eggs, and pasta. According to experts, there isn't much that manufacturers can do to change the ingredients for these goods to lower costs.

However, for more complicated foods like pre-made pasta sauces, the home-brand name may contain fewer vegetable ingredients and more sugar, sodium (salt), and additives (such as stabilisers, colours and flavours). The taste and quality could change as a result.

In general, portion size, salt, and other nutrients seem to be similar between home-brand and name-brand food.

Additionally, very little research has looked into how home-brand items may differ in nutritional profile. But there are certain variations with particular meal types.

For example, home-brand pizza, canned beans, cereals, biscuits, and ready meals typically have lower serving sizes while the only food category for which home-brand foods have larger serving sizes is edible oil.

Home-brand breakfast cereals, cheese, and bread have higher sodium content than branded goods. However, in some cases the sodium content of home-brand foods is lower. This is true of most cooking sauces, frozen potato products (such as oven-baked fries), and biscuits.

In terms of caloric and fat intake, home-brand foods and branded goods appear to be consistent with one another.

For those who are curious about the sugar content of these goods, studies have unfortunately failed to look into it. So, we're hoping that future researchers will touch on this topic soon.

Compared to whole foods, goods like juices, meat pies, and muesli bars are more likely to have a health star rating. This means that consumers may mistakenly infer that they are a healthy option.

The most crucial thing is to always examine the food label to ensure that you are getting the food you prefer at a price you are comfortable paying regardless of the brand you select.

We should always remember that our health should be our number one priority. Whether you opt to purchase name-brand or home-brand foods, it is important to make sure that these items contain the nutrients that our bodies need.

Plus, it is possible to find healthy foods (regardless of the brand) at affordable prices if we take the time to do some research and careful planning when we go shopping. By being smart about our choices, we can make sure that we are getting the most bang for our buck when it comes to buying healthy foods. You may check the Money Saving Hacks section of the SDC website for more tips on how to plan your grocery shopping!

Stay safe out there, folks!

 

[Ricci]

Home brand to me is just another brand to be considered against named brands. My shopping often has a mixture of brands as I'm more interested in price than brand, except for things like beans which have to be Heinz!

 

[Macarj]

For me it simply comes down to taste if a home brand product tastes as good to me as other brands I buy which ever is cheapest

 

[Thecheesequeen]

Home brand to me is just another brand to be considered against named brands. My shopping often has a mixture of brands as I'm more interested in price than brand, except for things like beans which have to be Heinz!

Fully agree, Ricci! Heinz baked beans , and only in ham sauce.

 

[MotherGoose]

"For example, home-brand pizza, canned beans, cereals, biscuits, and ready meals typically have lower serving sizes while the only food category for which home-brand foods have larger serving sizes is edible oil".

Which begs the question, who actually takes any notice of serving sizes? Who in their right mind would look at home-brand pizza and say "I'm starving but I'm going to eat less because the serving size says..." or "I'm going to use more oil because the label says I can".