Supermarket insiders have been sharing their secrets with Martin Lewis on the Money Saving Expert (MSE) website.
They claim that 'own brand' products are identical in every way apart from price - and sometimes even made by leading brand names. It comes as many people try the Martin Lewis' Downshift Challenge - and follow the MoneySavingExpert.com founder's suggestion that shoppers should buy basic or own-branded products..
These included a woman who worked in a cheese factory and who now only ever buys 'value' cheese. She claims that M&S, Sainsbury's Waitrose, Asda and Tesco all sell exactly the same cheese as their 'value' brand.
And a man who said he worked for biscuit manufacturer McVities claimed they 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."
A lorry driver agreed, telling MSE that "all own brand stuff you buy is made in the same factory with branded stuff" but with a "slightly different recipe". And 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".
And the same is apparently true of adult ready meals too. Kerry Flinton - whose step mum worked in a packing factory - said: "Aldi and Lidl buy old M&S and big supermarket recipes – that's why their products taste good."
Meanwhile, Amy Mortson, a former Nando's employee told MSE that Nando's popular Perinaise is merely a mixture of mayo and medium sauce, which are both available for free to diners in Nando's restaurants. Amy also revealed there is a "secret" sauce known as peri flamer, which is mixture of peri tamer (bbq) and hot sauce.
And many households will be delighted to know that cheap cleaning products often work just as well as the more expensive branded versions. Pauline Emma John told MSE: "I'm a cleaner. 99p cleaner does exactly the sam £3.99 per bottle stuff. You are just paying fir the fancy bottles and the brand."
Tracey Cooper agreed, sharing a photo of various shower cleaners. "All these bottles are made in the same chemical factory, many different prices in shops, same liquid in them all," said Tracey.
The MSE website listed more than 20 of these "insider Secrets" on its website here.
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