“Sadly, most of the store brands are produced by the same company as the major brands”
I think thats true of some brands, some food products, but not of others. The store brands seem to be inferior in taste and quality compared to the major brands.
For example I like chef boyardee canned spaghetti. Not too long ago I decided to buy the cheaper store brand canned spaghetti instead in order to save some money. It turned out to be horrible in comparison to chef boyardee. And there seemed to be a little more sauce and less spaghetti too.
I have noticed this with some products. My guess is that (to make it cheaper) they leave out the SUGAR.
When WE were all much younger, sugar wasn't prolific in our food. Then came the huge sugar cane plantations. Manufacturers started putting tons of sugar in EVERYTHING.
The 'trick' was to put a little salt and a lot of sugar into food products. You couldn't taste either one, because they cancelled each other out, but MAN, the food sure 'tasted' good, and for some reason you just couldn't get 'enough'. If you take them both out, most foods would not actually be as palatable.
And there seemed to be a little more sauce and less spaghetti too.
TRUE, as you say, depending on which store and where they get their product.
NOW, they not only give you less 'product' inside the can, but they are making the cans smaller.
Bleach comes in half-gallon now. 2-liter bottles of pop are down to 1-liter size bottles. Bars of soap are notoriously small.
We are getting cheaper crap in smaller portions and paying more.
Wow, our economy is just growing and growing(/s).