Dawn: It’s more than just the most popular baby name of 1971.

“Imagine using something besides Dawn dishsoap.” —ncbo

“I’d also like to suggest dish soap. The cheap stuff sucks.” — Golden Ballfield

“Dawn™️ Dishwashing Liquid…. That stuff is like magic.” —WorkGorgeousFierce

Sorry Palmolive, no one is buying that crap about “dishpan hands.”

There was no brand consensus with this one, but many people in the comments on the post and on the Lifehacker Facebook page agreed, if you want your clothes to be clean, you gotta pay for the privilege. And I picked up this useful hack:

“Buy both the good stuff and the cheap stuff. Use the cheap stuff in the dark loads where stains don’t matter anyway and use the good stuff on the lighter clothes.” —PhoebeCaulfieldTheThird

A few people cautioned against going with generic cat litter, but this comment says it all:

“Cat litter: Buy the cheap stuff if you enjoy the smell of cat poop.” —AngryBob-VA

A bit mixed on this one myself—we only buy cereal at Aldi unless there is a sale involved, and most of it is fine. But maybe I just don’t know any better, because lots of you disagree.

“I want nothing to do with ‘Toasted O’s’...” —Sarah Showfety (Lifehacker staff writer)

“What I’ve actually found is that the more sugary the cereal, the taste isn’t that hard to re-create and the generic brands do OK (the Malt-o-Meal version of “Oreo O’s” is actually spot on). But any generic Cheerio or Raisin Bran or Wheaties or whatever is awful. They don’t have two spoonfuls of sugar to hide behind.” —closet-meathead

“I am a cereal junkie and will only eat the name brand.” —Moishe Oofnik

Don’t skimp on the mac & cheese, commenters agree—but whether you go with traditional Kraft Dinner or the fancier Velveeta is a matter of personal preference.

“Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. Accept no substitutes.” —jrhmobile

“Velveeta Shells & Cheese >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. It tastes better, you don’t need anything except what’s in the box, and you never have to deal with clumps of undissolved cheese powder. Sorry, but them’s the breaks.” —Executor32

As a resident of NYC, bagel capital of the U.S., I find the enthusiasm for any grocery store packaged cream cheese a little sus, but if you gotta buy it, go with the name you can trust.

“Philadelphia cream cheese is the only cream cheese that has ever existed.” —E=MC Hammered

“Fun fact: In Israel, ‘Philadelphia’ is the generic name for any cream cheese.” —tag007

In a brilliant bit of branding, the makers of Oreos managed to indelibly link the company name with the product forever in my mind: “O-R-E-O Nabisco (ding!).”

“Hydrox cookies. It’s Oreos or GTFO over here.” —JoshMC

Ah, but do Hydrox cookies actually count as a generic alternative to Oreos?

“Hydrox aren’t generic. They actually predate Oreos. I can never find them where I live and I’ve read that Nabisco likely has a hand in that.” —optimusconvoy1

“Oreos are more successful because ‘Hydrox’ sounds like the name of a dish detergent.” —diasdiem

Y’all are stuck on Band-Aid Brand.

“Band-Aids. Generic bandages SUCK.” —ChiSwede

“I found that generic bandages adhesive was really weak vs Band-Aid brand.” —soosheeroll

It goes beyond just picking a name brand nut butter—choosey commenters choose...well:

“Jif peanut butter. There is no acceptable substitute. Not Peter Pan, not Skippy, not Justin’s and the other organic versions, not the generic. Just original red label Jif.” —Given2Dream

“If it doesn’t have a Jif label, it’s not peanut putter. Skippy has a weird texture and Peter Pan tastes burnt.” —Marty Funkhouser

Folks generally agree this name brand ketchup is the way to go. (Sorry, catsup.)

