What Brands do you buy now?

I'm a brand loyalist, when I find a brand I like, I'll stick to it and don't mind paying a little more for it. Many of the brands I used in the US, were ones my family used, kinda grew up with them. Moving here has meant discovering new brands, which is a bit fun.

Some brands are international, like Heinz ketchup <3 but not all. What brands have you found here that you really like? What stores do you prefer shopping at?
And what about those brands made you decide to give them a shot? Commercial? Recommendation? Packaging?

me..

*Biscuits has to be Mcvitties! mmm
reason for trying: recommendation/tried it at someone elses house first[/i]

Instant coffee.... Nescafe or Kenco 
reason for trying: Same as above. (Very interested to hear other's choices, I'm still looking for better.)

Frozen pizza....   Chicago Land
reason for trying: Packaging, may have caught a commercial, and it was on sale.

Salad dressing... English Provender co
reason for trying: Recommended to my hubby by a shop assistant. He said he got it because it looked posh, so also packaging.

Dish tabs...        Fairy
reason for trying: they were on sale.

*Smoothies...       Innocent
reason for trying: Packaging, commercials.

*Squash....           Robinsons
reason for trying: had it at someone elses house

*Yorkshire pudding... Aunt Betsy
reason for trying: they were on sale.

Frozen chips ... Aunt Betsy
reason for trying: they were on sale.

Snack cakes .... Mr Kiplings
reason for trying: recommendation[/i]

*things I'd never bought before back in the US.

I shop at Tesco, because it's the ONLY big market here, If I had the option tho, I'd shop at Morrisons.  Co-op/somerfields is cool, mark and spencers is alright, haven't tried sainsbury or Asda (WalmartUK lol). I don't like Tesco at all.

I'm in the middle of bumduck no where, so not much choice in clothing brands, although I'm interested in hearing others.  There is a neat clothing store around here called Scallywags but it's pricy, other then that only options are Peacocks or Seconds ahead, and charity shops, lol.


That's all I can think of atm. I look forward to reading everyone else's brand discoveries, and if there is any that you think anyone else would be interested in trying, please recommend!

I recommend Chicago land pizza.
(but go for the thin crust or thick crusts, the stuffed crust is a bit salty.)

I'd like recommendations for laundry detergent/tabs and instant coffee (and other things but those especially ).

I actually don't mind our Tesco. As with all the other major supermarkets, they vary depending on where they are. Some are good, some not so good. I hate the Morrison's near here - their produce is always limp and well past its best. Sainsbury's is nice, but a bit of a trek. And there's no Waitrose. I do, however, make a good effort to buy fruit and veg from farm shops whenever I can. I don't always succeed, but the thought's there!

As for brands, I don't really buy many of the products you've mentioned such as instant coffee, squash, frozen pizza, Yorkshire puds, smoothies or snack cakes. I tend to make my own (not the coffee, of course!). 

But here are some of my favourite brands that come to mind:

Washing up liquid: Fairy

Fabric softener: Comfort (it smells the nicest)

Deodorant: Dove Invisible Dry

Marmalade: Frank Cooper's Oxford (nice & bitter!)

Peanut butter: Whole Earth

Crackers: Jacob's Cream Crackers

I'm not quite as brand loyal here as I was in the US, but there are a few things I keep consistent.

Coffee: LaVazza

Washing up liquid: The stuff they sell at Lidl. It's cheap and works great.

American-style cheese: The low-fat slices at Lidl. They rule.

Chips (not frozen): M&S chunky chips

Mayo: Hellemen's Light

Peanut butter: Jif. Yes, I splash out at the American food shop for this.

Laundry detergent: Persil, Small and Mighty, Biological

Deodorant: Vaseline Brand

I primarily shop at Dunnes (an Irish-owned store), but to find everything I need I often have to go to M&S, Tesco, Lidl, Fresh (another Irish store) and smaller independent stores.

I'm back in the US now, but let's see if I can remember...

Tea: PG Tips
Digestives: McVities
Peanut butter: I preferred Jif but Skippy was available in the UK shops
Ketchup: Heinz
Brown Sauce: HP
Mayo: Hellman's Light
Mustard: in the US it has to be French's but in the UK it was just the American yellow mustard
Hotdogs: Herta
Coffee: LaVazza or that other Italian one that now escapes me!
Sausages: usually they had to be Cumberlands but brand wasn't so important (just high quality)
Gravy: Bisto or home made!
OJ: Tropicana unless we were really poor

Aside from that (at least what I can remember now), most of our food was fresh. M&S ruled for ready meals if we had them. But like Bmore, I had to go to a lot of different shops to find everything I wanted. That's still the case here in the US, too!

