Food for thought: Save on store brands without sacrificing flavor

What's in a name brand? Perhaps some misguided loyalty. A recent Consumer Reports survey revealed that even in this era of recession-fueled frugality, 81 percent of shoppers remain firmly wedded to iconic products like Kellogg's cereal or Tropicana orange juice—even though buying comparable store brands can save a household more than $1,500 a year.

Consumer Reports pitted store brands against national brands on both taste and price. In our taste tests, the national brands won seven of the matchups, and the store brands won three. The rest were considered ties. The message? Don't be reluctant to give any private-label product a try. In fact, our results may knock some of those big brands off their pedestals. Albertsons peanut butter was similar in quality to Skippy; Target's Market Pantry ketchup was as good as Heinz.

To compare prices, reporter Tod Marks visited five supermarket chains (A&P, Pathmark, ShopRite, Stop & Shop, and Walmart) in New York and New Jersey and compared store- and name-brand prices for 30 items, from cotton swabs to pepper. The average savings with store brands was 30 percent. And as Marks notes, there isn't much risk involved­—many stores offer refunds if you don't like their brand.

—Gian Trotta