My buddy told me to skip the fancy rice and just get the 20 pound bag of store brand

He said, 'Trust me, it cooks the same and costs half.' I was making a lot of chicken and rice bowls to save cash, maybe three times a week, and kept buying the smaller bags of name brand jasmine rice. I finally tried the big bag of plain long grain from the store's own brand last month. It was $8 for the whole thing, and you know what? He was totally right. The texture is fine, it soaks up sauce just as well, and I honestly can't tell the difference in the finished meal. Now I'm wondering if this applies to other staples, like dried beans or pasta. Is there a real taste gap with the cheap stuff, or are we just paying for the label?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamesf2922d ago

Totally depends on the item. Plain pasta or beans are basically the same, but some stuff like olive oil is worth the upgrade. Labels do a lot of the heavy lifting for simple staples.

ray_williams22d ago

Smith.parker gets it, man.

smith.parker22d ago

Yeah, your buddy's spot on for rice and pasta. Jamesf29 is right about olive oil being the exception though.