Familar Food Brands

[Marco]

Re: Familar Food Brands

Hmm. I can only think of two food brands that I'm picky about:
- Gatorade. I don't like the other incarnations like Powerade and AllSport. My favorite flavors are Fruit Punch and Orange. Nothing tastes better than an icecold 32-ounce gatorade after playing pickup ball or after a surf sesh.

- Cereal. For some reason, eating the generic version of Lucky Charms or Fruity Pebbles just doesn't do it for me. Maybe it's the lack of color on the boxes, which makes it look kind of sad and pathetic sitting on the kitchen table. I don't know why it matters to me, but does. Especially when I was a kid. I guess I'm a cereal snob. Oh well, there are worse things to be.

Oh, I guess I also like the Oscar Meyer cheese hot dogs. My wife thinks they're nasty as hell and won't touch em. She says the process to get the cheese into the hot dogs must be really bad, but the way I figure it, hot dogs are really junk for you anyways, so whatevahs!

[Jonah K]

Re: Familar Food Brands

I can't figure this one out... can one really tell the difference in taste in bottled waters?

Yeah. Hawaiian Springs Bottled Water tastes exactly like the water from my catchment tank after it's been filtered. Other bottled waters, like Arrowhead (more of a "sharp" taste), Sparkletts (more of a "chlorine" taste), etc. taste different because chemicals have been added to or subtracted from them during the bottling process.

[Lei Liko]

Re: Familar Food Brands

I can't figure this one out... can one really tell the difference in taste in bottled waters?

The only bottled water I absolutely cannot drink is Menehune Water. To me, it tastes just like the plastic bottle. Safeway's Refreshe water tends to be the cheapest most of the time, so we get that.

[Lei K]

Re: Familar Food Brands

I dislike Arrowhead. It tastes weird. The Arrowhead water with added minerals tastes great however. I never see it in packs to buy though, only the big huge bottle.

As for brands I'm a snob for...

REAL Spam
Kraft cheese unless I buy cheese from the deli area
Kraft mac n cheese or Velvetta shells and cheese
Nathan's Hot Dogs
Home Pride or Phillsbury bread
Heinz ketchup
Best Foods Mayo
Coca Cola Classic
Stove Top Stuffing
Aloha Shoyu Low Sodium
Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Oh I know there is more to add to this list but I can't think of it.

[Lei K]

Re: Familar Food Brands

Best Foods/Hellman's Mayonnaise
Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
C&H Sugar
Hebrew Expensive hotdogs
Aloha Shoyu (low sodium)

Miulang

OoOOooh I forgot Grey Poupon! And I like Hebrew National too. It's that or Nathan's Hot Dogs for me. C&H Sugar is another one I forgot.

[Pomai]

Re: Familar Food Brands

I don't mind generic brands (Safeway Select, Kirkland, Sam's Choice, etc.) in most cases.

Name brands I prefer (or must have) over their competitors are:

• Bull Dog Tonkotsu Sauce (orange label)
• I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (sans Fabio)
• Sun Noodle Ramen
• S&S Saimin (now owned by Sun Noodle)
• Aloha Shoyu
• Best Foods Mayo'
• Heinz Ketchup
• A1 steak sauce
• Hawaiian Sun Juice (preferably Guava Light)
• Hawaiian Host Chocolate Covered Macs
• Safeway French Bread (fresh baked)
• Progresso Soups

more later

[Jonah K]

Re: Familar Food Brands

The only bottled water I absolutely cannot drink is Menehune Water. To me, it tastes just like the plastic bottle. Safeway's Refreshe water tends to be the cheapest most of the time, so we get that.

I can't stand drinking Menehune Water either -- there's no telling what chemicals are leaching into it from the plastic bottles that they use.

For "economy" bottled water, Hawaiian Rain is pretty good. It tastes like Hawaiian Springs Bottled Water mixed with a little Hilo tap water.

Here's an interesting link for bottled water connoisseurs....
http://www.finewaters.com/

[pzarquon]

Re: Familar Food Brands

Fun thread!

Generally, I shop to save, so store brands and generics are fine. Our cart at Costco is usually stuffed to the gills with Kirkland stuff. When your typical trip gives you a $250 bill, those little price differences between brand names and store brands add up.

Yet. There are some things I imagine many of us are picky about. Oddly enough, "real" Spam isn't one of mine -- Tulip is fine. But Kikkoman vs. Aloha? I'm a Kikkoman guy, and I tell you, wars have broken out in some families over that one. Campbells over Progresso, too. And yeah, Kraft American cheese singles. As unnatural as it is, I guess I've grown up with it as the standard, so everything else tells awful.

[CranBeree]

Re: Familar Food Brands

just to add my .02 cents...if you are buying milk.....Best Yet, Western Family, Times and Daiei are all Meadow Gold ..all they do is change the cartons...if its the carton or gallon does not say island fresh, that mik came from California! and the orange juice is also shipped in...

most private labels are normally products we buy like Love's bread, Meadow Gold milk and stuff like that, they just have a contract that is able to allow their stores to sell their private label at a much much reduced price...

(stuff i learned in purchasing )

[blueyecicle]

Re: Familar Food Brands

I never thought about that until I visited Hawaii. We have so many fresh dairy farms here it is plentiful!

[hawaiiguy]

Re: Familar Food Brands

-Del Monte ketchup
-Libby's vienna sausage (yellow label)
-Coral tuna (water and oil)
-Libby McNeil corn beef (blk/red label)
-Holmes sardines (rectangular can/blue)
-Best Foods mayo (no other brand beats it)
-Coleman mustard
-Aloha brand shoyu (and the other long-time local shoyu manufacturer before they closed up)
-Hormel SPAM

[Kaukura]

Re: Familar Food Brands

Barilla pasta sauces. Safeway has a nice selection, but was in France a few months ago and droooled over the variety of Barilla found there.. (and no I dont make my own sauces..)

DeCecco Pasta. HAS to be that brand. Cooks up so nice and is delicious.

Kikkoman soy sauce all the way.

Libbeys Corned beef hash.

Dennisons Chili (either the bean or no bean variety). I was born and raised on that brand and glad it still exists.

Kraft MIRACLE WHIP (*ducking**). I know thats a sore spot here. I like to tease my co workers into telling them Im gonna make a potato salad with Miracle whip and that they wont be able to tell the difference.. LOL.

Coca Cola

Knudsen small curd cottage cheese

Land O Lakes butter (the sweet one)

Hebrew National Hot dogs (a must. And it's so nice that my little corner store down on Lusitana St. carries them!)

Beaver Sweet Hot Mustard.

[damontucker]

Re: Familar Food Brands

what is up with this Hebrew Hot dog everyone keeps talking about and where do you find them.... I got to try one if they are coming w/ recs. from so many HT users!

[i-hungry]

Re: Familar Food Brands

I found some Hebrew National hotdogs at Don Quixote a few months ago.

[damontucker]

Re: Familar Food Brands

I found some Hebrew National hotdogs at Don Quixote a few months ago.

A few months ago... the place just when open recently! Do you mean Daie?