I grew up in a house that only bought name-brand everything. Heinz ketchup. Cheerios. Tide. My mom considered store brands “the cheap stuff” and would not touch them. I carried that bias into adulthood without ever questioning it.

Then I spent $60 on a grocery trip where I bought both versions of 15 common items and did blind taste tests with my family. Some store brands were identical. Some were actually better. A few were noticeably worse. Here is what I found.

The Clear Winners (Buy Store Brand Every Time)

• Milk. It is milk. The store brand comes from the same regional dairy as the name brand in most cases. There are federal standards for what “milk” is. Save $1-2 per gallon.
• Canned vegetables and beans. I could not tell the difference between store-brand black beans and Goya. Corn, green beans, diced tomatoes — identical.
• Sugar, flour, salt, baking soda. These are chemical compounds, not recipes. White sugar is white sugar. The store brand is 40% cheaper.
• Frozen vegetables. Store-brand frozen broccoli and peas tasted the same as Birds Eye. Frozen at peak freshness is frozen at peak freshness.
• Over-the-counter medicine. The FDA requires generic drugs to have the same active ingredient and effectiveness. Store-brand ibuprofen is chemically identical to Advil and costs half as much.

Where Name Brands Won

• Peanut butter. Store-brand peanut butter was grainier and had a slightly odd aftertaste. Jif and Skippy have their formulas dialed in. Worth the extra dollar.
• Ketchup. I hate to admit this because Heinz is expensive, but the store brands were noticeably sweeter and thinner. Heinz has the texture and tang that store brands have not replicated.
• Ice cream. Store-brand vanilla ice cream had a gummier texture — more air whipped in, more stabilizers. Häagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s for actual ice cream enjoyment.

The Middle Ground

Cereal, bread, pasta sauce, cheese — these depend on the specific store. Some store brands nail them, some do not. Buy one and try it. If it is good enough, switch. If not, you are out $2-3.

I save about $25-30 a week buying store brands for the items where it genuinely does not matter. That is over $1,000 a year. My mom still will not switch, but she was impressed by the blind test.