Do you buy expensive brands of grocery store commodity items?

I'm buying more and more store brand items. Most of the time I can't tell the difference. Even brand -x coffee is pretty good.

Yes, we usually get the premium items.

We don't use sugar or have any sugar in the house. Flour we seldom have but when we do we use it for baking or making noodles in the noodle press so we get something high quality.

We usually get a Smart Balance spread and then another specialty butter for cooking. And for milk we get Fairlife, which lasts a bit longer.

Many of the store brands are repackaged premium brands. I worked for a large food company and this was done a lot. Don't waste your money on the premium brands unless it makes you feel better.

I know *I* always come to DL for in-depth discussion of grocery store commodity items.

I love that Datalounge has threads about EVERYTHING! Some of these type of topics are the most interesting.

Butter from a quality, smaller farm is worth the extra money. The other stuff, not really.

It is an interesting topic, it's just that it's worded like a survey.

Totally agree w r3. I was an assistant buyer for target right out of college. Our In store brands were from major providers. The in store target brand# actually went through more rigerous testing to prot3ct the target brand. I’ve bought those products ever since.

I buy name brand butter. Other than that, I buy store brand commodities with one exception. I stopped buying store-brand flour after my baked pancake turned out like a hockey puck.

The only brand I'm tied to is Charmin. Outside of that, anything is fair game

R10 enjoys the go.

It depends on the item. Whole Foods' in house brand has some items better than name brands. Just off the top of my head, WF regular salted butter is way better than Land O Lakes and it's cheaper. WF pasta is very good as are their tomato based pasta sauces.

I also second the quality of Whole Food brand. Also the prices are often cheaper than in other stores.

I have celiac disease meaning I cook gluten-free. My boyfriend is a vegetarian. I've gone full-discount whenever possible to save money.

That means I buy most of my groceries at the 99¢ Only store and WinCo (probably one of the least expensive places to buy groceries in the US right now, save Aldi). There are vegetarian and GF specialty items I can sometimes only buy at Kroger or Target, but our diet includes as few specialty items as possible. I get a few things at Costco - roasts, water, coffee, nuts.

Whore Foods and Sprouts are no longer a consideration, since they now mostly sell only overpriced, overmarketed junk "health" food at the highest prices possible. WF's selection of diet-specific foods has declined a lot since Amazon took over

I live in a city that does not have a lot of local foods, except produce. Even though I agree the quality is better, I won't pay 3X the price for higher-quality meat and dairy, except for a special occasion. My cooking skills mean anything I make tastes good.

These days the quality of generic items is nearly always as good as the name brands, and occasionally better. Kroger's store-label canned tomato products are for some reason far better than one would expect. And occasionally something is disappointing, and it's easy to move on to something else.

If you shop at Aldi or Trader Joe's, you don't really have a choice.

I buy store brands of almost everything -- but not stuff like deodorant, toothpaste, soap, etc.

I spend extra money on organic, though it's not really much more expensive-- the organic spinach might be 50 cents or a dollar more than the regular, ditto avocados. Don't do milk or sugar. Happy to buy store brands on non-food items--band-aids, cold medicine, ibuprofen, etc.

R15, it's because I don't share your anxiety and prefer to spend my money elsewhere. TJ's is pretty expensive to buy one's regular groceries there. I bought a single sack of grocery items for my Xmas party, and it cost $77. TJ's produce is not good usually.

There are no Aldi stores in my city yet, so I have to wait for them to open - news says it will be early this year. They are opening up right next to Kroger, but I already understand that class anxiety is so real for so many that I won't have to worry about crowds, since the class anxious won't be caught in a downmarket shop. Aldi has a large selection of GF grocery items, larger than any other store I've been to, so I'm looking forward to that.

I've rarely been disappointed by Target brand products. That said, their eggs aren't very good compared to free-range.

Aldis for all staple foods & produce. Theyre half the price of local Publix & of equal quality, IMO.

Milk, eggs, bread, cold cuts, juices, cheeses, yogurt, etc. I buy Kerrygold butter there too.

Sometimes do Trader Joes for frozen foods, cheeses (great Stilton).

For meats, chicken, fish, its Costco. Great prices & the quality is impeccable. Make friends with the butcher, you wont be sorry (minds outta the gutter, bitches).

R14 how old are you two? High maintenance is just one of the words that comes to mind... MARY!

