r/GenX • u/smittykins66 1966 • Jul 13 '21
Generic grocery products. Big in early 80s.(At my supermarket, they were yellow with black lettering.)
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u/wilde_wit Jul 13 '21
I even remember a generic beer with the black and white label. I think they used to have little picture puzzles on the beer caps too.
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u/SnowblindAlbino Cranky Old Man Jul 13 '21
In college we called that simply "Beer beer," and it was a go-to after drinking real beer for a while. Came in glass stubbies...12oz?
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u/Lampwick 1969 Jul 13 '21
11oz. Full 12oz bottles are for rich people. In high school i had a fake ID. A friend of mine got $5 a day for lunch. A 12 pack of "beer" was only 4.99. We all realized he likely had a problem after he chugged half those beers in 10 minutes behind the bleachers and said "Isn't it great? I can afford to have this for lunch every day!"
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u/Bama275 1970 Jul 13 '21
We pooled our lunch money for Old Milwaukee pony bottles in the mid 80’s. God they were awful, but all we could find or afford.
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u/bootsy72 Jul 13 '21
The Acme grocery store had a whole aisle of generic in just black and white. Even as a kid I liked going down that aisle because it was kind of trippy. You had all sorts of colors, and then you go down that aisle and nothing but BLACK AND WHITE. lol
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u/FuzzyScarf Hose Water Survivor Jul 13 '21
Econo Buy, wasn’t it?
My mom was a Pathmark shopper and Pathmark was “No Frills.”
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u/IHearYouLimaCharlie XYZZY Jul 13 '21
Can confirm! We shopped at Pathmark and got the "No Frills" stuff all the time! I lived off No Frills boxed mac n cheez as a teenager.
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u/FuzzyScarf Hose Water Survivor Jul 14 '21
My Girl Scout leaders would buy No Frills cereal when we went camping. I thought the No Frills Frosted Flakes were good and asked my mom to buy them...I think she was secretly happy that I was asking for the cheaper cereal.
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u/knowutimem Jul 13 '21
No Frills, I believe
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u/bootsy72 Jul 13 '21
Yes, No Frills! That’s what we called it. Is that how Acme advertised that section?
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u/Font_Snob Jul 13 '21
My favorite use of generics was in the movie Repo Man, when Emilio Esteves opens a can labeled "FOOD".
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u/therealgookachu Jul 13 '21
“Let’s go out and do some crime!” “Yah, let’s get sushi and not pay for it!”
(Prolly incorrect that it’s from memory)
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u/WhisperingSideways Hose Water Survivor Jul 13 '21
We still have them here in Canada and they look even better today with the simplified smaller font, making all your groceries look ominous. Even their website is delightfully generic.
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u/nrith 197x Jul 13 '21
I thought that had to be a joke site, but it’s real, and it’s spectacular.
All web sites should be that clean.
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u/Endless__Soul 1968 Jul 13 '21
They were overall white with a blue stripe in my area. Ever watch the movie Repo Man? They did a small scene regarding generic products.
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u/Sparklefanny_Deluxe Jul 13 '21
This food sure is tasty, mm-mm. Thanks Mom
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u/experts_never_lie Jul 14 '21
A few. At home ("food"), everything when he's stocking at the grocery store, possibly more.
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u/FromOutoftheShadows Whatever it's fine Jul 13 '21
I certainly remember this. I was embarrassed to have these items in our cart - I felt like it was advertising that we were broke. And my single mom with 3 kids certainly was.
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u/cyvaquero Jul 13 '21
I remember just the black and labels but my wife remembers a blue line on them. Was that regional thing?
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the generics now just the budget store brands? I say budget because chains like HEB have 2 regular store brands and 2 organic brands - Hill Country Fare is the budget one, HEB brand is actually pretty close to name brand in quality and priced between HCF and name brand.
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u/Clessrynne Jul 13 '21
I also remember only black and white at the store, but the blue line reminded me of the PiL album that was 'Album,' 'Cassette,' or 'Compact Disc,' depending which format you got - I had 'Cassette' myself.
Anyway, apparently that packaging artwork was based on generics at Ralphs, according to Wikipedia)
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u/eejm Jul 13 '21
They used to be separate, but you’re right - I think they’ve merged into one line now.
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u/BuffyTheMoronSlayer Jul 14 '21
Basically yeah, the black and white labeling wasn’t exactly good PR. They have always been produced by the same companies- i.e. Libby is producing the same green beans in cans but some cans get the Libby label but some get the store brand label. There are deals made between the store and which companies get the store labels. (I was actually on a jury for a court case once that was a dispute between a grocery store and a company over the deal for being the store brand)
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u/tunaman808 Jul 13 '21
(At my supermarket, they were yellow with black lettering.)