Washing up: Ecover blue top.  It's what I used in the States too.
Instant coffee: Clipper FT Organic.  Highly recommended.
Regular coffee: Sainsbury's Taste the Difference regional coffees.  Usually Sundried Quinchia or the Ethiopian stuff
Mayo-Hellman's, but I am starting to make my own
Mustard-French's Deli
Black tea- London Cuppa (my favourite) or Typhoo (husband's favourite)
Laundry soap-Fairy non-bio liquid
Sponges-I HAVE to have Scotch-Brites.  I went without for 2 years and was shocked and stunned to see them in my local shop.
Butter-Presidente.  I love this butter, but feel slightly bad that it's fairly long distance to send butter.
Bacon- Oscar Meyer.  As with the sponges, our local shop carries them.  I am a bit convinced that there is a large American enclave somewhere around here, but they are never out and about when I am.
Cat litter-Currently, I have to make a special trip to pick up Morrison's own brand wood litter.
We also make special trips to Waitrose for things like their frozen grilled Mediterranean veg, their own brand herb teas, and they carry London Cuppa when our local stores don't.
Other good herb teas: Some of the Yogi teas (I like Choco), Heath & Heather, the Pukka teas.  If all else fails, I get the Twinnings herb teas, and while some are good, they don't really stand up to the other ones I mentioned.  Tick Tock or Eleven O'clock for Rooibos.

For dairy other than butter, I prefer Yeo Valley if we're not getting own brand.
Almost all the Blue Dragon Asian cooking products are great and help me make really great curries and stirfries, which we eat a lot of.

We don't eat many biscuits, savoury or otherwise, but I like the Fox's favourites or the Fox's ginger ones when we do get them.  We're more likely to buy something like cakes or make homemade if we have something like that.

My husband wants me to buy the Charmin or whatever it's called now, but I always try to get the recycled stuff for all our paper products.

I love Sainsbury's. They usually always had great fresh veg where I went last summer. They also had a fairly good choice of prepared foods (love those quiches!!) and yoghurt, etc. But, surprisingly, we tried their brand of liquid laundry soap. It was better than Persil and that Bio one. It got out a grease stain the first time in a new shirt (that I had worn once!) after having washed it 3x in the other stuff and no luck! It did strike me that it's interesting to be buying staples in another country without that lifetime reference of what is considered a high quality brand vs. not so good... I think it let me try some stuff I might not have otherwise! I'm such a geek- I LOVE grocery shopping in other countries!

I LOVE grocery shopping in other countries!

Me, too 

I love grocery shopping too - thats how I end up spending too much <g>

Instant Coffee - Nescafe Skinny Mocha
Butter - Ludapak
Toliet Paper - the one with the dogs on it <g>
Mayo - hellmans
Gravy - Bisto
Frozen Pizza - I LOVE the ASDA little ones
Pasta Sauce - Morrisons Hot and Spicy sauce Will go out of my way to get this<nodnod>
Washing up - I like the fairy but now tempted to try Sainsbury (If I can find one) ;-)

There isn't a lot else I am brand specific yet ;-)

I'm such a geek- I LOVE grocery shopping in other countries!

Oh yes!  When we travel, I love popping into grocery stores just to look around.  

I initially thought I wasn't terribly brand loyal over here, but I think I fell into the habit of trying things when I arrived, and if it didn't disappoint, I stuck with it.  I tend to do 90% of my shopping at Waitrose because there are two in easy walking distance (and we don't have a car).  The closest Sainsbury's is a 20+ minute bus ride and we have an abundance of miniature Tescos not really suitable to a full shop.  I pick up random stuff there several times a week, though.  I really like a lot of Waitrose own brand stuff. 

I stock up on Jif PB in the states, but would buy it here if we ran out.  

Other stuff that I bought in the US and still buy in the UK is:
Heinz ketchup
French's mustard (among a zillion other mustards that look interesting so I pick up a little jar)
Hellmans mayo
Barilla pasta and sauces
Tropicana OJ
Welch's grape juice (on occasion.  it's a dirty little secret.)
Fage yogurt with honey
Method household cleaner
Twining's English Breakfast tea
Cheerios in the yellow box (for which I pay dearly)
Diet Coke

New to me in the UK stuff:
Coffee:  Nespresso (didn't buy a machine until I moved here, though)
Butter: Lurpak Light
Pre-made pizza:  Waitrose 4 Cheese
Laundry detergent:  Bold Lavendar liquid
Fabric softener:  Comfort
Yogurt: Waitrose "seriously" line
Dish liquid: Fairy
Cereal:  Jordan's Honey Crisp
TP:  Andrex (but the whole puppy thing kinda creeps me out)

ETA:  edited to add the ever-needed Diet Coke!

Hmm... I was thinking that we weren't brand loyal but there are quite a few things that we'll buy one brand and not another. However, if the other brands were to better their recipe, then we'd gladly move over.

Whats funny is that I'll often have my stuff and Jon will have his own. Like spread, I will only eat Lurpak at home whereas Jon will eat whatever is on sale, he's not fussy.

I will only drink Sainsbury's lemon squash but, again, Jon will pick up whatever is on sale.

I think I'm the more brand loyal. I know what I like and what I don't like and I don't like to compromise whereas Jon, more often than not, will just go for whatever is on sale.

