Pssst, you guys. Yeah, you! I need to share a sneaky secret that you’re probably, maybe, missing at your local Commissary.
Two words: store brands.
Over the last year or so, DeCA has rolled out store and partner brands. These are high quality, lower-cost pantry staples that every family buys often.
Let me tell you: I’m hooked! I know the Commissary is often known for carrying brand names at slightly less than stores out in town. But I’ve almost totally switched from those big names to the Commissary brands!
MilFams Save More Cash When You Buy Commissary Store Brands
Since I switched over to store brands, I’ve seen my savings increase! And I’m not buying anything unusual or that we don’t need. Instead, I’m making smart swaps to save some cash.
Even though the per item difference might just be a few cents, maybe a dollar, those small amounts definitely add up over time. Just one shopping trip can save me over $5, even when compared to using coupons.
What Brands Are Store Brand?
It’s pretty easy to spot store brands in other places. Target has UpandUp. Giant and Stop & Shop have Nature’s Promise.
But spotting the Commissary’s store brands might be a smidge harder.
When you’re shopping look for:
- Freedom’s Choice: food items, like canned goods and baking products
- Homebase: paper products and non-food household goods
These are the private label brands, directly owned and produced by DeCA. You can find these labels on all sort of great products. Seriously: so many staples!
There are also partner brands. These are brands that you might see at other stores, but are priced like store brands. You can find:
- Full Circle Market: organic, non-GMO and USDA organic items across the spectrum
- TopCare: health and medical items, like bandaids and floss
- Tippy Toes: baby care, like diapers and wipes
There are also pet food and birdseed brands available to shoppers at some locations.
What Store Brands Does a Real MilFam Buy
Some of my favorites are toilet paper and canned products, like beans and tomatoes. See? Pantry staples!
I’m constantly adding canned diced tomatoes to my everyday recipes. They’re a great addition to soups, pasta sauce and baked chicken. Yum!
My family has also been on a major healthy, organic food kick. So we’re cutting back on meat-eating and switching to mostly fruits and veggies. Lately, I’ve been absolutely loving the Full Circle Market organic canned beans.
They’re so much cheaper than comparable brand name organic beans! The quality is really great, too.
My kids are obsessed with eating the organic chickpeas, straight up with no seasoning. Plus, beans of all sorts are yummy additions to chili or to a vegetarian rice bowl.
As a baker, I’ve switched completely over to Freedom’s Choice flour and sugar. There’s no real difference between these pantry staples and the name brand products! Plus, that extra money allows me to buy more baking goods and make bigger batches of cookies. My kids appreciate that.
We switched over to the Homebase toilet paper when it first rolled out. It’s a good bit cheaper than the name brands the Commissary carries. There’s enough of a difference that I’ll gladly swap my triple thick, but pricey, TP for the two-ply Homebase rolls. No questions asked!
Shop & Save with Store Brands
Yes, I do still add non-store and partner brands to my cart. There aren’t equivalent products for everything I need available. At least, they’re not available right now, at my location.
There might be slightly different products available at your duty station!
But when I have the choice, I’m going with store brands. Hands down, every time.
It’s just smart, financially, to pick something just as good but with a lower price. All that money I’m saving goes straight into our vacation fund account! We’re planning a great trip, partially financed with savings because we’re shopping the Commissary’s store brands regularly.
What’s Stopping You From Switching to Store Brands
My family isn’t particularly choosy about brands, which is lucky. But I know that some families might be.
You might have grown up always buying the name brand or a particular brand. But here’s the thing: do canned diced tomatoes really taste that much different? What about flour?
Personally, I can’t tell the difference between Progresso and Freedom’s Choice once they’re out of the can. And I actually did a taste comparison before fully making the switch over.
Before you rule out store brands just because you’ve “always” bought the brand names, do a taste test. I bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised! I know I was.
When you’ve switched over on those pantry staples, you might even be able to splurge on some special, more pricey grocery items. I know that I love having a little more flexibility to grab gourmet olives and fancy bread.
For years I’ve gotten the store brand from the Exchange. I have even ordered Exchange Select Toilet paper and dishwasher pods this past month. I am happy to now see that the Commissary is getting store brands too. So far I’ve tried the canned tomatoes and beans, the toilet paper and the bottled water. I keep the bottled water on hand for when I go places like local events. A 24 pack of Freedom’s Choice water cost me under $3. That is about the same amount that maybe a 16.9 oz bottle of water from a vendor will cost at a street fair. In that respect I am really saving by bringing my own bottled water.
Personally, I HATE the store brands. The cheese is absolute garbage (it tastes bad and the blocks crumble to bits when slicing) and how is there any freedom of choice if the ONLY choice is Freedom’s Choice? If I keep finding more and more of the brands I WANT totally replaced with these store brands (ie ALL frozen fruits), I will have to shop at the civilian stores at a huge financial detriment to my family. If the powers that be want to shut down the commissaries for lack of shoppers, this is how to do it. Drive ’em off by getting rid of what we want. Have store brands if you must, but not as the ONLY choice for an item!
I think like regular brands the store brands are not the only choice. I actually did try the store brand grated cheese from the commissary on top of enchiladas and tacos and found it to be very good. I will take your advice and not buy the blocks of cheese from them. In fact maybe you should return what you got and complain about it. I’ve returned stuff to the commissary and they are very nice about taking it back and refunding me my money.
In our commissary in some cases, Freedom’s Choice IS the only choice. In frozen fruits, there is no other options. Bertolli brand frozen bagged dinners are out as are all others except for some weird brand of fish frozen supper in sacks (which I can’t eat as I’m allergic to seafood). ALL there is, is Tastee Choice (or whatever it is). Peanut butter is close to being only Freedom’s Choice. I’m not at all happy about it and many people I’ve talked to here aren’t either. Mozzarella cheese is non-existent except in Freedom’s Choice. I tried it out of desperation once and will never use it again. There’s a reason store brands are cheaper than national brands– because they are usually crap.
I TOTALLY agree with you. The Freedom Choice brand is totally awful!!!! From cheese to can goods. Walmart’s brand is even better and cheaper!!! I have seriously thought about going elseware if this continues at the commissary. The powers of be are loosing a lot of patrons at the commissary. Even the employees have complained how bad it has gotten. The powers of be need to open their eyes and hears and listen to their patrons. We have served in uniform on our land and other’s land and I think we are entitled to better treatment!!!
I love the fact that there are more organic options at the commissary. This makes my shopping so much easier.
I always buy Freedoms Choice. I haven’t found anything that is poor quality. Some examples that are less expensive and same quality as national brands.: cottage cheese, canned veggies, frozen veggies. There are some items I prefer national… like Chobani yogurt. Overall, store brand is fine. But we’ve always shopped store brand over national in most things, no matter the store.
I have also tried the freedom choice it was awful. I returned the empty can and they returned my money. I will not purchase that product. I have written to my congressman and the answer I got had to do with Obama care.