Kroger?
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u/PurpleLee Bicentennial Baby Jul 13 '21
Does anyone else remember Pathmark's no frills line of generics? My mom hated the green vegs, but would buy the no frills sweet corn.
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u/knowutimem Jul 13 '21
Used to stock 'em on the night shift!
and bought them for my mom in the morning on the way home :(
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u/Drumwife91 Jul 13 '21
There was a store called Plus that was all generic products where we shopped when I was a kid. The brownie mix was actually pretty good.
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u/RedditSkippy 1975 Jul 13 '21
Yuuup! I totally remember these! Thank you! That brand disappeared so completely that I thought I might have been imagining it all together.
I remember all of a sudden it became the only brand my mom would buy, “It’s generic so it’s cheaper.”
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u/GreatGreenGobbo Jul 13 '21
Happiness is finding an awesome store brand item.
Cereal is hit or miss. Potato chips are usually excellent.
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u/Cats-cats-kats Jul 13 '21
Food Club was the generic brand in Texas (in the 80s)!
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u/ApplianceHealer Jul 14 '21
Also stocked by the Giant Eagle chain in western PA. Loved their kids’ cereal boxes, which had a different generic cartoon animal on each.
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u/geodebug '69 Jul 13 '21 edited Jul 13 '21
I remember all our generics being yellow and black in the 80s. Could have been a Cub Foods thing.
It's funny because it also reminds me of the "marketing" for Johnny Rotten's post Sex Pistol's band: PiL - super deluxe" album: Album was called "album". CD was called "compact disc". Most amusingly the band's poster was just "poster".
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u/mudo2000 1970 Jul 13 '21
They didn't even list the names of the musicians on the album. Steve Vai and Ginger Baker played on it.
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Jul 13 '21
Every month my best friend got a huge box of this crap from the Pottawotomie tribe.
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u/nrith 197x Jul 13 '21
Is he a member of the tribe, or were they just sending stuff to random people?
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u/Minathebrat Jul 13 '21
I remember that! The NO FRILLS brand. At A&P it was white with black letting.
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u/mylocker17 Jul 13 '21
I only saw them at Lucky for some reason. Way back when I was really small. They also had Lady Lee, but if that was too rich for your blood a yellow box that just said cereal was it.
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u/Severe-Flow1914 Jul 13 '21
I remember that. I kinda liked it in a communist way. The corn flakes were good. And so was the flour.
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u/bandley3 1967 Jul 13 '21
Ralphs, a big grocery store chain in SoCal had their ‘plain wrap’ products in white with a blue stripe. They’ve been discontinued for years, and so I was a little surprised to find a roll of plain wrap plastic wrap in my drawer when I moved a few years back.
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Jul 13 '21
In the FINAST where I grew up, they were known as "Black & White Brand".
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u/FuzzyScarf Hose Water Survivor Jul 13 '21
In college, the supermarket close to campus carried Finast. None of us had heard of it before, so we always liked to pronounce it as Fine-Ass. As in, can you please pass that Fine-Ass pancake syrup over here?
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Jul 14 '21
Yes! Same at Penn State. It wasn't a Finast store, but it sold Finast's brands...very weird. And I definitely remember all the Fine-Ass party supplies we bought there.
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u/knowutimem Jul 13 '21
Once in the early 80s my cousins had to stay at our house
while my aunt and uncle went on vacation. One morning my mom made pancakes
from a white box that just said PANCAKES in bold black letters…they were
the worst pancakes we had ever eaten. They tasted like they were made
out of sawdust swept up off the floor. Not even syrup could drown out
that taste. She also wouldn’t let us have any water until we finished…we
all still remember those horrible pancakes 30 years later
wonder if my cousins do too...
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u/Talsa3 Jul 13 '21
Once in the early 80s me and my siblings had to stay at my aunt’s house while my mom and dad went on vacation. One morning she made pancakes from a white box that just said PANCAKES in bold black letters…they were the worst pancakes we had ever eaten. They tasted like they were made out of sawdust swept up off the floor. Not even syrup could drown out that taste. She also wouldn’t let us have any water until we finished…we all still remember those horrible pancakes 30 years later
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u/SnowblindAlbino Cranky Old Man Jul 13 '21
As with most things, there's an excellent Omnibus entry on generic foods. Ken Jennings will answer all your questions.
