I’ve been skeptical of store brands for most of my adult life, and Great Value has spent years proving me wrong — every item here goes up against a name brand you already stock and holds its own.
1. Great Value Naturally Hardwood Smoked Uncured Turkey Bacon – $3.72–$4.48
My weekend BLTs got a whole lot better when I switched to this — it’s a dead ringer for Oscar Mayer turkey bacon in the smoke department, but the crispiness here actually beats both Oscar Mayer and Butterball. Keep it in your fridge for breakfast scrambles, quick sandwiches, and salads all week.
Taste: The hardwood smoke flavor is genuinely pronounced, with a salty-savory depth that doesn’t taste thin or watered-down. The edges crisp up nicely in the pan without drying out the center — which is the move most turkey bacons can’t quite pull off.
Make It Better: Crumble it over a Caesar salad or chop it into a potato hash — the smokiness travels well beyond just the breakfast plate.
Parting Thoughts: Serious swap for anyone cutting back on pork but not on flavor.
2. Great Value Fudge Mint Cookies – $1.98–$2.26
Girl Scout Thin Mint season is roughly eleven weeks long — these are available year-round, and I’ll say it plainly: they’re thicker and mintier than Thin Mints. For the snack tin you keep in the pantry for after-dinner cravings, these earn a permanent slot.
Taste: Deep chocolate coating with a real mint punch that doesn’t taste synthetic or faint — these hit harder on the mint than Thin Mints do. The cookie itself is denser and has more snap, which I actually prefer to the original.
Make It Better: Throw a sleeve in the freezer for an hour — cold, the chocolate sets firmer and the mint flavor goes noticeably brighter. It’s a small step that makes a real difference.
Parting Thoughts: A rare case where the dupe is genuinely better than the original in at least one dimension.
3. Great Value Cookies & Cream Ice Cream, 48 fl oz – $2.97
Forty-eight ounces of cookies and cream for $2.97, and it genuinely holds up against Breyers and Häagen-Dazs — which is the part that always catches me off guard. This is the tub I reach for when company’s coming and I don’t want to do math at the freezer door.
Taste: The vanilla base is creamy and properly scoopable; the cookie pieces are plentiful and stay distinct rather than dissolving into the cream. Rich without being icy or oddly gummy, which is a real bar for anything in the freezer section.
Make It Better: Scoop it into a blender with a splash of milk for a quick cookies-and-cream milkshake — it blends smoothly and doesn’t require a premium tub to taste like one.
Parting Thoughts: The cookie chunk-to-cream ratio here competes with tubs that cost twice as much.
4. Great Value Butter Flavor Jumbo Biscuits – $1.68
Biscuits and gravy on a Sunday morning used to mean a can of Pillsbury Grands — these are larger, priced at just $1.68, and the butter aroma when they come out of the oven is what sold me first. They hold up to ladles of sausage gravy without going soggy in the middle.
Taste: A genuine butter flavor rather than the faint buttery hint you sometimes get from refrigerated dough — these bake up fluffy with distinct layers and a slightly crisped exterior. The inside stays tender even after sitting on the plate for ten minutes.
Make It Better: Split them while still warm and fill with a fried egg and a slice of cheese — they’re sturdy enough that the egg won’t push through, and it beats a fast food breakfast sandwich on most counts.
Parting Thoughts: If Pillsbury Grands are your default, these will make you wonder what you were overpaying for.
5. Great Value White Sandwich Bread, 20 oz – $1.52
Bread this straightforward doesn’t need a sales pitch: at $1.52, it’s softer than Wonder Bread and holds together when you stack a proper sandwich on it. This is the loaf I keep as my everyday workhorse for school lunches, grilled cheese nights, and weekend French toast.
Taste: Classic mild white bread flavor with a tender, even crumb that holds its structure without going gummy. It toasts evenly and doesn’t develop the rubbery quality some budget loaves take on by day two.
Make It Better: For grilled cheese, let the slices come to room temperature first — you get better browning before the inside oversteams, and the crust crisps rather than going pale.
Parting Thoughts: Earns its spot as the most unglamorous item on this list and somehow always the first one gone.
