Buying generic brands: the anti-couponing way to save money, plus a simple spinach quiche recipe

On a normal shopping trip, I save a ton of money on brand name products, with a combination of couponing, stacking, rebates and sales. My closest guesstimate is that on most brand name items, I save an average of 40-60%. 

But what happens when I want an item and I don't have a coupon, and it's not on sale?  There are items and brand names that never go on sale and rarely publish coupons. Enter generic/store brands.

I have to admit, I love generic brands for some items.  While my husband and I are a little bit funny about having certain items as brand names only (Diet Coke, Chicken of the Sea or Starkist tuna, Heinz ketchup,  Chex cereal, Bayer aspirin), the are other items that I consistently buy as generics or store brands. When the recession hit the US full force, both couponing and generics made a strong comeback.  The great thing about buying generic brands is that saving money is automatic and effortless; you will consistently pay less than name brands and no effort is required:  no coupon clipping, no deals and no sales watching.  The downside is that your savings will be between 5-30% off the store brands.  When I coupon and stack with store brands, I usually save more than that, and occasionally I get the item for free or near free.

In the foods that I buy as generics, I have yet to see any difference in quality between store brands such as Great Value (Walmart), Archer Farms and Up and Up (Target), or  Kroger (King Soopers), and their pricier name brand counterparts.  I particularly like Walmart's Great Value line; the quality is excellent, most of the prices are dirt cheap and since my husband and I keep kosher, I love that much of their product line has reliable kosher supervision.  As a matter of fact, sometimes I buy of their items simply because none of the name brand versions of the same food have kosher supervision (i.e. GV chopped spinach, sliced potatoes).

Target's store brands, Archer Farms and Up and Up, are a little pricier than Walmart's Great Value, but they have the added advantage of the occasional Target store coupon, while Walmart doesn't have store coupons.  (Recently, Up & Up ibuprofen and dental floss were both free with Target store coupons.)

Here's a very simple, frugal recipe for pareve (no dairy or meat ingredients) spinach quiche made entirely with store brand items (plus eggs and vegetables).  It should take you no more than 10 minutes to prepare this or more than $5 to pay for the ingredients. Bon appetite, fellow Cheapskates.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cans Great Value Whole Leaf Spinach (3 cans if you use a deep dish pie shell)
• 2 beaten eggs or (healthier) the equivalent in Great Value egg white product (generic for Egg beaters)
• 1 Great Value frozen pie shell
• 1 chopped onion
• 6 washed and chopped mushrooms
• salt and pepper
• Great Value olive oil cooking spray

1. Turn oven to 350 degrees and once it's preheated, place still-frozen pie shell in to "set" for five minutes.  Make sure you use a timer.  Pie shell should be dry but not fully baked.
2. While pie shell is in the oven, drain the spinach in a sieve, and combine it in a mixing bowl with eggs, mushroom and onions.  Mix well, and add a few dashes of salt and pepper. 
3. Fill pie shell with spinach mixture.  Spray top of quiche lightly with the o.o. cooking spray.
4. Pop it in the hot oven, and bake for 45 minutes, or until the quiche is solid (no longer mushy).  Enjoy.

Do you buy generics or store brands?  Are there items that you absolutely must have as brand names?  Ever buy a generic item that was of really poor quality?

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