I buy Irish Kerrygold butter for spreading on bread.

Otherwise no-name brands for cooking.

My sister told me that she bought an organic chicken and it tasted so different than the "regular" chicken sold in supermarkets. I'm curious but resent spending may double for organic than what Perdue costs. One of these day, though, I'll probably buy the expensive chicken just to satisfy my curiosity.

NOTE: I don't buy anything organic - I'm not nervous about what happened to the cabbage or apples before it got to my local store.

I represent a large sugar manufacturing group. Walmart is our largest run of product every year (more so than our "premium" brand). We fulfill product for other grocery store brands as well.

We literally stop the bagging machines, take out the premium bags, and stick the "Great Value" ones in.

Our workers joke about it. When they're in company uniform they buy our brand, but when they're not, its the house brand all the way.

I buy organic tomatoes for gazpacho, but I don't really seek it out. Organic produce is never very "fresh" here.

^^ is Antonio Banderas

Butters vary greatly. LOL sweet cream lightly salted is my go to. Finlandia butter isn't so special but their Swiss cheese has a spicy edge. The best. Kerrygold does nothing for me. Breakstone's is blah. I occasionally make my own butter from heavy cream for spreads and cooking (no salt). No I don't shake it just pulse setting on my blender. Sometimes put heavy cream into reused glass jar. I shake it so it foams up and I top my coffee. Used to have a high end Italian coffee machine but boy was that bitch high maintenance. Got spoiled by the cream frother (can't be milk, half & half) but now I just shake shake shake my cream in the jar, top it off. Never fill it enough to where it becomes butter from all of the shaking.

Question for sugartits 💋 at R24. Please provide your input re: (light) brown sugar. I bake about 50 sugar pies a year. Some I mix in real maple sugar (expensive) but I've a connection.

I have found Dominoes to be superior in contrast to King Kullen/Stop n Shop house brands. Anyone with extensive knowledge re: brown sugars, please advise.

I've found Trader Joe's Mesquite Desert Honey to be spectacle. I love their French soaps from Provence. I prefer the vervaine edition over the lavender. Before I discovered the Mexican honey at TJ, always go for Canadian wildflower honey but now it is a splurge.

One thing about finding Datalounge is that it's made me very aware of my own privilege.

I've always looked at Trader Joe's as the "discount" supermarket, way cheaper than Whole Foods or traditional supermarket chains like Food Emporium or Gristede's, because pretty much everything was store brand.

And here's R17 saying "TJ's is pretty expensive to buy one's regular groceries there."

I make honey butters and maple butters from scratch as well. Sometimes just use butter kept in cupboard mix w/honey and spatula it into ramekins.

I do have a specialty go to site for items available only in Canada. I use generic brands of things whenever possible but put the savings toward this outlet when I'm in NY. It puts fear into the hearts of TJ foodies. Malade!

R30, R31 here and I just owned your ass before even reading your comment. ♡ How ya like moi now, DL?

R30, remember Balducci's?

I ❤️ Costco’s Kirkland Signature stuff.

Fail R30, it is expensive considering product weight: price so R17 is right on. Economics, bub. Don't even try it here w/us because you're gonna drown your positioning, pretentious ghetto ass. Can't you just be normal? It's an anonymous board, for christ's sake.😅

LOL "Owned"

Trader Joe's is not for "foodies" FFS, it's sort of the opposite, it's for people who are too lazy and don't want to have to deal with choices or figuring out why one brand of pasta sauce is $15 and another is $4.

But given that you churn your own butter like a colonial dame, I'm thinking you live in an alternate universe anyway, so thanks for the clarification.

Some advice for R28 re: brown sugar. I like to bake so I usually tried to keep some BS in the house. Problem is, that it usually became a brick by the next time I used it (and always forget to put it in the freezer to prevent it from going solid). My solution is to keep a bottle of molasses in the back of the fridge. Whenever I need BS, I mix white sugar and some molasses and voila. I can make light BS or dark BS - it just takes a little trial and error to get the right blend.

**I know about the trick to soften BS with some bread or a slice of apple but that takes time and I usually needed the BS in the middle of a recipe.

Why past tense R33?

They still exist, probably different ownership though.

Stay on your ghetto threads, WIC fed product, you. Privilege 😂

R31 and friends relaxing on the weekends.

