When we asked our members and supporters to suggest home-brand supermarket products, such as Pams or Woolworths Essentials, for us to review, we were flooded with responses.
From baking supplies to frozen vegetables, our members frequently rely on store-brand items.
One member, Barbara, shared, “If the supermarket product is cheaper, I always buy it and always find that the taste is as good as any of the fancy ones.”
This perspective is supported by a 2024 Focus Insights study on consumer shopping habits. It revealed that 40% of shoppers are purchasing more private-label goods to reduce expenses. Nearly 6 out of 10 consumers felt the quality was comparable to name-brand alternatives, and 69% noted that the quality is consistently improving.
Our members proposed far more items than we could possibly evaluate. Consequently, we selected 12 grocery categories to analyze, comparing prices, ingredients, and nutritional data between store brands and other shelf options.
Putting our tastebuds to the test, we sampled baked beans and wheat biscuits to determine if we could distinguish between store brands and more expensive alternatives.
Home-brand is cheaper but sometimes quality is lacking
We purchased 12 grocery products and compared the ingredients, nutritional information, and pricing between store-brand items and private labels.
We discovered that for certain products—such as bread or wheat biscuits—there is no downside to choosing the store-brand version. The ingredients are similar, and these options are typically more affordable. However, we did encounter cases where store-brand quality was inferior, suggesting it is wise to check the label to understand exactly what you are purchasing.
Regarding cost, store-brand items were consistently cheaper. Pams (including Pams Value) offered the lowest prices for seven products, while Woolworths was the cheapest for two.
Supermarket home brands had identical pricing for two items: milk and baked beans were the same price at Pak’nSave and Woolworths, while cocoa was priced equally at New World and Woolworths.
We also observed that Pams products were generally less expensive at Pak’nSave than at New World, despite both chains being owned by Foodstuffs. Of the 12 items we reviewed, 10 were cheaper at Pak’nSave. In most instances, the difference was only a few cents, but for mayonnaise, the gap was 70 cents.
We also noted that quality does not always align with a bargain. There was a noticeable shortage of corn in Pams Value corn, and the Essentials Mayonnaise from Woolworths was underwhelming.
Yet, for staples like cheese, bread, and milk, there was not a significant difference in ingredients when measured against private-label products.
In our blind taste tests, Pams Wheat Biscuits were the winners, while for baked beans, the major brands—Heinz, SPC, and Watties—were preferred over the home-brand versions.
Here’s the low down on each product. All prices are per 100g.
We identified eight brands of baked beans on supermarket shelves. The most affordable were Pams Value and Woolworths at 25 cents. Heinz was the priciest at 83 cents.
If you are monitoring your salt intake, Heinz Beanz contained the highest sodium (475mg), while Macro Organic Baked Beans had the lowest (225mg). Watties contained the most sugar among the products we reviewed.
If you want the highest bean content for your money, Pams Baked Beans led with 57%—6% more than the Aotearoa favorite, Watties. Pams Value had the lowest at 46%.
See which brand came out tops in our taste-test in “Battle of the beans”.
Our members were enthusiastic about store-brand baking ingredients. One member, Heather, stated she’d “never noticed them being of lower quality” and finds them much more affordable.
Of the five brands we examined, Woolworths was the cheapest at $1.92 and Donovans was the most expensive at $2.75. Every brand contained 100% cocoa powder.
The most significant disparity in our comparison appeared in creamed corn. Simply put, the store brands often contained meager amounts of corn: Pams Value creamed corn had only 40% corn, while Woolworths had 48%. At the other end of the spectrum, Watties contained 80%, with Pams and Oak following closely at 70% and 71%, respectively. Edgell’s had 58% corn and the highest salt content at 260mg per 100g.
The Pams Value product was the most affordable at 29 cents. However, for just 2 cents more, you would receive 30% more corn with the Pams product. Edgell’s was the most expensive at 78 cents. At New World, Watties was priced the same as Edgell’s.
Rising oil costs have caused mayonnaise prices to skyrocket. In frustration, one of our taste-testers tried the most budget-friendly option—Woolworths Essentials—with her family. They refused to eat it, describing the mayo as bland, thin, and just yuck.
A look at the ingredient list reveals why. In Aotearoa, food labeling regulations require ingredients to be listed from the highest percentage to the lowest. For the Essentials mayo, canola oil was fifth on the list, following water, sugar, vinegar, and thickeners. For the other four mayonnaises we <a href="https://shoppixy.com/the-best-ai-search-engines-weve-tested-for-2026-2/” title=”The Best AI Search Engines We've Tested for 2026″>tested, oil was the primary ingredient.
Consequently, the Essentials Mayonnaise had the lowest fat content (5.5g) of the five products surveyed, though it also contained the most sugar (21.5g). It was the cheapest at 86 cents, while Best Foods was the most expensive—ranging from $1.53 to $1.97, depending on the retailer. Best Foods also had the highest fat content (78.9g) and the lowest sugar (1g).
Four mayonnaise products included egg in their recipes: Pams, Eta, Woolworths, and Best Foods.
Of the six brands we reviewed, the most affordable canned spaghetti was Pams Value at 24 cents at Pak’nSave.
