What is a product that you won’t accept a generic alternative for?

For example, if you insist on buying Advil instead of store brand ibuprofen. I mean, you’d be wasting your money in that example, but you do you

This shit was asked a week or two ago. Go away advertiser.

Heinz ketchup, everything else is garbage in a bottle!

There was a big scandal in canada a few years ago in cananda where heinz moved its ketchup manufacturing from Canada to the US. Many people switched to french’s, a lot of people seemed to prefer french’s. I’m not sure if it was the boycott but heinz eventually returned to Canada.

I was going to say Heinz beans, but yeah, the ketchup too.

Heinz’s British beans, the ones in North America are way worse.

Oh really? I’d no idea. Yeah, the proper British ones. Pip pip!

No. Heinz rides on a name, not on quality.

I can name three local brands that dwarf that bottled red sludge in quality, sell cheaper and larger volumes.

Only thing I will grant to Heinz: glass bottles.

Kraft mac and cheese, all the store brands are superficially similar but taste bland and or have weird textures.

What about compared to homemade Mac and Cheese?

Homemade mac n cheese tastes like regular old cheese. Kraft’s got something extra in there that makes it better.

Well I mean it’s hard to compare. Homemade is clearly on another level. The boxed stuff is a very quick meal to put together out of the box. Homemade takes a while to do properly. I almost see them as like different foods.

Kenji’s 3 ingredients Mac and cheese. As fast (almost faster), as KD. Way better.

https://www.seriouseats.com/ingredient-stovetop-mac-and-cheese-recipe

What about Annie’s? Or call we even compare them?

I was really just comparing to generic. Annie’s isn’t generic. I still prefer Kraft, but I’d take Annie’s over generic too.

Yep. I’m from Europe and of course this is kind of not understanding American culture enough to not compare different qualities of mac&cheese. That reminds me, we came back home from the US and had mac&cheese in a restaurant in Germany. They served us Kraft with fried onions and parmesan flakes on top. At that moment I understood Germans will never understand American cuisine…

Annie’s is next level.

I prefer Velveeta shells and cheese to all the other boxed Mac and cheese dinners. That said, if I have someone to act as a dishwasher, I will make a banging baked Mac and cheese that blows any box out of the water. I don’t mind the cooking, or prep. Cleanup is always a chore.

No doubt. Homemade is infinitely superior. Almost a different kind of food. Just comparing it to generic store brands.

Epicurious put out a fun video last week having a few chefs compare boxed mac and cheese products. You might find it interesting https://youtu.be/uambW2W6zmQ

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://piped.video/uambW2W6zmQ

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.

Growing up I always saw kids in American shows/movies enj it so I assumed it was delicious. I was 10 when the finally began selling it here, my parents were also curious so they bought enough for 5 people. IT TASTES LIKE VOMIT. My parents never bought it again. 12 years later my sister bought it again because she didn’t remember the taste and I gave a try again because I thought maybe just maybe I would like it better since my tastes hace changed, AND IT STILL TASTES LIKE VOMIT. so we ended up making our own with real cheese and pasta and it was actually cheaper than the boxed crap

I had the exact same experience when they first started selling pop tarts here. I guess american nostalgia food only tastes good when you actually grow up with it. Even grilled cheese tasted only ok to me

Milk, eggs, cheese, pretty much anything dairy. Almost everything else the generic is great

Nutella,

I only buy it once or twice a year but no other chocolate spread tastes nearly as good.

no other chocolate spread tastes nearly as good

That’s because it isn’t a chocolate spread, but rather a nut and nougat spread.

It has 13% hazelnut, the same as many other brands, but also the lowest amount I can buy. There’s a really pricy one that has 30%

Trader Joe’s would like a word

I used to agree but after finding Kirkland hazelnut spread at costco i’ve switched to that. Its palm oil free and every bit as delicious as nutella.

For nougat, the Milka stuff is better. If you want real chocolate, take Caotina.

It actually has very little chocolate in it, that’s why. It was made (i think) during WW2 when chocolate was in short supply, so they came up with a way to stretch it, by mixing a bunch of hazelnuts (and w/e else is in there) with it.

The Kirklands one is good, but doesn’t hold an emulsion. And trying to stir a 3000 litre tub of “hazelnut spread” to re-emulsify it isn’t on my list of desirable morning activities.

I live in France and there are lots of brands that are exactly like Nutella, or even more tasty. Nutella is cheaper yet.

The Kraft one isn’t half bad

But then note I said “isn’t half bad”, not that it’s great. But I’d say it works in a pinch, or if it’s on sale…

no other chocolate spread tastes nearly as good.

I could eat that as the fucking Whine Poo eats the honey ngl.

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What is a product that you won’t accept a generic alternative for?

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