You Get What You Pay For… Or Do You?

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

I am a firm believer in the old adage, “you get what you pay for.” I don’t like to spend money I don’t have to spend, but I also don’t want to sacrifice quality.

Some things I just think aren’t any different, no matter what label is on the box. Some examples of this are frozen or canned vegetables, most dairy products and a lot of bread products.

But there are some things that I just don’t trust in the generic form. And not always because of the quality of the product. One thing is butter. Now, I don’t buy margarine in stick form. The only reason I use stick butter is for cooking or baking, and it’s my firm belief that margarine has no place there, so there is no point in stick margarine. And since margarine isn’t really any better for you than butter, I just go for the real thing. But I’ve discovered this to be a universal truth. Generic stick butter, while it tastes just fine, always has fucked up labels. I have never once found a generic stick of butter that doesn’t have one end of the measured label folded over on the end, which then throws off the whole stick, if you are cutting it into tablespoons. No big deal if you need a half or a whole stick of butter, though. So I pay extra for brand name butter.

I’m also not a big fan of generic plastic products like wrap and baggies. Most store brand baggies I’ve found have really messed up closures. Every time I’ve bought the generic ones, the bags rip along the closure. The one exception I’ve found to this is the Up and Up brand by Target. Their bags are really well constructed, and I never hesitate to buy them. However, I have a big problem with their plastic wrap. It cuts fine, but it doesn’t really keep in odors. I often have left over onion, and I like to wrap it in plastic wrap to use later. But I cannot stand it when my refrigerator smells like food. I don’t want to open my fridge and smell ANYTHING.  All of the generic wraps, including Up and Up, let the onion smell out, and I don’t dig that at all. I’ve not yet tried putting them in an Up and Up baggie, but I’ll try that next. If I don’t get the result I want, it’ll be back to brand name plastic wrap.

There is one other thing that I NEVER buy generic, and that’s ice cream. I always think the flavor tastes really fake. Here in Texas, and some surrounding states, we have a great brand called Blue Bell, that is awesome. The homemade vanilla is the best and I think it rivals even Haagen Dazs. I remember when my family moved to Texas for the first time in 1982 we lived in Houston, and while still in the hotel, we all experienced for the first time ever chicken fried steak with cream gravy and Blue Bell Cookies ‘n Cream ice cream. Those things are just home to me.

What are some things that you absolutely never buy generic? What are the things you can get away with the generic forms of?

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Target, Why Hast Thou Foresaken Me?

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Sometimes when I see the word “forsaken” I misread it as “foreskin” and I giggle a little.

Ahem. Sorry. Off topic.

Y’all know of my love for Target. I am a firm believer in retail therapy and thankfully my need can be fulfilled just as easily buying laundry detergent and shampoo as it can buying clothes or shoes. So that’s good.

Many, many of Betsy’s clothes come from Target because I refuse to spend a ton of money on her clothes when a) she doesn’t yet care about fads and fashion and b) she outgrows them or destroys them so quickly. I have no problem picking up a few pairs of $4 pants and a few $4 shirts for her, or cheap seasonal pajamas. But I have almost never had any luck with shoes for her at Target. The shoes there don’t seem to run true to size for her (and I do get her feet measured often so I know I’m not just wrong on what size she is), so the ones I have bought for her have rarely fit and end up donated because I bought them when she wasn’t with me, and I am too lazy to return them. Or more often, they just flat out do not have her size. Ever.

This past Christmas, Betsy needed dress shoes to wear to her school Christmas program. Again, I went shopping without her one day and picked up a pretty dress and tights at Target, and a pair of black patent leather Mary Janes. The shoes were too big for her, as usual. So I went to take them back and was told that they were on sale when I bought them and they weren’t now, so I’d have to pay the difference in price. Annoying, but whatever. Then I went back to the shoe department, and of course, they didn’t have the shoes in her size at all. Or anything else that would be suitable. ARGH. I finally ended up at PayLess because there is one right next door, and I got a pair that fit her just fine, but they were at least $6 more than at Target.

Now I am on the hunt for a second pair of shoes for her, since she wore out a cheap pair I got her at Old Navy in the fall, and only has one pair right now. Target of course had nothing suitable in her size. In my desperation, I was driven to try Hell-Mart today, which also had nothing.

And so Target, while I normally love you madly, I feel very let down by your children’s shoe department. Has anyone else had this experience? Because it’s ongoing for me. Kind of like how everyone who shops at Old Navy for kids’ clothes must always have kids the same size as mine because no matter what size Betsy has been in her life, they NEVER have much in her size.

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