TY R37

Yes, have molasses. Excellent tip. Thank you so much. Brown sugar, just nuke if in the bag for 60 secs. A shaker bottle with some rice thrown in works as well. Jasmine rice, of course. Now very particular about jasmine rice brands. Here, it DOES matter.

T38, you missed that whole Balducci saga in NY magazine. Marrone, whatta read. The infighting among heirs was legend. Look it up.

Living up in Quebec, Montreal, QCity & the Gaspé turned the world upside down. Surreal. Coming back to NY I'd go on a hunger strike.

I've learned the art of fine living. Japan and Quebec changed me forever. Spoiled rotten.

Dinner party at a Persian restaurant in Montreal (standards are in the stratosphere) I order the rose ice cream for dessert. Petal pink perfection. A staple of mine for years. I've tried every version. Found the most important ingredient is the rose syrup/water and where it hails. Found Turkey and France to be the best. A ME grocery store here in NY you'll find rose brands from Greece, Iran, Iraq.

The cocktails I whip up with this rose syrup are to die for. I also make my own rose sugar with heirloom sweet roses I nab off of the old gold coast estates. Layer them in cane sugar and store. I also make my own rose vodkas. Just unloaded those gifts in the past few weeks. Summers in the Gaspé changed my world. The raspberries are huge and coned differently. All kinds of berries. Inuit berry wine in liquor stores. Ice wines. Compotes. I live so well for practically nothing. Pine needle tea. Inuit tea infused vodka. You're just cranking it out. Endless possibilities. All from the land and mostly free.

Here's one of my favorites. I make my own version in NY & used to sell it here at snooty farms. Roses and berries loaded up on the north shore estates. Littered with old mansions and their once self sufficient acres rife with brambles. Bike and baskets on a sunny afternoon overlooking the Sound. Now THIS is living!

R37 Store your brown sugar in a airtight container and do not put it in the fridge or freezer, store the container in a cool kitchen cabinet and it will never turn into a brick. The fridge and freezer removes moisture which is why it becomes hard as a brick..

[quote]I also make my own rose sugar with heirloom sweet roses I nab off of the old gold coast estates.

You're not supposed to use roses that have probably been sprayed with pesticides.

I don't understand this thread. Must be American.

I don't think commodity is the right word.

😂 looks like R36 wisely paddled back into the shallow end of the pool. Therefore I only received 3 DL points/miles.

You know you'll drown. C'est correct, Clementine? 🏊😎

I think I'll have the spruce tips sprinkled with birch syrup with my juniper berry tea.

The only brands I stay loyal to is Nutella and Bayleys. I gave up on a lot of brands, like Uncle Ben's, for being owned and run by right wing assholes. A lot of in-store products are quite good. Love my local store's spaghetti. I can cook them al dente and they taste heavenly with my home-made sauce.

R46, yeah, uh, we need you to tell us ANYTHING, ghetto cretin? Go back to Lip stick alley denizen of the least desired demographic on the planet.😎

Re honey....you should buy locally made whenever possible.

Your local bees collect from local flowers. If you have allergies, local honey taken on a regular basis will help relieve them.

Olive oil and Parmesan cheese are two items I select from the more expensive end of products. I don't do a lot of baking, but I've found that Bob's Red Mill is worth the extra cost.

I was at R2 but I have to say, we also do other stuff that's store brand and we shop at Aldi.

I noticed a new Aldi near us had pretzel buns and chocolate croissants in a display case, a la Whole Foods. I guess even Aldi is trying to glam it up.

The ghetto cretins must be at the laundrette. Do we dare hope they moved on and felt shamed? Don't hold your breath.

Like being a failed exterminator. Roaches just won't die. Watch.

What does age have to do with it, R21? I have celiac disease. The only existing treatment for it is a life-long, gluten-free diet. It's not a fad. I was diagnosed with blood tests and biopsies of my intestines.

High maintenance? Gluten free is my maintenance. Untreated celiacs die of all manner of autoimmune diseases, lymphomas and carcinomas. You get osteoporosis and sores, and your hair and teeth fall out. Women miscarry. You shroud your ignorance with an ill manner - it's quite a look on you.

My bf is vegetarian because he loves animals too much. And I love him so I indulge him.

WF house brand stuff is pretty unimpressive. TJs has very good frozen foods. Penney’s for spices. Butter for baking shouldn’t be store brand. Better stuff often is on sale. Salt and sugar don’t really matter. Lentils and dried beans also don’t matter.

