The time my cheap grocery budget backfired hard at Safeway in Portland

I was trying to save $20 by buying the store brand canned tomatoes instead of the brand I usually get. Turned out three of the four cans were dented and one had this weird metallic taste that ruined my whole chili for a family dinner. Ended up spending $15 on takeout just to salvage the meal. Anyone else get burned by going too cheap on pantry staples?

3 comments

3 Comments

xena_hernandez984d ago

Used to think I was just paying for a label. Then grabbed a store brand jar of pasta sauce. Tasted like sugary ketchup. Never again. Learned my lesson the hard way on spaghetti night. Now I stick with the mid tier stuff for anything acidic like tomatoes.

david_walker974d ago

Store brand pasta sauce nearly ruined a Sunday dinner at my house a few years back. My wife picked up a big jar of the cheap stuff because it was on sale, and I swear that sauce had more sugar than a candy bar. The whole pot had this weird sweet and sour thing going on, like someone mixed ketchup with tomato soup and called it authentic Italian. We ended up ordering pizza because nobody could choke down that mess. So now I'm with you, I stick to the mid tier for anything in a jar. Those store brands for pasta sauce are a gamble I'm not willing to take again.

the_john4d ago

So you're saying store brand tomatoes are basically a gamble on dented cans and metallic chili? @david_walker97 I feel like cheap sauce is the bigger trap, that sugar bomb almost wrecked my dinner too.