OK. So my wife thinks I am nuts when I tell her I can taste the difference between brands/types of the same foods and request that she only buy certain items that I like versus the less expensive gereric store lables or off brands.
Examples:
1. The only kind of Pork and Beans that is fit to eat is Van Camps
2. Fresh or canned vegtables versus Frozen (They look good but I detect a funky taste)
3. Nabisco Permium Salteen crackers original, no Zesta or low salt here.
4. Real butter(salted) Land-O-Lakes. Margerine (sp) is OK but the real deal is better.
5. If you are going to eat pancakes, better have real Maple Syrup to go along with the real butter, otherwise it is just not the same.
6. Canned tuna packed in oil (watter is for sissies)
7. Real Ice Cream (Blue Bell if I can get it, Schwans is a close runner-up)

Now I know that the salt,oil, and butter are not good for you in massive quantities, but it's not like I eat tons of this stuff on a daily basis.
My point is that if we are going to spend the money anyway, why not spend a little more and get some good tasting food in the process.
My thought is that the reason some of the old original brands are still around is because they have withstood the taste tests of many like me over the years. So, do you have any particulars you demand?

PS other personal favorites:
1. Sunday morning; 4-5 strips of bacon with 2 eggs over easy fried in the bacon fat.
2. Margaritas on the rocks with salt and green olives.
3. Coke over Pepsi, 7-Up over Sprite, and only A&W makes Root Beer

Dialtone

 

I agree,
beer is better out of bottles than cans.
deff. take butter any day over margrine.
my mom usually makes her food from scratch, and when she doesn't we can tell and we let her know. it just aint the same!

 

I agree. Buy the good stuff if you can, although there are some generics and store brands that will surprise you. For example, I think the "Best Choice" bean with bacon soup is better than Campbell's.

I always asked what the savings were when you bought a can of XYZ from some generic vendor and threw part of it out because it didn't taste good.

Remember tho, -if you are hungry you will eat anything!

 

I'm in B.C., so we sometimes get two different types of Honeycomb cereals, the one from the US and the one from Canada and I think the Canadian version tastes better. There was a specialty shop near me that had pop & meats & cooking stuff & chocolate bars from different countries around the world, and I have to say OUR(US & CAN) chocolate bars taste like poo smells after having an Aero bar from Britain. I got to talking with the owner and he said it has to do with different preservatives in the chocolate for our wetter climate.
I bought a mini-Coke imported from Japan or Britain too, and I thought it tasted the same only.....thicker?.....like there was more syrup concentrate in the mix....not as watery as the Cola in Canada/USA.
I like the A&W root beer too
I haven't found an off-brand(imitation) cereal that tastes as good as the originals yet.
I'd rather have butter than margarine
We have a chocolate chain store up here called Purdy's that has some of the best chocolate(not sure if it's only in Canada though)
I prefer fresh veggies over frozen
I like handcut french-fries way more than frozen fries
I like the frozen waffles, quick to just pop in toaster dump on syrup & eat out the door
I make my pancakes from scratch
I like my hashbrown potatoes golden brown and dry with salt(handcut better than frozen)
I like a certain brand of Cranberry juice(expensive), the name escapes me right now

My family says I'm fussy, I say I like quality over quantity!

 

Stoopid question- any of you guys have wives that work? Today was not an uncommon day around our house- Mrs. Bear rolled out of the driveway @ 7:30 this morning, came home with the grrls from a track meet @ 6:30, I was right behind her. We've got dinner, homework, and dogs to deal with, so whatever gets thrown together is going to happen in, like, 20 minutes or less. That means quick and easy.

Then there's the small matter of the grocery budget. Three teens at home, one going to college. Ca ching! I buy milk from whoever's got the coupon deal going that week. Canned and frozen brands are on sale, or not in our pantry. I'm a real mooch- but somebodies gotta pay for this stuff, so if it isn't on sale, it's not in the grocery cart.

 

There most definitely is a difference in taste between manufacturers. I won't buy generic salsa, made that mistake ONCE, never again. Ingredients and processes will make a difference in how something tastes, just as the different packaging methods do as well.

 

I was brought up on mostly homemade stuff, we made our own maple syrup from trees on the property, my mother pickled veggies, we got fresh chicken from the farm down the road, fresh milk from another farm, meat from the local butcher. Stuff from the grocery store tastes like crap by comparison.

 

You are right about pretty much all that! Its worth a little more to have the "right" taste and texture, also important to choose whats better for us (I wish I would follow that advice more)

However do you really drink Margaritas with green olives??? (martinis, yes but not margaritas?) Just wondering, is it good?

 

The best milk I ever had was fresh from the cream separator, -WOW!!!

My wife works but she also loves to cook so even tho we have an occasional "quickie meal" most of the time we eat well. Remind me to hug my wife tonight!

 

yup in agreement as well, butter is far better than margerine.
coke,pepsi,RC yup can tell the diff, i like RC and coke Pepsi forget it.
how can people not tell the difference between brands?

anything with nutri-sweet in it -- forget it gross taste

 

I can definitely tell the difference between coke/pepsi. It's weird tho.. I prefer pepsi out of a can and coke out of a fountain. I don't like either coke or pepsi out of a plastic bottle. In fact, I don't like soda out of a plastic bottle PERIOD.

 

I'm plannin' on movin' out when this semester is up in about 2 weeks, and brand is no longer gonna matter, it's gonne be whoever has the cheapest raman.

we were always blessed enough for my dad to be able to suport us and my mom was a stay at home mom. and money might have been tight but that never kept her from makin' us something good to eat.

 

Yep- my wife was at home when the kids were small, and we ate better. I'm not complaining though- she found a new career in her 40's and loves it- more power to her.

 

Try it, you'll like it.
There is just something about the twang of the Tequila, salt on the rim, and the bitter of the green olives that really go together well. I cannot describe the taste any better than that, but it is a good taste combination for sure. And if you really want to spice it up, use the jalepeno stuffed green olives.
Dialtone

 

Jared, you've got maple trees in Bremerton? When I visited my cousin there, I don't recall seeing any, and I didn't think it gets cold enough there to get the sap flowing...or maybe you grew up in Vermont?

Seriously, I can taste a lot of difference between certain products. Pork and beans, I like Bush's the best. I love clam chowder but don't always have time to make it from scratch. I think Snows is hands down the best canned clam chowder I've ever had. I also drink Dr. Pepper. Mr. Pipp and those other weird chain store brands like Dr. Thunder, just don't do it for me. Will work in a pinch, but not on a regular basis.
Gotta have real butter, not margarine. It's just as bad for you, if not worse with all that partially hydrogenated oil.
Years ago my mom had a friend who had her own cow, fed it organically-grown grain, pesticide-free alfalfa, that kind of stuff. We bought fresh, whole milk from her, poured off most of the cream to use in the parental unit's coffee, and everytime I had a glass of milk I would have to shake the bottle to mix in the remaining cream, which rises to the top. Mmm, good stuff. I could go on, but I think I need to go raid the fridge... -TD