Who buys salted butter?

I do, R59. I prefer it on biscuits, etc. I prefer it for baking too, but sometimes I defer to the recipe & use unsalted.

[quote]I prefer it for baking too,

Madness!

STFU you ass at R59. You got owned. Nobody is forgetting what sits in the dairy shelf. Even your inner city ghetto mart has LOL sweet cream salted butter. Negro, please.

What are grocery stores?

Kroger has a store brand called Private Selection that is often better than any national brand, but some of the items aren't much cheaper than national brands. Kroger's everyday store brand (Homesense, I think) is pretty good -- I've started getting their version of Lysol, Charmin, Bounty, and other products.

And I buy Kroger butter and have never had any problems. I don't think I've ever bought national brand butter, just local farm brands or the store brand.

There's this fab to the trade restaurant butter square packets in gold foil called something like Sweet Grass Farms? Exceptional. Actually has a tangy taste.

Yeah R64, no Kroger here. But oh, King Kullen, the experience! Manhasset location.

When it comes to sugar, there is a brand I prefer, Dixie Crystals, but as long as I know it is cane sugar I'll buy it. I know sugar is supposed to taste the same, regardless of where it comes from, but sugar derived from sugar beets instead of cane just has a slightly different taste to me. I bought a store brand one time, and it just didn't taste right and when I read the packaging it mentioned sugar beets, so that is the only thing I can think of as a difference.

For flour it is Martha White and nothing else.

I buy King Arthur flour (both all purpose and cake) and C&H ultrafine baking sugar for baking, but I’ll use the store brand granulated sugar when I’m making a dish which calls for the sugar to dissolved, like a custard or for making caramel. The C&H ultra fine sugar is 400% more expensive than the store brand granulated sugar

Beet sugar, that's a European thing, I thought. Once heading down to the Keys after the horse season, driving through those cane fields. My, in a Lancia, no less...windshield wipers couldn't keep up. Vehicle festooned in insects. There were Caribbean Island black men cutting down the canes in the field and the insects were worse than Canada in the short summer months. Swarms. Like a bad 70s horror flick.

Thanks for your contribution R67, 68. Approximate area of your location?

R68, my god, watching sugar turn into caramel is relaxing and mesmerizing. I make the epicurious recipe for salted caramel custard and it gets raves. Repertoire staple I use to really show someone my love and appreciation.

R70 I’m on Pacific Northwest in the USA. I can only find superfine sugar at Winco, which is the cheapest grocery store in the city (we don’t have Aldi’s here) and it’s still 4 times as expensive as store brand granulated sugar.

R71 is this your recipe?

R72, no. It's the frozen salted caramel custard. I leave out one step so there are little caramel nuggets. Let me see. Maybe this? I remember I can't actually consume it myself because of intolerance to uncooked egg yolks. Other dairy isn't a problem but milk as an infant had to be cut w/water. Slippery slope with my heritage.

R72, if you have a wholesale tax i.d. for any business use it for deliveries or to the trade grocers. I'm in NY, obviously😅

R74 there is no sales tax on groceries in Washington, and no sales tax of any kind in Oregon. But thanks for the tip.

Name brand. I wouldn’t eat sushi from a food truck. I’ll pay a little more for a brand I trust.

Thanks for the tips, hon. But if you'll excuse me, I need to put down🙈 our ghetto🐏 cretins of lipstick 💄alley et. al. for the night with a sweet lullaby 🌜on another thread. May they sleep 🌒through the night 💤and never wake up due to a random drive-by in da 'hood🌝

Me too. I wouldn’t use hair product from a drug store brand and have dandruff or drink store brand vodka and get a hangover. A brand I know is worth it.

[quote] commodity items

PANTRY items?

Anyway, generally salt and sugar, but imported. I do pay more for dried anchovy that is high quality. I prefer kelp from Japan. I'm picky with bean pastes, spend a lot on chili flakes if they're decent looking. Soy sauce is Japanese for sure. Organic whole bean and then a good quality light soy sauce. Fish sauce / korean / classic soy sauce would be imported regardless. Oil generally avocado or extra virgin olive oil, hopefully organic which can be a bit pricey... Grapeseed oil (I will actually buy the President's choice if it's cheaper for this because it's basically a neutral flavoured oil and grapeseed oil is grapeseed oil) but I prefer to use the healthier oils. flour I don't care much about because most of it is really the same (if wheat) so probably the store brand versus five roses or robin hood. Eggs free range / not free range, haven't noticed much of a difference--whatever the store offers, but it's usually from this or that farm common to the chain... Sesame oil from Japan.... Noodles from Korea, I try to look mainly for unbroken coils or a good quality looking straight dried noodle.