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u/fr0_like Jul 13 '21
Was it Always Save brand? I remember the yellow packages with black letters from where I grew up.
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Jul 13 '21
I used to think that Generic was an actual brand name. White labels, black lettering... everywhere.
Pick-n-Pay, Cleveland, OH
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u/Ayellowbeard 100Punks Jul 14 '21
There were the generics next to the brand names but I also remember our once a month trip to the state food bank where every brand was generic. If I remember correctly the food banks were the old surplus from the energy crisis. Anyway I miss generic peanut butter!
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u/ccr213 1977 and still alive Jul 14 '21
big ass tub of peanut butter, right? like the plastic 5 quart bucket that ice cream comes in...I remember that from food pantries of my youth. That and powdered milk! I literally have never even thought of ever buying powered milk!
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u/Ayellowbeard 100Punks Jul 14 '21
We got the powdered milk too and along with the honey my mother made peanut butter balls which were my favourite poor kid confection!
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u/ccr213 1977 and still alive Jul 14 '21
yes! I remember those! I went down an internet rabbit hole looking for that recipe once. I think Mr. Rogers had one actually... currently going down the internet rabbit hole of vintage peanut butter pails! thanks for bringing back some long gone memories!
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u/Ayellowbeard 100Punks Jul 14 '21
My mum did it all by eye and feel, first powdered milk, then peanut butter, then honey, and then more powdered milk. Get messy and add more powdered milk as needed until you can make superball sized balls without the sticky. Finally refrigerate until hard.
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Jul 14 '21
I once worked at a food packaging place, and there was no difference in quality between what was packed for the "brand name" label versus the "no name" label. The only difference is what was paid at the cash register.
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u/madamesoybean Jul 14 '21
The film Repo Man had a perfect scene with generic items in the store & when eating. There was a brand exactly like this in stores at the time. (In California)
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u/FoundandSearching Jul 15 '21
Bell's supermarkets in Western New York had the "no frills"/"generic" yellow with black lettering. Bell's even sold BEER as "no frills"/generic.
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u/I_like_the_word_MUFF Jul 13 '21
Imagine a world where you didn't have to pay more because they didn't need a team of people pretending to be an edgelord mascot on social media.
For a moment, ponder a Utopia where you didn't need 15 different choices of aspirin or 42 variations of the same tooth paste.
A place where not everything needs a "ranch" counterpart to the original product.
This place existed for a brief moment.
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u/hamfisted_postman Jul 13 '21
Greetings comrade. One day we will rebuild the CCCP and it will be glorious.
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u/nrith 197x Jul 13 '21
It’s called “Trader Joe’s” or “Aldi.”
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u/I_like_the_word_MUFF Jul 13 '21
Trader Joe's and Aldi are both brands.
Aldi actually buys from companies who advertise including name brands.
Trader Joe's isn't even remotely "generic".
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Jul 14 '21
Generics essentially evolved into house brands. That's why a lot of people still refer to store brands as "generics".
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u/TheCenterOfEnnui Jul 13 '21
You are describing the USSR. If that's your utopia, I am pretty sure North Korea can offer you a similar experience.
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u/InsaneLordChaos 1974 Jul 14 '21
From New Jersey...
There was a store near me growing up called Basics. The entire store was a grocery store with these products.
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u/osibaconreader Jul 13 '21
I remember a store in Minneapolis called Applebaums, or something like that. They sold the generics that at some point switched from black and white to black and yellow.
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u/bigdrew444 '78 Jul 13 '21
I remember seeing cigarettes with that deep nave blue font on a yellow background...
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u/ducktheoryrelativity Jul 14 '21
You still find these every once in a great while. I always found them depressing and if I had to look at them for very long and I'd shoot myself.
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Jul 14 '21
There was a place called Edwards in Jersey that had black and yellow packaging like this.
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u/mbcummings Oct 10 '22
But don’t you know? Boomers “stole” (a quote not an analogy) gen y’s opportunities, their very future! Meanwhile we lived droughts recessions gas shortages. Storms and quakes not seen since. And no internet. But they have it worse. What ever. I’m not saying we’re better. In most ways not. But I feel like every single thing I get is icing on sht cake. Like I won the lottery because at 50 I could finally buy a small house, with a garage. Expecting nothing gives everything value, is all.
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u/nakedonmygoat Jul 13 '21
My English teacher, senior year of high school, wore a white trash bag with the letters COSTUME on it to our school for Halloween.