“Heinz ketchup. Absolutely no substitute comes close.” —kimboinatl

“Any ketchup other than Heinz just tastes weird. It’s usually too sweet and bland.” —Kathleen Grimes Ricker

The responses here weren’t so much “I always buy this brand” as “never buy the no-name/store brand,” so don’t complain to me if you think Starbucks beans are bad. (That said, I don’t think anyone was referring to Folgers as a name brand. Sorry, Folgers.)

“I am sometimes tempted by the siren’s song of on-sale President’s Choice coffee. Every time, I wind up having to cut it with real coffee just so it’s not a complete waste of money.” —V. vulgaris

I have long harbored an intense loathing for plastic wraps of any kind, because I find them nearly impossible to use. But maybe it turns out I’m just a cheapskate who is getting what he paid for.

“Cling wrap. It’s got to be saran wrap or you’ll spend all your time tearing off tape sized strips of garbage stretched plastic that doesn’t cling to anything.” —TS8

But of course. It is the quicker picker-upper, after all.

“I need Bounty or the like name brand paper towel. My wife bought some kirkland stuff a while back (granted Kirkland is usually good, TP is aces) but it was terrible and I’ve never forgiven her for it.” —The_Red_Mage

“Why is it that generic paper towels won’t tear at the perforation? It’s maddening.” —wmac8898

I agree, that is maddening. Probably the number one cause of my kitchen swearing.

Look, I can’t follow you people everywhere, and will keep buying Walgreens brand OTC drugs. (They are chemically the same! Check the active ingredients!) I’m just the messenger here:

“NyQuil. This took me forever to figure out because I probably use it less than once a year, but store brand NyQuil is like taking half a dose. No idea why; the active ingredients are dispensed in the same amount, yet the store brand is garbage.” —Good Ol’ Uncle Meat

“It might just be in my head, but generic Robitussin does not work for me. I get chest colds fairly often and the generic stuff doesn’t do anything. I have to get the name brand, otherwise I won’t stop coughing.” —ImNotaHeather

It turns out this commercial that has been haunting my memory for decades is more than good marketing.

“Aluminum foil. I know people that work at a well known brand of aluminum foil, and they also make the generic store brands as well. The store brands are made at half the thickness of the name brand.” —Josh Bailey

People are very passionate about their soda/pop preferences. This was not unexpected.

“Store-brand soda. No matter how much you try to make it taste like Coke, it doesn’t taste like Coke. And their attempts at a Dr. Pepper substitute? Laughable. If the Coca-Cola company can’t pull it off with that pitiful pretender Mr. Pibb, what makes grocery chains think they can?

They do at least taste better than Pepsi, though.” —diasdiem

Brutal, but accurate.

I once had a job that offered a free vending machine as an employee perk, and it had Pop-Tarts in it. It’s probably better that I no longer have unfettered access to free Pop-Tarts.

“Probably Pop Tarts. Everything else I could name gets an asterisk because a better alternative does exist (even if store brands are worse), but I’ve never had better pop tart, even from gourmet knockoffs.” —Lintor

“I’ve yet to find a generic pop tart that wasn’t massively inferior.” —Hey, Shut The Fuck Up

It seems like everyone agrees name-brand mayonnaise isn’t something to skimp on.

That doesn’t mean people don’t have brand loyalty—commenters both on the site and on Facebook are split between Hellman’s, Heinz, and Lifehacker favorite Duke’s.

Ah, the Q-tip, the unofficial mascot of the COVID-19 pandemic. What are non-generic Q-tips even called? (Oh right, cotton swabs. Well, when is the last time anyone asked if you had any “cotton swabs”?)

“Q-Tips: With any amount of pressure, the generics will fold in half like a cheap lawn chair.” —Stinkfist

No one professed a preference for Duracell over Energizer, true (guess they need to bring back that damn bunny), and one person again praised the quality of the Kirkland alternative, but many agreed you just don’t know what you’re getting with a no-name battery.

(One commenter in particular made this point succinctly, but the comment was racist, so I can’t paste it here. Suffice it to say, if your battery was purchased at the dollar store, don’t expect it to last.)