Pams Value contained more pasta relative to tomato sauce, as did Pams, Macro, and Woolworths, whereas Oak and Watties contained more tomato sauce.
Watties was the most expensive at New World (66 cents). We found it cheaper at Pak’nSave (45 cents), though it was still nearly double the price of Pams Value Spaghetti (24 cents).
Standard (blue top) cow’s milk
Milk is milk, right? Every brand we surveyed contained 100% milk.
The store brands were the most affordable, while Anchor was the most expensive.
The primary difference among the six table spreads we analyzed was whether the first (and therefore most abundant) ingredient listed was oil or water. Sunrise, Essentials, and Pams Value table spreads all list water first, followed by oil.
Both the Essentials and Pams brands contained palm oil, which can carry an environmental impact. Under current labeling laws, manufacturers are not required to specify if products contain palm oil; it can simply be listed as vegetable oil. Therefore, you cannot always determine if a product contains palm oil just by checking the label.
Regarding value, Pams Value was the cheapest (30 cents), with Sunrise Table Spread costing nearly double (58 cents). Meadowlea original and buttery spreads were the priciest—between 74 cents and 90 cents, depending on the store.
The Essentials table spread had the highest sodium level at 680mg (compared to the others, which ranged between 340mg and 355mg).
Of the four tasty cheeses we reviewed, Mainland was the most expensive at $2.00, while Pams was the cheapest at $1.12. Rolling Meadow ($1.65) and Woolworths ($1.36) fell in the middle.
Watties leads the group with the highest tomato content at 81%. Woolworths follows closely with 80% tomato puree. Pams contains 75% concentrated tomatoes, while Pams Value has only 30% tomato paste.
Pams and Pams Value tomato sauces were the most affordable. Pams had the highest sugar and sodium levels, while Watties had the lowest sodium and Pams Value had the lowest sugar.
The most affordable ice cream in our survey was Woolworths creamy vanilla at 32 cents. The most expensive was Deep South Aspiring Creamy Vanilla at $1.52.
At Pak’nSave, Tip Top Creamy Vanilla was the cheapest option available when we shopped (34 cents), with Pams Vanilla Bean Ice Cream costing twice as much (66 cents).
Based on ingredient lists and nutritional panels, there is not a significant difference between the Sanitarium wheat biscuits and the two store-brand options, aside from some added vitamins and minerals.
All three brands consist of 97% wheat, followed by barley malt extract, salt, and sugar.
Pams was the cheapest at 49 cents at Pak’nSave. However, the week we shopped, Weet-bix was on special and only one cent more expensive than Pams. At its regular price, it is 58 cents. Woolworths was the second-cheapest brand at 55 cents.
We also tasted the wheat biscuits to see which brand performed best. See what we thought in “Wheat or Weet?”.
There was not a significant difference in the nutrition or ingredients of the four brands of white sandwich bread we surveyed. Furthermore, there was only a one-cent price difference between Pams and Essentials, with Pams being the cheapest at Pak’nSave.
GUIDE TO THE DATA OUR PRICE, INGREDIENT AND NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION was gathered from New World, Woolworths and Pak’nSave websites on 29 August 2024. All prices are listed per 100g. If items were on special or a member or club deal at the time we shopped, we used the special (rather than regular) price.
Battle of the beans taste test
Our panel of 12 taste-testers sampled eight brands of baked beans to determine which was the best. We pitted traditional favourite Watties against Pams, Pams Value and Woolworths brands, along with Heinz, Oak, Macro and SPC.
SPC came out tops, with our panel giving it 50 out of a possible 60 points. They said the product had a well-balanced flavour and a good ratio of sauce to beans.
“Not too sweet – as a bean should taste,” said one taster, while another picked up on some underlying herbs and spices.
Coming in second was Heinz Beanz with 46 points, followed by Watties on 44.
The definite loser was Macro, a Woolworths brand, certified organic baked beans. One taste-tester said the beans looked “anaemic and uninviting”, with another seven saying they looked pale. One tester declared the Macro beans were “too beany” and picked it was an organic product.
Just one of our taste-testers would buy the product again but would add more salt. The product did have the least amount of salt and sugar compared to the other beans.
The Woolworths and Pams Value beans didn’t fare much better, with only one taste-tester saying they’d buy the products again.
We compared two store-brand wheat biscuits with Sanitarium Weet-bix to see which brand our blind taste-tasters preferred.
Pams Wheat Biscuits came out top, with our panel of 11 tasters scoring it 44 points out of 55. Woolworths came second with 39 points, and iconic New Zealand brand Sanitarium came third with 30 points.
One taster couldn’t tell the difference between the biscuits, while two found the Sanitarium brand a bit bland.
One tester found them all quite similar. “If I cover it in sugar I couldn’t notice a difference,” they said.
How store brands affect competition in the grocery sector
While store brands can offer a short-term win for shoppers – because they’re generally cheaper and give greater choice – there’s a risk they could come to dominate supermarket shelves and push out competitors, raising prices in the long run.
Read more about the potential problems with supermarket-branded products here.
Make supermarkets price it right
Find out about our campaign to tell the government we need clear rules, stronger penalties and automatic compensation for shoppers.
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