Kitchen

[house_cat]

I used to insist on certain brands for baking and cooking, but this past year I have been economizing and I haven't noticed a difference in the results.

Are there brands that you insist upon?

I don't mean prepared foods; I'm referring to ingredients like flour, baking soda, spices and such.

Thank you.

[FleurFairy]

Williams-Sonoma. I love their baking mixes (waffles, cookies, quick breads). Yes, pretty pricey but I always get rave reviews with their baking mixes.

[Sammijo10]

King Arthur Flour. Especially their Queen Guinevere cake flour. Also not a brand, really, but I've discovered that extra large eggs make baked goods come out better rather than the usually called for large eggs.

[stilltamn8r]

I always splurge on really good Tahitian vanilla

[house_cat]

On 8/4/2014 stilltamn8r said: I always splurge on really good Tahitian vanilla

Where do you buy it?

[lolakimono]

I really like the lemon pepper seasoning from Penzey's.

Their taco seasoning is good too.

I would rebuy those in a New York minute.

I am picky about my green tea. I really like this one by Salada.

(their regular green tea is good too).

I like to blend it with this tea: $$

This is the only peanut butter I'll buy.

We have found the gluten free mixes at Aldis to be really good, and their canned pumpkin is great. Their other baking items are good too (brown sugar, marshmallows, chocolate chips, cocoa).

[ChynnaBlue]

No, generally not. As someone else mentioned above, I splurge on Vanilla, but otherwise I don't mind buying store label unless I experience an issue with it, then I'll try something else.

I'm much pickier about paper products (toilet paper, facial tissue, paper towels) than I am about flour. If you buy bad paper products, you might go through it twice as fast and that's not a savings. I've never noticed a recipe come out differently because I bought a different brand of flour or baking soda. As long as my spices haven't been in the cabinet for years, I mostly don't notice a difference there, but it depends on the spice.

[glmama]

I love King Arthur Flour stuff (recipe ingredients and their flours). I also love Williams-Sonoma. I've loved many of their items over the years, including a bunch of their WS cookbooks. Many of them are staples and I return to them over and over again. OR, I've used a recipe so much that it's become my own--even though I originally got it from WS!

I like Callebaut baking chocolate. AND despite the price I ADORE Le Creuset items. Grant it, I only have 2 b/c any more would make me take out another mortgage on my home. But still.

[stilltamn8r]

On 8/4/2014 house_cat said:

On 8/4/2014 stilltamn8r said: I always splurge on really good Tahitian vanilla

Where do you buy it?

I like Nielsen-Massey.... Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can find a good one on the cheap at Home Goods!!!!! Penzey's Madagascar Vanilla is also really good....

[Cookie777]

King Arthur flour , Ortega red Chile sauce , best foods maynaise , Costco Kirkland