Honesltly probably the most picky with chili flakes... I guess you call them that, and the anchovies. I will pay 30$+ for the chili flakes if they're good quality and probably the same for the anchovies if they're nice / large enough, A tin of sesame oil is probably going to cost you around 20-25 bucks..

I need to find a substitute for rice syrup which is probably going to be palm sugar.

I will pay whatever for nappa as long as it is young and GREEN all the way through or as much as possible--fresh. This is basically a pantry item for me. Green onions have to have a substantial white portion... chilies have to be unblemished... onions always white... Garlic fresh and bright. Ginger pink-ish.

I think I spend more on quality produce. Sometimes on the meat, but that's only if the butcher will cut everything through the bones for me. Otherwise, fuck them if they don't want to do their job. I'd rather by frozen crap.

I don't know if you would call them grocery store brands, because I live in Canada and most of the things that I cook are Korean. So we don't have brands of this kind of thing? Unless president's choice (in a country with a prime minister--wtf) offers something which is usually a piece of shit compared to what's imported--for Asian anything. I find that grocery store brands are lower quality than individual "specialist" brands. When I feel like crackers and cheese I will actually pick the president's choice (loblaws / zehrs?) brand of crackers but the cheese I will get from a specialty shop... I avoid supermarket baked goods because the staff here in Canada are lazy and don't care if there are bugs / fruit flies in with the bread. If you go to a bakery you don't have to worry about it (for real bread, not "white slime bread" as the two fat ladies would say.)

[quote]the insects were worse than Canada in the short summer months

LOL, ever been to florida? We don't have roaches like you do.

I shouldn't slam president's choice so much, they do have some good stuff, but they don't have stuff that I would use regularly. Good for parties.

President's Choice <-- OK (Loblaws ($$$) / Zehrs?)

(Our) Compliments <-- Garbage (Food land / Metro?)

No name <-- Garbage (No frills (CHEAP) )

There's also Longo's and Bruno's and Pusateri's but I'm too cheap to shop there so I have no idea. Probably 100% imported.

It might be a Canadian thing but we don't really have a lot of "grocery store brands" other than President's choice which has something to do with the Weston family I guess, "No Name" and "Our Compliments". In Ontario anyway. President's choice is half decent sometimes, the rest are SHIT.

R80 is Macropsychotic.

R81 wa, karejishin ga nanto hanashteru no zutto wakaranai ne. R81 wa.... dou shiyou ka na, shiranai.

nanika no hon wo kai ni ittara ii kamo? sou shitara hoka ni wakaru koto ga dekiru deshou?

You're a tard.

yottteru kara jibun no nihongo wa chotto... ima jouzu ja nai.

R81 is a wide eyed, probably jewish or muslim with the bug eyes, non asian person.

R84, ye old black lipstick alley lez on a bender of crackheadery. Search my posts. I can rest now. 😅

How many DL miles did I earn in the last 12 hours? Told ya up thread ^

I neglected the lullaby as promised which initiated the psychotic break

🌒

I only buy locally grown, organic food. I guess some people are just socially irresponsible and feel their lack of money justifies, that they are contributing to the abuse of those even less economically fortunate than them.

contributing to the abuse of those even less economically fortunate than them.-💲

Actually printed this thread w/triggers. Too soon?

Someone wanna call 911?😂

[quote] “grocery store commodity items”

Who speaks like this? Aren’t they just “groceries?” Or “staples?”

Ali's has a competitor where I live, called Lidl. Their produce is great. Their store brands are pretty good. Those of you looking for a good deal on spices should try out penzeys.com. If you get on their mailing list they have a lot of free stuff all year round. I happen to live fairly close to one so I can go in and pick up my stuff, and I am always amazed at the difference in freshness and quality from store-bought brands. I have had to adjust my recipes back to original amounts of spices, in the ones that I've had to increase over the years because I just wasn't getting the flavor from the store-bought brands.

If a recipe calls for superfine sugar, I just throw regular sugar in the food processor.

I bake a lot and I’m too lazy to clean the food processor r91

Yeah, I’ll do the store beans for lots of things. Whole Foods is especially good.

