Blind Tasting BUDGET vs PREMIUM Ingredients | Where Best to Spend your Money?

18 Replies to “Blind Tasting BUDGET vs PREMIUM Ingredients | Where Best to Spend your Money?”

1. I think something that could be interesting here is having one of these videos where the normal not involved in testing is the one to cook the dish. It would really add to understanding the divide between the ingredients by showing (1) if most people using the ingredient understand enough about it to get the most of the premium and (2) if there is anything about the premium version that is easier/harder/different to use.

2. Who the hell puts greens on chicken wings?

3. I'm a firm believer in the difference really good spices make in a dish, so I choose to go for the best I can afford and buy directly from spice companies. Worth.every.penny.

4. i'd pick the premium. would you?

5. I am very curious, as I don't see it in the videos, do the guys cleanse their palette or rinse between tastings?

6. One of the things I learned very early on is that some (SOME) premium brands re-label themselves as off-brand/bargain brand/store brand. French's yellow mustard is the Walmart Great Value or the store name stuff. Mr. Noodles is the exact same as the generic ramen bricks on the shelf in the dollar/pound stores. Seriously, it's all about what's on the labels and where it's manufactured, not about the company name. Del Monte tinned fruit is sold under store brands most of the time I just found out. This may be something more prevelent in North America; I can't speak for Europe as manufacturing laws are different.

   My husband and I live in Canada where we have the Loblaws chain of stores; they have two in-store brands called President's Choice(PC) and No Name, and yes I'm serious, it's called that. When the No Name tinned plain diced tomatoes are $1 a tin (sometimes $0.85 on offer/sale), while the PC version is roughly $3, and the Hunts brand are nearly $6, guess which one I'm going for? It's possible that the No Name brand is the Hunts, so why pay so much more?

   I don't care much for premium in foods, since a lot of it is either far too expensive or can be a scam, as in mostly marketing BS, unless it's vegan "cheese" slices; it's a $7 per 250g every few months treat, so taste becomes everything and so many of those expensive psudo-cheeses taste like plastic. There is also no compromise on toilet paper: never get the cheap sandpaper-like store brand stuff, get the middle-tier for your comfort. Alcohol falls into this category, as it depends on taste, brand and preference (or lack thereof); we're particular with beer and whiskey.

   Otherwise, to Hell with paying a higher price for groceries in this poor, recession-if-not-depression-bound economic climate. Give me bulk spices stored properly, the generic/store brand goods, and the cheapest cuts of meat and we can make excellent meals with it, especially if you use the baking soda on meat trick to tenderise it to buttery softness.

   More than likely, I'm just being too careful, maybe paranoid, about spending too much money on food; we just spent $200 to get one recycled cardboard strawberry flat of necessary groceries, which is disconcerting for me. We used to be able to get about four of those for that amount just a few years ago. That and the cost of meat has skyrocketed; a "club pack" of about 12-14 chicken breasts used to be $20 three-ish years ago, and now they want $40 or more for the same amount.

   Do I want to get premium things? Eeeh, it depends on quite a few factors, but in the end, not really, as I'm not one predisposed to pretensiousness. It's more trouble and cost for what it's worth, and I want to be able to feel good about using it on a daily/weekly basis rather than "should I sacrifice XXml of this insanely expensive [mustard/spice/mayo] for my potato salad or save it for when we have guests?", as if it's some kind of holy relic for people to ooh and ahh over, but not taste any difference.

7. Always buy the best quality you can afford and no shame. The only shame here is that products with multiple fillers cost so much less than products with less than 10 ingredients.

8. Love the format but price per kilo often has less meaning, can we get price per jar/bottle to see what we would pay for the stuff if we bought it?

9. Fun fact, if you have English subtitles on, you can see the full sentences before they are spoken. I knew it was A on the chili powder before it was said. 😀

10. and I'd bet neither peppers are as good as a spice market (or as cheap, find they're equivalent). I make my own chili powder it has oodles more flavour and I can alter the profile, my local store also carries dried peppers

11. I don't know how recent they checked but currently the Zest and Zing Kashmiri chilli powder is £12.95 for the small jar, not £7

12. Why no more pass it on videos?

13. I would throw the Apple cider vinegar Into the English Channel

14. Kashmiri chilli doesn't come from Kashmir :). It was a hybrid developed in a lab which yeilds exceptional red color and is fruity. The people who developed it called kashmiri variety as a tribute to red color of Kashmir apples.

15. TRS spices are one of the best you can find in UK tbh. My boyfriend's mother always buys them and a couple of others and they are really really good if you know how to use them that is.

16. James anyone???

17. We have the most delicious mustard in central Europe, be it our own supermarket cheap brands here in Switzerland, or any mustard from Germany (they do it best) or fancy French mustard, but when I lived in the US I learned that the quality does not have much to do with the price since there is a lot of fancy expensive mustard in the US that is just terrible in my POV compared to ours here in Europe. Same thing with mayo, the American stuff is just terrible so I always brought our Swiss mayo with me when I went back.

18. honestly, what the heck is with the plating of the wings 😆

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