Man says there's 'no difference' between store bought and brand name food. GF disagrees.

When you're living with a long-term partner, the most longstanding arguments are always the petty ones. Disagreements about grocery shopping, how the dishwasher should be loaded, and which TV shows take priority are always the ones that last the longest. Luckily, the internet is always here to lend a typing hand full of opinions.

In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a man asked if he was wrong for insisting that store brands and name brands are the same. He wrote:

"AITA for not accepting that name and store brands are somehow different and insisting they’re the same?"

My GF and I were grocery shopping, food is running a bit low in our apartment. This has been a debate since we moved in together, usually one or the other would cave and just go with the other’s opinion. But today it kinda came to a head. Basically, I was raised in a house that would often, if not near always, buy the generic store brand for food. We nearly never got name brand stuff.

Her family was the opposite, they pretty much never get store brand. Money is a bit tight right now, so I’m trying to insist that we don’t waste money on the name on the packaging that makes no difference in quality and just get the store brand.

I’ve even showed her the research that shows that the store brands and name brands literally come from the same factory and the store brand just has a different name on the label. AITA?

TLDR: I know that there’s no difference between name brand and store brand foods, my GF swears that there is one and wants us to spend extra money for name brands even though money is tight.

Reddit came out to play.

NeeliSilverleaf wrote:

ESH. Many products are just as good in the store brand, some are not. Instead of both of you digging in your heels you should be figuring out WHICH items you and she can tell the difference on so you can get generics when it genuinely doesn't matter but she can have the items where the quality makes a difference.

For example, generic colas are usually subpar but both Kroger and Safeway have a really good store brand ginger beer.

arterialrainbow wrote:

Good Mythical Morning has countless videos that show just how different brands can be from each other whether you’re talking brand name vs generic, generic vs generic, or even brand name vs brand name. I think it’s pretty silly to make a blanket judgment either way, and I think which one is better comes down to the specific product and sometimes even just personal preference.

And sometimes you just have to go with what’s cheaper regardless of your preference. ESH because you’re both wrong and it seems like you’re both unwilling to compromise.

Oorwayba wrote:

YTA. I come from a family that bought mostly store brand, and my family now buys even more stuff store brand. But for most things, no, they are not “exactly the same”. You bring up Kraft cheese. That is a huge example of not being the same. Store brand at most stores doesn’t even melt, let alone taste good.

Buying something like a can of beans (not baked beans, those taste drastically different from brand to brand), those will be very similar from store brand to name brand. Boxed Mac and cheese? Cookies? Ketchup? Cereal? They’re all different.

SushiGuacDNA wrote:

YTA. It's true that store brands can sometimes be just as good, even better, than name brands, but they are not necessarily "just the same". Sometimes they are just the same, but often they will be just as different from other as two name brands. It's perfectly reasonable to prefer Ragu to Newman's Own spaghetti sauce (or visa versa), but it's silly to pretend that they are "just the same."

Here is your problem. You have a reasonable desire, which is "we should buy cheaper stuff because it's good enough," but to defend your case your are making a claim which is not true, which is that "they are just the same." Don't be an AH and make false claims. Be a good guy and talk about the real issue, which is that you'd like to try to live more frugally.

mrmidas2k wrote:

I will put Proper Cornflakes above any supermarket Cornflakes, for example, so yeah, some stuff you can't tell, like Vinegar, but stuff like beans and cornflakes, you absolutely can. YTA.

Some name brands are the same thing as they’re off-name counterparts. In fact, they’re often made by the same company. But that’s not true of everything. You guys should quit squabbling over something so silly and do some research about what’s the same and what is not. Because neither of you is completely correct. ESH.

Clearly, the people of Reddit have strong opinions about this and no one can agree. There's nothing like food to bring out discussion.