6. Great Value Cream Of Chicken Condensed Soup, 10.5 oz – $0.74
Every casserole recipe that calls for Campbell’s Cream of Chicken works just as well with this — at $0.74 a can, I keep six on the shelf at all times and have never once felt the difference in a finished dish. It’s the pantry anchor you don’t notice until it’s gone.
Taste: Thick and properly creamy with a savory chicken flavor that doesn’t taste watered-down or oversalted. The consistency holds whether you’re diluting it for a quick bowl of soup or using it straight as a sauce base.
Make It Better: Use it undiluted straight into pot pie filling or a quick chicken-and-rice casserole — no extra liquid needed when the dish is already adding moisture, and the flavor concentrates nicely.
Parting Thoughts: Stock a half-dozen and forget about them — this is the kind of staple that earns its shelf space quietly, every single week.
7. Great Value Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt – $3.78
I ran out of this once and grabbed Oikos as a substitute — went back to Great Value on the very next trip. At $3.78 for 32 ounces, it’s creamier and thicker than Fage or Oikos in my experience, and it pulls double duty as both breakfast and a reliable sour cream swap.
Taste: Clean, mildly tangy flavor without bitterness or excessive sourness — it tastes the way plain Greek yogurt is supposed to, which sounds obvious but isn’t guaranteed. Thick enough to hold its shape in a bowl without pooling liquid at the sides.
Make It Better: Stir it into mashed potatoes in place of sour cream, or use it as the base for a quick tzatziki — the neutral tang holds up to garlic and dill without fighting back.
Parting Thoughts: Worth committing to a 32-ounce tub even if single-serve is your habit — the value per gram of protein is hard to match.
8. Great Value Fully Cooked Chicken Strips
Dinner’s on the table in minutes, and these beat Tyson chicken strips on texture — the breading holds and the chicken inside stays juicy rather than turning chalky. I keep a bag in the freezer specifically for nights when the fridge is empty and a salad or wrap needs protein fast.
Taste: The breading has actual seasoning beyond just salt, and it clings to the chicken instead of flaking off mid-bite. The meat inside is tender and moist, which puts it a step above what you’d expect from a store-brand freezer item.
Make It Better: After microwaving, give them two minutes in the air fryer at 400°F — the breading crisps up in a way the microwave alone won’t deliver, and they come out legitimately good.
Parting Thoughts: Give these the air fryer treatment and they go from ‘fine weeknight dinner’ to something you’d put on a plate without apologizing.
9. Great Value Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Skip the premium baking aisle: these perform right alongside Nestlé Toll House and Ghirardelli chips, and they’ve been my first reach in the pantry for two years running. Whether it’s a holiday cookie tray or a batch of weekend muffins, the results are indistinguishable once everything comes out of the oven.
Taste: Semi-sweet with a clean cocoa finish, not waxy or cloyingly sweet. They melt evenly and hold their shape when you want intact chips rather than a spread — which is the thing that actually matters once the batter’s in the oven.
Make It Better: Mix a handful into weekend pancake batter, or stir them into oatmeal with a spoonful of peanut butter — they’re far more versatile than just cookie dough.
Parting Thoughts: Bakers who’ve been defaulting to Toll House out of habit will find no reason to keep doing so.
10. (6 pack) Great Value Peach & Pineapple Chipotle Salsa, 16 oz
Every specialty salsa you’d grab over Pace or Tostitos tends to cost twice as much — this one layers sun-ripened tomatoes with juicy peaches, pineapple, and jalapeños under a chipotle smoke, and it lands in neither the too-sweet nor too-spicy camp. It’s the jar that disappears fastest at my table.
Taste: Sweet upfront from the peach and pineapple, then savory tomato, then a mild chipotle warmth that lingers without overwhelming anyone. The texture is chunky and thick — it doesn’t pool or go watery at the bottom of the bowl.
Make It Better: Spoon it over grilled chicken or pork for a fast fruity-smoky glaze that tastes more intentional than it is — it also stirs well into rice or grain bowls.
Parting Thoughts: Sounds gimmicky on the label; earns a spot in the pantry rotation once you taste it.
