There’s a stubborn assumption baked into how many people shop: the more familiar the label, the better the food inside. It’s not really a rational calculation. It’s just habit, reinforced by decades of marketing spend. But the aisle right next to those bright name-brand packages tells a very different story.
“Of the 70 store-brand products in our test, 76 percent tasted just as good as the name brand,” according to Amy Keating, RD, who led Consumer Reports’ testing. That’s not an outlier result. It’s a consistent pattern across dozens of independent taste tests run over many years. The real surprise isn’t that generic brands keep up. It’s that some of them genuinely win.
1. Kirkland Signature (Costco) – Olive Oil
Costco’s Kirkland Signature label has earned a reputation that goes well beyond discount shopping. Kirkland Signature Organic Extra-Virgin Olive Oil is widely considered among the best on the market, sourced from olives grown organically throughout the Mediterranean region of Europe. That’s not a small claim when you’re stacking it against premium name-brand bottles.
Members rave about the quality of the Kirkland Signature Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, with one saying “The Kirkland Olive oil is some of the best you can buy. Every test I have seen shows it as being the purest on the market.” Chefs have echoed that sentiment publicly, and food publications have included it in their roundups of top-tier oils.
Since stores don’t spend money on national advertising campaigns and keep packaging relatively basic, they can sell for less – and buying a national brand product with a generic option available often means paying up to 30% more for a prettier label. With olive oil, that math is especially hard to ignore.
2. Kirkland Signature (Costco) – Maple Syrup
Kirkland Signature Maple Syrup is among the top ten items in the Costco warehouse, with multiple Reddit communities naming it one of the warehouse’s all-time greats. Organic maple syrup is one of those grocery items where name-brand pricing can feel genuinely steep.
One Reddit user who worked at a maple factory noted that “Kirkland [is] bottled on the same line as all sorts of more expensive glass bottled brands.” That kind of insider confirmation says more than any marketing copy. The product is effectively identical, the price just isn’t.
Those who opt for store brands save an average of 25 percent on their purchases, according to Consumer Reports. On premium pantry items like maple syrup, that savings gap can be considerably wider. It’s the type of swap that adds up meaningfully over a full year of grocery shopping.
3. Aldi Specially Selected – Marinara Sauce
Aldi’s Specially Selected Premium Marinara has earned a fan club of its own, mainly because it tastes like Rao’s without the Rao’s price. Shoppers say the ingredient list is almost identical, with tomatoes, olive oil, onion, and simple seasonings, and the flavor stays clean and tomato-forward.
A close look at the ingredients reveals the same homemade-recipe components: Italian tomatoes, tomato puree, olive oil, onion, salt, garlic, basil, black pepper, and oregano. While a taste test didn’t substantiate the theory that both sauces are identical, they are wonderfully similar, with Rao’s evoking flavors of all-day simmering while Aldi’s version is bright and more garden fresh.
The price tells the clearest story: a 24-oz bottle of Aldi’s marinara is priced at $4.29, while Rao’s can go for anything above $7 for the same size. For a weeknight pasta sauce, that difference is hard to justify.
4. Kroger – Ranch Dressing
In Consumer Reports’ salad dressing category, Kroger Creamy Ranch Dressing was found to taste better than Hidden Valley Ranch and was about half the price. Hidden Valley is arguably the most iconic ranch dressing brand in the country, so this result landed as a genuine upset in taste testing circles.
Kroger’s version had all the buttermilk and dill character of Hidden Valley, but with a decidedly cheesy edge that tasters thought might actually perk up a salad a little more. That extra dimension made it stand out rather than just match the original. The test was blind, so there was no label bias at play.
To protect their brand identity, grocery retailers have implemented rigorous quality control testing and employ professional food scientists and sensory panels to ensure every private label item meets strict standards. This dedication to consistency makes modern generic food increasingly reliable. Kroger’s ranch is a clear example of that process working well.
5. Aldi Choceur – Peanut Butter Cups
Aldi’s Choceur Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups have not only been compared to Reese’s classic peanut butter cups, but also called smoother and creamier, with one shopper noting “the peanut butter tastes fresh, the texture is smooth, not grainy, and the chocolate is just sweet enough.”
Many would agree that Choceur outshines even fancier American brands because the chocolate is imported from Europe and boasts an extraordinarily creamy texture. One shopper who stashed a bag in their car reported that they kept coming up with excuses to grab another piece. That kind of repeat behavior is about as honest a product review as you’ll get.
One reviewer agreed that while Reese’s peanut butter cups have a sandy, gritty texture, the Choceur cups are noticeably better, with other customers particularly appreciating that the peanut butter layer is less sweet. Given that Reese’s commands a strong premium on price, the switch is an easy one for most shoppers.
