7 ms·

I miss the old old generic food packaging... It had its own special aisle. Big cans with white labels that merely said “BEANS” or “CORN” in fat black letters.

I miss the old old generic food packaging... It had its own special aisle. Big cans with white labels that merely said “BEANS” or “CORN” in fat black letters. Of course, it was embarrassing to have a cart full of that stuff as everyone would know you were poor.

flukus 6y ago
> Of course, it was embarrassing to have a cart full of that stuff as everyone would know you were poor. I don't mean this to pick on you personally, but this sentence sums up so many problems with consumerism, advertising and it's ability to make us overpay. You don't look poor because you get the white label, you look financially responsible, unwilling to pay a branding premium for essentially the same product. Especially with things like corn where no one could differentiate between the white label and name brands. These days the off brand labels have there own special stores like ALDI, which is even better because you don't have to fight the distraction of a dozen brands of the same thing.
- lurquer 6y ago
  I don’t know what the odds are, but this generic-food thing has come up before on HN. I made a comment and, if I recall, was downvoted... but, I’m going to say it again. ; Namely, when I was a kid, my sister and I were terrified to go into that aisle because our mother told us that food was for albinos... that’s why the labels lacked color. It truly scared the crap out of me. Haha! Anyway, I will now sit back and wait for HN’s albino members to downvote me for offending people of [non]color.
  - Majestic121 6y ago
    To give you some feedback (and I'm not an albino) : - Mentioning downvotes is a sure way to get them, and there's even a mention in the guidelines[1] saying to avoid to do that : "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. " - Other than this, I don't know about the last time, but here your comment feels like a fun anecdote more than an actual discussion point. While this kind of comment goes well in a lot of communities (typically very well with Reddit), it tends to get less traction on HN, as HN is very much directed towards discussion and argumentation [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- donavanm 6y ago
  > unwilling to pay a branding premium for essentially the same product. For true commodities thats entirely reasonable. And these days when the same contract manufacturers develops and packages the product for Aldi, trader joes, kroger, and Annies its even more true. But dont let rose colored glasses obscure the differences that dis exist between the generics and name brands of previous times. Its ok to admit that Toasted Nut Os just werent as good on texture and flavor.
  - Judgmentality 6y ago
    It goes further than that. It can even be the actual materials used to package the food! https://www.treehugger.com/which-food-companies-dont-use-bpa-lined-cans-4868637 https://www.treehugger.com/which-food-companies-dont-use-bpa...
- ryandrake 6y ago
  > You don't look poor because you get the white label, you look financially responsible, unwilling to pay a branding premium for essentially the same product. Especially with things like corn where no one could differentiate between the white label and name brands. In many cases, it's not just that nobody can differentiate between them. They are literally the same product from the same factory, sometimes coming right off the same line. As in: Some of the cans of product go left for the "name brand" label and go right for the "store brand" label. It's excellent price discrimination. Get consumers to spend as much as they can afford for the same product.
htnsao 6y ago
It's funny realizing how people have been so trained to purchase processed products instead of dry beans etc.
- dimes 6y ago
  Is it training, or is it convenience? Personally, I don't like soaking beans 24 hours before cooking. In fact, any additional time is too much for me, as bad as that may be. A article in the NYT called The Tyranny of Convenience really crystalized this for me: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/opinion/sunday/tyranny-convenience.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/opinion/sunday/tyranny-co...
  - mitchbob 6y ago
    Home-cooked beans can taste a lot better, and they spare you the estrogen-mimicking chemicals in can linings. A pressure cooker makes quick work of them. We make a batch and freeze them in pint containers, ready to thaw when we need them.
  - conception 6y ago
    Not trying to address your point at all, but an instapot is amazing for beans. No presoak needed.
  - watwut 6y ago
    They are not replacement for each other. Canned ones taste completely differently. You cook different foods from them. Less important point is that you dont need to soak them 24 hours in advance, that is excessively long. A day before is primary convenient time when to do it for people who soak them for that long.
  - raverbashing 6y ago
    The pre-soaking is supposed to help with digestability (I can't find the exact name of the substance it removes) a pressure cooker of course cooks it faster but it is not very convenient (also you can cook them without a pressure cooker - pre-soaking helps with this as well) But yeah canned beans are easier. There are also some vacuum packed ones "Canned doesn't taste as good" you still have to season them
mcpherrinm 6y ago
One Canadian brand has been leaning into their traditional bright yellow packaging with bold lettering and I would even say it almost feels trendy. See pictures on their Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/nonamebrands https://mobile.twitter.com/nonamebrands
Judgmentality 6y ago
https://xkcd.com/993/ https://xkcd.com/993/
dctoedt 6y ago
When I was growing up in the 1960s, my dad (career Air Force) would buy low-priced booze at the "Class 6" store (the on-base PX liquor store that didn't use taxpayer funds). The beer came in pure-white cans, each of which had, in big black stenciled letters, "B E E R"; my dad said he'd been told it was Budweiser but Anheuser-Busch didn't want the brand associated with low prices.

