What name brand product will you not substitute?

Ouaker Oats, Kellogs Raisin Bran, Cheerios. I am not not brand loyal to clothing, cars or anything else, but those few products are the best quality. I mentioned yesterday that generic breakfast cereals are always inferior in taste and texture. Oh and cheap coffee, nope, has to be Folgers or one of the well known brands. Cheap coffee is always inferior as well.

Mayo has to be Best Foods.
Jeans have to be Levi.
Hot dogs have to be Hebrew National.

I won’t do worse mayo than Best Foods, but I will do better. I now prefer Trader Joe’s organic mayo.
Sub-BF mayo disgusts me. BF mayo is ok but is still mayo and I’ll only use it in moderation. TJ mayo I actually like.

Now that I use the Buycott app, I’ve actually almost completely stopped shopping at Kroger or Safeway because it shows me how almost everything I pick up there is from a company that does something I think is really bad, like oppose GMO labeling, or contribute to rainforest destruction, or use near-slavery labor.

Q-tip cotton swabs, because all other brands I’ve tried seemed far inferior.

There are many brands I prefer but wouldn’t say “will not substitute” absolutely. It’s almost always because I like things about their product and not others’, or the company is more likeable, less corporate and/or less evil.

Groceries from farmer’s markets, Trader Joe’s, sometimes Costco or Whole Foods or a few others, because they have good things, much less evil companies are involved, etc.

Coffee from the roaster which makes the kinds I like.

I am not so much brand loyal as some brand opposed.

After my last American car, I swore I will never buy another from the Big Three.

I won’t ever buy Kashi brand cereal again, stuff just doesn’t taste good and congeals to paste before the bowl is finished.

I won’t buy Kraft cheese, or just about anything Kraft. Too many binders, fillers, and additives.

Hellmann’s mayonasse. Because I just don’t like any other mayonnaise. They are either too sweet or too much vinegar in them.

I have worn the same brand of shoes for the last 20 years. – Etnies/Emerica – They just last for years and they make all black ones. Most skate shoes are fugly.

I pretty much only wear three brands of pants. Dickies are my daily drivers since they are so cheap. Ben Davis if I need something for a wedding. Carhartt if I am need something to get dirty in.

And it has to be Top Raman. the generic stuff doesn’t work for me. I cook the noodles a bit differently and I haven’t managed to get the generics to work right.

And the mac and cheese. Gotta be the blue box. I don’t think a explanation is needed with this one.

Eye opening graphic

Even more eye opening

One interesting example: All brands of sunglasses are made by Luxotica. All of them. Now tell me about your “brand loyalty”.

60 Minutes did a thing on Luxotica years ago and it was pretty gross. And it wasn’t just sunglasses. They made my frames and I paid 180 dolars for them while branded as Nautica. I didn’t give a shit about the brand. They just looked the best out of my options.

No breakfast for me, @Coloma.

What’s still special about Levis, @filmfan? I don’t know how you find the same fit twice, today.

I like the taste of Aldi Whip better than Miracle, so I buy their mayo, too. I’m already a semi-crippled shopper since I don’t eat animal meat and my eggs must come from someone I know.

I’m afraid to even look at Buycott, @Zaku.

I doubt I’ll own another American car, @zenvelo.
I have never been a fan of Kraft products. I have always thought them inferior.

I buy all my clothing 2nd hand, @johnpowell. Including shoes.
I don’t eat Raman noodles or boxed M&C. All I got.

There are inaccuracies in those graphics that even I know, @SmartAZ. General Mills is MUCH larger and includes Progresso products and Cascadia Farms to name a couple. That doesn’t invalidate your graphic or response, Just putting my 2 cents in.
I did not know that about Luxotica.

@johnpowell

Is there an omission on your list, or will any brew do for you? ;-)

Interesting graphics @SmartAZ

The tree of consumerism.

FWIW I do not eat mac & cheese. Something about the combination is off putting.

I had the best M & C of my life a couple weeks ago.
If I understood correctly, she layers cooked noodles and sharp cheddar cheese in a baking dish, then fills the dish with milk.
It was deliciously cheesy and amazingly enough – for baked M & C – the noodles were firm.
Yum. Yum. Yum.