6. Target Good & Gather – Frozen Organic Vegetables
Over eight in ten people in Consumer Reports’ survey who buy frozen vegetables said they had purchased a store brand, and it turns out that’s a genuinely good move. All the organic frozen veggies tested were at least as good as those from national brand Cascadian Farms.
The store brands offer more variety too, adding green beans to the carrots, corn, and peas in the name-brand bag. Whole Foods’ version tasted better than the name brand with a slightly crisp texture and nice sweetness, while Kroger’s veggies tasted a bit fresher than typical frozen options and cost 21 percent less than the name brand.
Target shoppers familiar with the Good & Gather label know it for reliable provisions throughout the fridge and pantry sections, and among regular shoppers, the canned and frozen vegetable offerings are considered a must-have in the kitchen. For everyday cooking, frozen vegetables are one category where generic really shines.
7. Giant Eagle – Chicken Broth
Giant Eagle’s chicken broth bests name-brand Swanson in both taste and price, according to Consumer Reports. The store brand was cheaper by 14 cents a serving and earned praise for a pleasant, mild taste that contrasted with the processed quality of Swanson.
Consumer Reports’ testing noted that Giant Eagle’s broth delivers a simple, mild flavor with a slight taste of roasted chicken, while Swanson’s broth tasted more highly processed, with hints of dehydrated spice and off-flavors that varied from one sample to another. In cooking, where broth is a background ingredient, a cleaner flavor profile makes a real difference in the finished dish.
Consumer Reports trained testers found that when it came to soup products, the name brand didn’t always reign, with Food Lion’s store-brand chicken soup beating out Campbell’s Chicken Noodle for having a more intense, well-rounded flavor. Chicken-based products are consistently one of the stronger categories for store brands in blind testing.
8. Aldi Peanut Delight – Peanut Butter
Some Aldi shoppers swear the Peanut Delight peanut butter is better than name-brand Jif, with one saying “I think their peanut butter is better tasting than Jif, and half the price,” adding that they loved the slight sweetness and pairing it with Aldi’s strawberry jam.
A National Public Radio poll from 2014 reported that professional chefs are more likely than the general public to buy generic baking products and pantry staples like peanut butter. That’s a telling data point. People who cook for a living and care deeply about ingredients tend to choose the cheaper option more often, not less.
Many generic products are made in the same plant and from the same farm or manufacturer but are simply packaged in a less flashy way. Peanut butter is a straightforward product with a short ingredient list, which makes it one of the easiest categories to swap without any taste compromise. Peanut butter is a simple product that’s easy to get right when done properly, and Aldi’s version is substantially cheaper than Jif while delivering comparable quality.
Why Store Brands Keep Getting Better
If grocery store products used to be unremarkable, undesirable, or inferior, over the past decade they have genuinely become a draw, and they truly taste much better than they used to. The era of plain black-and-white generic packaging being a reliable signal of low quality is largely over.
Sometimes store-brand products are the same as name brands with small tweaks, but more and more often these products are conceived by the grocery-store company itself and formulated in partnership with a manufacturer, at higher quality than they would have been a decade or two ago. That’s a fundamental shift in how private-label products are developed.
Research has also shown that when consumers know they’re tasting the generic version of a product, they tend to rate it lower than a name brand, even though they often prefer the store brands in blind tests. That gap between perception and taste reality is exactly why blind testing matters, and why so many shoppers discover the switch was worth it once they actually try it.
The Bigger Picture on Savings
Beyond taste, the affordability of store brands represents an average decrease of roughly 40 percent compared to name-brand alternatives, according to MLive.com, and knowing that many of the same companies supply supermarket staples makes the idea of meaningful differences next to the major brands practically trivial.
Consumer Reports compared the average prices paid across tested products and found that store brands typically cost between 5 and 72 percent less per serving than the name brands. That’s a wide range, but the lower end still adds up over a full shopping cart and a full year.
About 90 percent of products at Aldi are private label, which is how the chain is able to offer its customers consistently lower prices across the store. It’s less of a compromise and more of a structural choice that happens to benefit the shopper at the register, and increasingly, at the dinner table too.
A Note on When Name Brands Still Win
Not every generic version clears the bar. Some categories show consistently mixed results, and it’s worth being honest about that. Many generic brands contain the same ingredients as their higher-priced counterparts, but they are not a better value if you end up discarding the food due to taste or quality differences.
Store brands don’t always beat name brands in tests, and a lot depends on the specific product category. Highly processed snack foods with complex proprietary flavor formulations, for instance, are harder to replicate than pantry staples or simple sauces.
The practical advice is straightforward: start with one or two swaps, taste them honestly, and let the food itself make the case. For most of the products on this list, the evidence from independent testing strongly suggests the generic wins on flavor, or at the very least ties, at a fraction of the cost. The name on the label was always the most expensive ingredient.
