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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Catherine Furze & Marita Moloney

Tesco, Lidl and Aldi own-brand 'secrets' revealed as insiders share how shoppers can save at supermarkets


Irish consumers will be keen to lower their bills in any way possible as the cost of living continues to surge.

Energy, electricity and food prices have all risen in recent months in line with an increase in inflation.

One simple way of easing the burden on your wallet is to switch your habits while doing the weekly shop.

READ MORE: Warning issued to shoppers buying chocolates and cereals like KitKats, Shreddies and Cheerios

Buying own-brand products instead of big name items can significantly lessen your grocery bill, with consumer group Which? finding that some of its top own-label choices cost less than a third of the price of branded options.

It is also not surprising that own-label choices performed well in taste tests - as most of them are manufactured in the same factory as their competitors or even the brand leaders, as Chronicle Live reports.

Manufacturers are often sworn to secrecy as part of their contract when they sign up to make products on behalf of other brands - and it's not only supermarket own brands that are made by white label manufacturers, to give them their industry name.

Often different prestigious brands are made side-by-side in the same factory - but the brand owners don't want you to know that, which is why the manufacturer very rarely appears on the label.

And while it's not always true to say the products are exactly the same - often the recipes are tweaked for each brand - it's fair to say there's not a lot of difference between different brands of, say, crisps or frozen vegetables.

Sometimes manufacturers are famous for their branded product and also produce other brands from the same factory, and there are even factories which just produce own-label products and nothing else.

Stock image of a woman shopping in a Tesco supermarket in January 2022 (DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)

While it's notoriously difficult to find out which factories are manufacturing which brands, employees took to Moneysavingexpert recently to share some insider tips.

These included a woman who worked in a cheese factory and who now only ever buys 'value' cheese.

"One massive block of cheese enters a huge cutting machine and proceeds through approximately five separate wrapping sections, popping out as M&S, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Asda and Tesco 'value' cheese blocks," she said.

"All the same cheese, wildly different prices. I have never bought anything but value cheese since."

A man who said he worked for biscuit manufacturer McVities claimed it made own brand versions of favourites like custard creams, bourbons, ginger nuts and digestives for "all the major retailers" and that "recipes were nearly identical, the main difference was usually a bit of salt."

Daniel Dawson who said he "worked for a large premium baby food brand", said that was very little difference in baby food - with branded products being made on the same line as "baby food for shops such as Asda, Aldi and Lidl".

Kate and Sheena used to pack frozen fruit and veg, and say that they're all the same, no matter which brand or supermarket you use.

"I worked in a frozen veg factory. The difference between branded and supermarket brands were minimal or non-existent," said Sheena, and Kate agreed, saying: "I used to work in a fruit packing factory. Doesn't matter if it's Asda, Aldi or Waitrose, they are all the same fruit, just different labels."

However both Mark and Sally say there can be a difference between brands in the quality or appearance of fruit and veg, though it may not be worth the extra cost.

"I worked in a vegetable processing plant and the cheap carrots came from the same fields and through the same cleaning and packaging line as the expensive carrots," said Sally.

"But what was different was the expensive carrots had more workers looking for, and removing, unsightly or damaged carrots, so what you're paying for is more people to check your carrots before you see them. Buy big bags of cheap carrots, sort the best ones yourself and make soup with the rest."

Merita shared her experience of working in a chicken processing factory, saying: "I can say with complete authority that all the meat packed is the same, just different labels and prices.

"As they trays of meat came off the production line we'd have labels from all the major supermarkets and would do a certain number for Tesco and certain number for Waitrose and so on, according to their orders."

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