Buying generic

Since college, at least, I've been a huge fan of buying generic. To that end, I was thrilled with an e-mail I received from Walgreens announcing the launch of wbrand.com. Although Walgreens lacks a loyalty program along the lines of Duane Reade, I am still subscribed to their weekly circulars as I'm not in there as often as I am Duane Reade and might miss a sale on something I need. 

While there are some things I won't buy generically, I'm generally brand agnostic. Even for things that others don't like, I'm fine with buying generic ibuprofen (I currently have one from Wal-Mart where I bought bottles of 200 tablets 2:1, for a total of $3 vs. Advil's ~$8/100 ct). They work fine. Oddly enough the only thing I don't like off-brand is zip-lock bags especially the freezer ones. They just don't cut it.

Interesting article, Top Five Items to Always Buy Generic. Among other things, it backs up my experience with Advil, which I've also had with other similar products:

The Food and Drug Administration requires that any products with the same active ingredient must meet the same efficacy standards. In consumer-speak, that means your drugstore ibuprofen must be just as effective as its brand-name counterparts, which includes Advil, Motrin and Pediacare Fever, among others

I really wish a blog search about buying generic didn't return such crap. Link/adsense spammers are so un-original. Even filtering doesn't help much.

Anything you will or won't buy generic?