These things in brands:

Toilet Paper - Has to be Morrisons own brand!
Mayonnaise - Hellmans full fat
Peanut Butter - Whole Earth (UK), Smuckers Natural (US)
Tea - Tetleys (builders tea!)
Laundry detergent - the fragranced (various) Bold 2-in-1 powder
Ketchup - Heinz
Coffee - pretty much any Fair Trade variety, but noooooo instant coffee 
Pop - Diet Coke

Not really a brand per se, but we prefer to buy meat from our local butcher because we know its provenance - coming from the Yorkshire Dales farmers who are near to us.

I don't know - maybe I can think of a few more, but for the most part, I'm not bothered - butter is butter, eggs are eggs, milk is milk (we get ours from our milkman!), etc...  We make most things from scratch so we don't tend to buy much pre-processed food:  frozen pizzas, frozen Yorkshire puddings, chips, etc.  We don't drink squash either.

Grocery-wise I tend to buy a lot of store's own - especially from Sainsbury's.  However I would NEVER recommend their Basic's Mayo.   

Laundry Detergent - Fairy, Daz or Persil Small & Mighty (almost anything non-bio)
Fabric Softener - Comfort, the scents are great!
Toilet Paper - Andrex Quilted (used to go for Charmin, but find it extortionate and quality diminished)
Ketchup - store's own reduced sugar & salt
Tea  - splurge: Clipper Organic (I started rom a free sample as a member of the Clipper site) or Cafe Direct Gold, otherwise Sainsbury's own - their Decaf tea's nice too.  I also like Dilmah Orange Pekoe.
Butter - Country Life Light (it's Red Tractor Assured) or whatever light's on offer
Milk - Cravendale - longer fridge life and consistent great taste
OJ - Innocent, fantastic flavour as they use a variety of oranges to give it more zing and not from concentrate   
Brown Sauce - Daddies (DH will only have this), although IMO HP's tastes similar to A1 Sauce
Biscuits - Fox's or store's own
Salad Dressing - Newman's Own

I also love grocery shopping in other countries- its so much fun- one of my favourite things to do on holiday

Hrmm - I have brands I prefer but I also just usually pick up what's on offer too. Like chary, I prefer to get my fruit/veg from my veg box-farm shops-farmers markets, and meat from the butchers-or from the farm shops-farmers market, fish from the fishmonger

Here's my preferred brands:
Loo roll - Tesco's Value is fine with me
Tea- PG Tips, Tea Pigs for flavoured
Yoghurt- Fage 0%
Washing up liquid - Ecover
Clothes soap- Ecover
Cereal- Shreddies, Dorset Mueslis
Beer- Black Isle, Caringorm, Orkney Brewery, Isle of Skye Brewing
Oatcakes- Nairns
Baked Beans- Heinz
The very rare ready meal- M&S
Oatmeal- Hamlyn's Pinhead
Haggis- McSweens (the butcher's is OK, but I prefer McSweens)
Crisps- Kettle Chips 
Squash- Rock's Organic Squash

Laundry Detergent- Ariel liquid tabs the purple kind/ Bold 2in1  Orange blossom & pomegranate. I buy 2 different kinds cause my gym clothes are the quick dri stuff an fabric softner cant be used on them.

Washing up liquid when we use it is- Fairy /Dishwasher Tablets are Fairy as well.

Peanut butter I prefer Jif but Skippy when I run out of Jif that what brought from the States. Jelly Smuckers strawberry.

Tea Dh prefers PG Tips but will get whats on sale I dont drink tea so its Dh's choice.

Toilet Paper- Charmin.

Toothpaste-Colgate.

Bread- Hovies whole wheat.

Mayonaise- Miracle Whip light brought back from the States but when I run out of that Hellmans Extra light.

Ketchup- Heniz Reduced Salt & Sugar.

Butter-Flora Light.

Milk- usually ASDA or Tesco brand.

Brown sauce- Dh prefers HP another thing I dont use so its Dh's choice.

Cookies- Mcvities but only buy them if we are having company over if it isnt in the house I cant it it.

Salad dressing- Heniz Dh's choice another 1 I dont use.

Squash- ADSA own brand sugar free strawberry Dh likes pearberry & black currant kind.

Pop- We both like Diet Coke Dh also likes Cherry coke but we dont have pop that often.

OJ- Tropicanna.

Cereal- Weetabix Weetaflakes or Shredded Wheat Bite Size thats mine Dh doesnt eat Breakfast.

Pizza- We both like Chicago Town Mini pizzas mainly the pepperoni or the 4 cheese kind.

Pasta- Asda own brand whole wheat pasta.

Rice- Uncle Bens Wholemeal Rice.

Deodorant- for me I use Niva Energy spray Dh uses Gillete gel.

Cheese-  Cathederal City.

Chocolate- Galaxy or Thorntons.

Ice Cream- Ben & Jerrys or Magnum ice cream bars if there on sale otherwise Asda own brand vanilla ice cream.
 
I'm sure there are a few things I have forgot an will add later on when I remember them.    

I'm so glad I'm not alone in my supermarket "thing"! I went practically every day (either Saino's or Tesco's mostly!) last summer during the 2 months I was there!