Generic food taste test

TULSA -
Back in February, students at Eugene Field elementary in Tulsa took part in our snack food taste test. The 4th graders chose generic "Great Value" cookies over Chips Ahoy.
Lays potato chips over Market Pantry. And were split on the white grape juice.

Our viewers wanted more, so this time we enlisted the help of summer camp kids at Whiteside Park.

On the menu; Rold Gold pretzels versus the generic Great Value brand.

Tree Top apple juice up against the cheaper "Always Save" brand.

And Kraft string cheese takes on generic Frigo.

We disguise the brands by placing the generic products on white and the name brands on red.

We began the taste test with pretzels. The kids were more than willing to share their opinions.

"It was kind of chewy and had a little bit more salt." one camper said about the generic pretzels.

Another camper had this to say about the name brand pretzels,

"It was bigger, fluffy, and salty."

The most obvious difference between the generic and name brand pretzels was the size.
Generic was much smaller and also much cheaper.

Generic Great Value pretzels are $1.41 cheaper than name brand Rold Gold.

To wash down the pretzels we gave the campers apple juice; disguised in the red and white cups.

"The white's not my favorite because it's not sweet at all." said one camper.

Another camper liked the red because he thought it was more sweet than the white.

That sweetness isn't so sweet on the wallet. Name brand Tree Top costs $3.09 , generic Always Save is just $1.49.

We ended the taste test with string cheese. This turned out to be a favorite for the campers. But this time most of them chose the white plate containing the generic string cheese.
As for pricing, name brand Kraft costs $3.98, generic Frigo costs $2.98.

Here are the results:

Out of the 37 kids tested, 25 chose Rold Gold pretzels over Great Value.
Most agreed the name brand was bigger and tasted more fresh.

Similar results for the apple juice, 26 chose name brand Tree Top only 11 chose generic, Always Save.
Sweetness was the deal breaker.

A much different outcome with the string cheese.
Generic was the crowd favorite getting 26 of the 37 votes.
It seems name brand Kraft just wasn't cheesy enough.