flukus 6y ago

> Of course, it was embarrassing to have a cart full of that stuff as everyone would know you were poor. I don't mean this to pick on you personally, but this sentence sums up so many problems with consumerism, advertising and it's ability to make us overpay. You don't look poor because you get the white label, you look financially responsible, unwilling to pay a branding premium for essentially the same product. Especially with things like corn where no one could differentiate between the white label and name brands. These days the off brand labels have there own special stores like ALDI, which is even better because you don't have to fight the distraction of a dozen brands of the same thing.

lurquer 6y ago
I don’t know what the odds are, but this generic-food thing has come up before on HN. I made a comment and, if I recall, was downvoted... but, I’m going to say it again. ; Namely, when I was a kid, my sister and I were terrified to go into that aisle because our mother told us that food was for albinos... that’s why the labels lacked color. It truly scared the crap out of me. Haha! Anyway, I will now sit back and wait for HN’s albino members to downvote me for offending people of [non]color.
- Majestic121 6y ago
  To give you some feedback (and I'm not an albino) : - Mentioning downvotes is a sure way to get them, and there's even a mention in the guidelines[1] saying to avoid to do that : "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. " - Other than this, I don't know about the last time, but here your comment feels like a fun anecdote more than an actual discussion point. While this kind of comment goes well in a lot of communities (typically very well with Reddit), it tends to get less traction on HN, as HN is very much directed towards discussion and argumentation [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
donavanm 6y ago
> unwilling to pay a branding premium for essentially the same product. For true commodities thats entirely reasonable. And these days when the same contract manufacturers develops and packages the product for Aldi, trader joes, kroger, and Annies its even more true. But dont let rose colored glasses obscure the differences that dis exist between the generics and name brands of previous times. Its ok to admit that Toasted Nut Os just werent as good on texture and flavor.
- Judgmentality 6y ago
  It goes further than that. It can even be the actual materials used to package the food! https://www.treehugger.com/which-food-companies-dont-use-bpa-lined-cans-4868637 https://www.treehugger.com/which-food-companies-dont-use-bpa...
ryandrake 6y ago
> You don't look poor because you get the white label, you look financially responsible, unwilling to pay a branding premium for essentially the same product. Especially with things like corn where no one could differentiate between the white label and name brands. In many cases, it's not just that nobody can differentiate between them. They are literally the same product from the same factory, sometimes coming right off the same line. As in: Some of the cans of product go left for the "name brand" label and go right for the "store brand" label. It's excellent price discrimination. Get consumers to spend as much as they can afford for the same product.

htnsao 6y ago

It's funny realizing how people have been so trained to purchase processed products instead of dry beans etc.

dimes 6y ago
Is it training, or is it convenience? Personally, I don't like soaking beans 24 hours before cooking. In fact, any additional time is too much for me, as bad as that may be. A article in the NYT called The Tyranny of Convenience really crystalized this for me: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/opinion/sunday/tyranny-convenience.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/opinion/sunday/tyranny-co...
- mitchbob 6y ago
  Home-cooked beans can taste a lot better, and they spare you the estrogen-mimicking chemicals in can linings. A pressure cooker makes quick work of them. We make a batch and freeze them in pint containers, ready to thaw when we need them.
- conception 6y ago
  Not trying to address your point at all, but an instapot is amazing for beans. No presoak needed.
- watwut 6y ago
  They are not replacement for each other. Canned ones taste completely differently. You cook different foods from them. Less important point is that you dont need to soak them 24 hours in advance, that is excessively long. A day before is primary convenient time when to do it for people who soak them for that long.
- raverbashing 6y ago
  The pre-soaking is supposed to help with digestability (I can't find the exact name of the substance it removes) a pressure cooker of course cooks it faster but it is not very convenient (also you can cook them without a pressure cooker - pre-soaking helps with this as well) But yeah canned beans are easier. There are also some vacuum packed ones "Canned doesn't taste as good" you still have to season them

mcpherrinm 6y ago

One Canadian brand has been leaning into their traditional bright yellow packaging with bold lettering and I would even say it almost feels trendy. See pictures on their Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/nonamebrands https://mobile.twitter.com/nonamebrands

Judgmentality 6y ago

https://xkcd.com/993/ https://xkcd.com/993/

dctoedt 6y ago

When I was growing up in the 1960s, my dad (career Air Force) would buy low-priced booze at the "Class 6" store (the on-base PX liquor store that didn't use taxpayer funds). The beer came in pure-white cans, each of which had, in big black stenciled letters, "B E E R"; my dad said he'd been told it was Budweiser but Anheuser-Busch didn't want the brand associated with low prices.