A time to scrimp and a time to splurge

My husband and I made one of our bimonthly trips to the grocery store this week. Normally I enjoy going to the store because I plan my meals out for the coming weeks and know exactly what I'm going after. However I must admit now that I'm not working I look at prices a little more and will sometimes not buy those things I would normally splurge on (for example ferrero rocher or the 3 new colors of nail polish I've been wanting). But I also find myself trying to determine if the item in question is something we can go generic with, i.e. buy the Kroger brand.

This particular trip I was out of cereal and it is darn expensive so in the name of saving money I opted for the Kroger brand of Frosted Mini Wheats. I figured it would be pretty hard to screw up shredded wheat and sugar (wrong)! My husband warned me against it but those of you who know me will know I always know best. Well the next morning when I fixed my bowl of supposed "frosted mini wheats" I determined I was wrong (for the first time in my life). They smelled funny when I poured them out of the box and tasted even funnier, it put me in the mind of paste....not a food-like paste either like tomato paste just plain kindergarten paste.

Since Drew has been in college we have compiled a list of some other such items that should NEVER be scrimped on:

1. Garbage Bags-unless you like picking up your garbage off of the sidewalk when your bag inevitably breaks.
2. Ziploc Bags-same problem, smaller package
3. Toothbrushes-our gums have still not recovered form the toothbrushes I bough us out of the $1 bin
4. COFFEE-I pride myself on being able to drink coffee almost anyway. strong, weak, black, sugar, no sugar, cream, whatever but Kroger brand coffee isn't coffee at all. It's simply....bad.
5. And the latest....Cereal.

I'm sure there are other things that you all have found (please share them with me so I do not have to learn all of these lessons on my own).

However in the name of scrimping I have compiled a list of things I always buy generic:

1. Pasta-never have been able to tell a difference
2. Contact Solution-my husband claimed his eyes had to adjust to it but again my eyes could never tell a difference (and any eye doctor that tells you different is full of it).
3. Cream Cheese-The Kroger brand of cream cheese is a whole $1 cheaper and to me that's a lot!
4. Bread Crumbs-I recently watched Rachael Ray make her own but it's less work and they are just as tasty from Kroger.
5. Vegetable Oil-cheaper and again how do you screw that up?

I should point out that I'm no Rachael Ray or Paula Deen but I hold my own in the kitchen. I just try to make things easier on myself and my pocketbook. Any suggestions for future grocery store generic shopping are appreciated.