Brands I love

Off-brand or name-brand? Local or chain? Discounts or full price?

Many decisions in life, even the seemingly insignificant, have angles to be considered. Do you get what you pay for, find ways to get more bang for your buck, or go all in paying top dollar expecting the best? Whatever the purchase, it can be overwhelming to find your fit. I also believe your upbringing, heritage, and socioeconomic status can be a formative force in how we view money, purchases, brands, and spending money in general.

As much as I want to dive more into stuff like heritage, backgrounds, and our favorite brands in terms of cars, shoes, tech gear, and whatever other purchases we could compare, let’s stick with food items for the sake of time and unessential reading, shall we?

Anytime I went to my best friend’s house as a child, I couldn’t wait to peruse their pantry. Why, you may ask? Because they were always rolling deep in name brand food! The real deal, ”fancy” food like Oreos, Lucky Charms, Lays Chips, and Pop-Tarts. Ok, so part of it was because they always had insanely more junk food than we did, especially considering we had zero at our house (our “junk food” consisted of homemade pudding and banana chips, along with the occasional Little Debbie). But the other half of it was the fact that we never had name brand food, and like seeing the celebrities of foods, I would be in awe when their pantry opened. My mother, being the smartly frugal lady she is, always bought off brand, spent many evenings clipping coupons, and frequently visited the local Amish Dent and Bent stores. For all of you who didn’t grow up surrounded by Amish, it’s a store where the Amish would purchase the damaged goods from the local grocery store, and re-sell them at a super low price. Something that enticed only people like my mom. And to be honest, I am not even sure if it’s legal? I’m sure it is, right? Hah. Getting back to the subject, I was raised to look for the best deal, stretch my dollar, and never purchase name brand.

As I have gotten older and become a parent, I do still look for ways to stretch our dollars, and get one heck of a deal! I actually find it enthralling to find a fantastic discount! However, being a person who loves quality food, cooking, and exploring creative ways to make things taste better and be healthier, I have my solid go-tos I will standby until the end of time. Some are name brand, some are not. These brands have been chosen for a combination of the following: price, availability, taste, and fan favorite, meaning that my family approves. I do use other brands, and sometimes I will substitute one if I cannot find what I need. Overall, I have been using some of these brands for many years, and absolutely love them. Check out my list below!

Arbonne: as you’ve probably come to realize, I’m an Arbonne girl. Their products are clean, gluten/dairy/soy/nut/artificial flavors/preservative free, full of whole-foods based vitamins and minerals, and supply my family and I with our easy buttons. Our favorites are their protein powder, energy fizz sticks, and superfood greens. They are on the higher end of price, but worth it for us, and can be purchased online. You can purchase retail, or with a client discount, which can get you free shipping and free products. Being around for 42 years, they recently became a B-Corp company, which means they meet high standards of performance, accountability and transparency.

Siete: This is the newest of my favorite brands! I was won over with their grain-free tortilla chips, which are delicious! The chips are crisp, crunchy and light with a simple, salty flavor. Not only do they have several flavors of tortilla chips like dairy-free nacho cheese, they also have other Mexican-style foods such as tortillas and sauce/salsas. All of these items are uniquely made, like their enchilada sauce made with apple cider vinegar, flax seed, and avocado oil, plus are non-GMO and Whole 30 approved. Using their GF and grain free tortillas has been one of my best GF experiences! Most of their products can be found in traditional grocery stores, and online, and are priced middle to high. Try it for yourself and check out their story of how they came to be on the back of the bags! You’ll love it.

Epicure: If you prefer packaged solutions for semi-homemade results, like dressing, dips, sauces, marinades, baking mixes, etc. Epicure is your place to go! They provide many healthy swaps for packaged products like marinara sauce and pizza crust mix, plus they are gluten-free, non-GMO, and low sodium. We absolutely love their Asian Stir-Fry seasoning, Enchilada Sauce packet mix, and many other seasonings. The company also has cook and bakeware and utensils, and their silicone steamers–so amazing for quickly steaming a variety of items while still preserving flavor and texture. It’s available only online, and through a direct sales consultant, similar to Arbonne. You can look one up in your area, or I can provide you with my girl! They ship right to your house, have amazing perks as a consumer, and are priced well in terms of buying multiple packs at once.

Banza: For our GF pasta products, we’ve found the best to be Banza. The pastas are made with chickpeas, taste well, and hold up well compared to other GF pastas we’ve tried. Although no GF pasta can be accurately compared to the real deal of flour-based pasta, this is the closest I’ve found in texture and taste. We’ve used their spaghetti, spirals, and shells, and typically find it at Kroger or Costco. Price wise, they are priced in the middle range, but I can frequently find bargains and deals.

Bragg: Have you heard of apple cider vinegar? You most likely have, with the original creator and “health store pioneer”, Paul C. Bragg. Bragg has an array of non-GMO products, like their liquid aminos and sprinkle with 24 herbs and spices seasoning, two of our favorite products. The liquid aminos is a fantastic soy sauce replacement, along with their coconut liquid aminos. Although what you pay for Bragg is possibly more than traditional spices or soy sauce, it’s completely worth the swap health wise. I haven’t tried any, but have seen some juices and other products of theirs in the health/organic food section of most any grocery store.

Silk: Another B-Corp company, Silk has a variety of dairy-free products. Having sensitivities to dairy in our family, we mostly use almond milk, and usually Silk’s (they also have cashew and coconut milks). I’m also a big fan of their unsweetened, vanilla almond milk yogurt, which comes in a large, 8 oz. tub. Perfect for yogurt parfaits, and cooking and baking, using it as a butter or milk replacement. Silk products are well-priced if you are used to purchasing non-dairy replacement products, and can be found in most grocery stores, and mega stores like Wal-Mart and Target.

Store brands, like Kroger, Trader Joe’s and Costco: Ok, here’s where my little off-brand-bargain-loving heart explodes! Although I do use more name brand than I did as a child, I still find myself consistently gravitating to the off-brands, like Kroger’s Simple Truth and Costco’s Kirkland’s. This is where you’ll be able to stretch those dollars, and truly find high quality products at lower prices. I’ve never had a Kroger’s Simple Truth product I didn’t enjoy, and the same with Trader Joe’s. Let’s be honest, Trader Joe’s is the Target of food shopping! You go in with a few things in mind, and come out with triple the amount all because you were bamboozled by the products’ good looks and prices. Trader Joe’s has semi-healthy frozen foods, a plethora of snacks, nuts, crackers, cookies, and many eclectic sauces, dips, and pre-packaged sides. Costco’s Kirkland’s almond flour, sparkling water, and organic peanut butter and almond butter are at the top of our “must get” list when we’re there. Kroger’s Simple Truth is healthier version of the original Kroger brand and includes fresh produce, canned goods, boxed items, snacks and much more. We go to this brand for lots of our packaged snacks, nuts, boxed broths, and dressings. These stores have low to medium prices compared to the other brands listed.

My price comparisons are not based on value brands, or cheap junk food. Just sayin’! I rarely purchase a lot of the “junk food” out there because it’s just not us. So yes, the cheapest brand of soda, cookies, or even bread may only be $1, but in my opinion, food that cheap cannot be good for you, and should be considered unnecessary. Look for some research on this topic down the road here on the blog! But for now, there you go! My favorite brands, from me to you. I hope this is valuable for you, and you enjoy it as much as I did writing it. Please share you favorite brands with me!