I’m not really into specific brands for most things – I like Diet Coke, Honda, etc. but there are more things I don’t like – Velveeta is one. Fake cheese individually wrapped is another. Most canned foods I don’t care for except maybe canned fruit. Canned chili, canned soup, canned veggies, all gross. I don’t like bologna. I could go on. Most other things I buy what’s on sale or what looks interesting.

I think Velveeta is something only really young people can truly appreciate, @jca.

When I was a kid, my mom sent a bologna sandwich with a thick slice of Velveeta cheese every day. One day I told her no more Velveeta and a little more mustard. The texture and oil content of a warm bologna and Velveeta sandwich is worse than disgusting. The salt. Just a revolting thought, still to this day.

I’m 38 and love the shit out of Velveeta.

Cook some shells al dente and drain. Cube up some Velveeta and mix it in a hot pan with the noodles. Add a few tablespoons of milk to get fancy. Fucking delicious.

And my ultimate comfort food when I was little and sick was a grilled cheese with Velveeta.

Yup, that’s the Mac and Cheese I grew up with, @johnpowell. I still like it, but too salty for my taste.

We used the V for grilled cheese when I was a kid, too. But there are too many other delicious cheeses to melt on bread with butter to eat that shit as an adult!
:-)

I nearly added ”...young and very young at heart.”

Anything serves me good will take my money.

Quaker Oatmeal—Generic is tasteless mush with not enough fruit/nuts.
Glad—You really will get mad without Glad.
Ben and Jerry’s—Because of the politics.
Hairspray—Big sexy hair requires BigSexyHair.

Speaking of mayonnaise: When I was a missionary, one of the columnists for the newsletter said not to eat Hellman’s mayonnaise because it contained formaldehyde. So a lot of followers bought Best Foods instead. I would turn the bottle over and show them where it said “East of the Rockies, Best Foods is called Hellman’s.” They always acted as if I had shit in their punch bowl.

Since then I have been told that no brand puts formaldehyde in mayo and federal law requires formaldehyde in mayo, so I don’t know what to believe now. I make mayo from my own recipe when I need it.

@SmartAZ: Federal law requires formaldehyde in mayo? I’ve never heard that. When people (the people you heard it from) tell me things that sound crazy (or maybe it’s not crazy I don’t know), I google it. Maybe I’ll google it later. If I don’t find evidence of it, I don’t believe it.

@jca try to remember that what we call “internet” is less than 20 years old. My story happened 40 years ago.

There is trace formaldehyde in manufactured mayonnaise, as part of manufactiring of the carrageenans used to preserve and stabilize it.

Yum, @zenvelo. ~

Honda engineering:

Founded by a race driver.

First to offer a lean burn engine that did not require a catalytic converter to meet emmissions regulations.

First to offer rear passenger shoulder belts.

First to offer digital signal processing in a production auto audio system.

First to offer a variable timing and lift valvetrain.

First foreign automaker to fully assemble in the United States.

First to produce an all aluminum production car.

First automaker to design and produce a private jet.

First to develop and offer a four channel ABS braking system.

First production engine with titanium connecting rods.

First to develop and offer a frontal collision airbag for a motorcycle.

First to produce a front drive car with a longitudinally mounted engine/transmission.

First to produce a production naturally aspirated engine to generate 100 horsepower per litre.

First to offer an engine with spin cast cylinder liners.

First engine maker to be approached to build the motor for the legendary, 245 MPH McLaren F1.

First to offer an overhead valve small engine design.

First to offer an active all wheel steering system in a production vehicle.

First to produce a compound curved rear hatch glass.

First automaker to offer progressive valved struts on a production vehicle.

First Japanese automaker to import cars to Japan.

First Japanese automaker to offer a 5 cylinder engine.

First to offer a production hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.

First to offer an enclosed drivetrain all terrain bicycle.

First to offer gold as a engine heat deflecting material in a production vehicle.

First to…

Well I think this engineering firm deserves my money.

First automaker to offer a combat proven canopy design…