If it’s a standalone or feature ingredient (real Parmigiano, pasta, eggs for omelets, roast chicken) I’ll buy the best, but if it’s disappearing along with other ingredients (brown sugar, tomato paste, eggs) I buy the cheap stuff.

R80 is someone to avoid, as I suspect everyone does already.

R70 South Carolina

R87: Justify those superfluous commas and verbiage, sunshine.

If you're gonna fail at humor, at least get the punctuation right.

[quote]I represent a large sugar manufacturing group. Walmart is our largest run of product every year (more so than our "premium" brand). We fulfill product for other grocery store brands as well. We literally stop the bagging machines, take out the premium bags, and stick the "Great Value" ones in. Our workers joke about it. When they're in company uniform they buy our brand, but when they're not, its the house brand all the way.

The company I used to work for stopped giving tours. They tell everyone it was because the insurance company made them stop for safety reasons, but the real reason was that it became embarrassing to bring groups through and not see a brand name label in the plant.

I'm willing to spend more on certain meats. Take chicken breast. Most frozen breasts, even from the name brands, are between 15 and 20% saline solution (and that percentage seems to grow yearly). I spend the extra for fresh, no water added chicken. The difference in flavor and texture is considerable. Same with ground beef. That shit in the plastic wrapped tubes is factory processed, pink slime laced junk regardless of the fat content - head to the meat counter for real ground beef. If you shop Trader Joe's and Costco you can find cheeses that cost a bit more than regular name brands that are far superior. I also watch the online outlets like Goldbelly, Rastelli and Snake River Farms. Everyday prices can be outrageous, but if you hit them at the right time (with various discounts and free shipping offers) you can get truly high end food for less than name brand prices. I recently bought a 3 pound Black Angus Chateaubriand and a dozen 5 oz filet mignon/pork belly burgers for 80 bucks with free shipping. That's about 2 dozen servings of mostly tenderloin for less than 3.50 each. A week earlier it was $119 for the roast alone, so it pays to watch those sites if you have the freezer space. Avoid the mass market online food retailers like Omaha Steaks or Kansas City Steaks, where even with a "sale" they're hawking barely marbled, over tenderized supermarket grade sirloin for $20-30 a pound. Plus the prices and shipping charges can vary drastically depending on which active link you happen to click.

Once in a while I'll see a nice price on high-end stuff at Grocery Outlet and goddamn it is good. I can't bring myself to pay full price, but the bargains are sweet. My cousin will go to a tiny butcher shop out in the country and spend a little more for meat. He's great on the grill so regular meat comes out well in his hands, but the shop's stuff is sublime.

My (ass) crack is sublime too, r99.

I like Wegman brand (store) tuna fish.. the Albacore in water. It's much better than popular brands. I find their dried pasta excellent, too... and their cereals. I like their Italian olive oil (they have a Spanish oil, too). I buy store brand garbage bags and freezer bags.

Whole 365 or whatever Chia seeds at WhoFoo this afternoon: $12.95 for an 8 oz bag.

I know you only use 'em a spoonful at a time, but Jaysus, that is an expensive brand of grocery store commodity.

For you people with the problem of your brown sugar turning into hard bricks, a few seconds in the micro wave will soften that brick up, just do it for a few seconds at a time because too much will melt it.

The only private label products that have always disappointed me are saltine crackers. The store brands don't hold a candle to Nabisco or Sunshine.

R68 you can easily make ultrafine sugar in a food processor

She won't be out of the psych ward until monday, we've discovered. See R85. Epic meltdown. Was it the frambois et roses? Was it the black men in sugar cane fields?

Lip stick 💄 alley is missing their black old lez "loon".

Tea, coffee, butter have to be high-end. Honey too. Store brands for pretty much everything else. Never saw store brand olive oil, but wouldn't buy that if it existed. J buy store brand corn oil though.

[quote]Never saw store brand olive oil, but wouldn't buy that if it existed.

FYI, Trader Joe's olive oil has topped the charts in several comparison tests.

I buy & use the huge bottle of Kirkland (Costco) olive oil.

TJs olive oil not so great. I use California and wait unltil it’s on sale. Superfine sugar is something you can find anywhere—-it’s cheap and you don’t need it for a lot of things. King Arthur flour also goes on sale from time to time.

I also like the Whole Foods brand (365) fusilli noodles.