4 Kroger Store Brands Kentucky Shoppers Choose Over Name Brands
You reach for the name brand out of habit.
A lot of us do.
But in taste tests, the store brand on the lower shelf has held its own against some famous labels.
These are the Kroger store brands that Kentucky shoppers end up choosing over name brands.
1. Simple Truth
Kroger’s Simple Truth Plant Based Ranch Dressing finished third in the food site Sporked’s 2023 vegan ranch ranking, two spots ahead of Hidden Valley Plant Powered Spicy Ranch.
The Kroger bottle scored a 9 out of 10 and took the site’s Best Zesty pick.
Hidden Valley scored a 7.5.
Simple Truth’s veggie dogs topped a couple of famous labels, too.
Sporked named Simple Truth Plant Based Veggie Dogs its Best Budget pick in a 2024 vegan hot dog ranking, with an 8.5 out of 10.
MorningStar Farms and Lightlife hot dogs were in that same tasting, and neither brand made the ranked list.
If you’ve been paying extra for a veggie dog with a famous logo on the package, the Kroger version deserves a spot in your cart.
Kroger said in 2023 that more than 30 million households buy Simple Truth every year.
Simple Truth or Simple Truth Organic?
Kroger sells Simple Truth under two labels, and only the Simple Truth Organic line is certified organic.
Every Simple Truth Organic product carries U.S. Department of Agriculture organic certification, according to Kroger.
The plain Simple Truth label makes a different promise.
Kroger says those products leave out 101-plus artificial colors, flavors, preservatives and sweeteners.
So if organic matters to you, look for the word “Organic” in the brand name on the package.
2. Private Selection
Kikkoman finished behind Kroger’s Private Selection in Sporked’s 2022 soy sauce ranking.
Private Selection Premium Soy Sauce scored a 9.5 out of 10, good for second place and the site’s Best Smooth pick.
Third place went to Kikkoman Extra Fancy, with a 9.
Kikkoman Traditional didn’t even rank.
Two years later, Sporked ran an andouille ranking and gave Private Selection Naturally Hardwood Smoked andouille its Best Spicy pick.
Aidells and Johnsonville andouille were in that tasting, too, and neither brand made the ranked list.
So before you reach for a familiar name for your next pot of red beans and rice, check the Private Selection package.
3. Kroger Brand
Kroger’s plain yellow mustard earned a perfect 10 and Sporked’s Best of the Best label in the site’s 2025 yellow mustard ranking.
Heinz Yellow Mustard came second at 9.5.
French’s Creamy Dill Pickle Mustard and Boar’s Head Yellow Mustard landed further down the list.
The reviewers’ reasoning was simple: The Kroger bottle tasted the most like mustard, sharp, tart and tangy.
V8 lost to Kroger, too.
Kroger Low Sodium Vegetable Juice took first place in Sporked’s 2024 vegetable juice ranking, one spot ahead of V8 Original.
Both juices scored a 9 out of 10, but the testers could pick out tomato, carrot and watercress in the Kroger blend.
V8’s Low Sodium and Spicy Hot versions were in the tasting and missed the ranked list.
Psst! How much do you know about Kroger’s history? Take our quiz and see how many you can get right.
Quiz
Kroger History Quiz
Answer these questions on Kroger’s past, from its very first store to its biggest mergers. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
How much of his life savings did Barney Kroger put into his first grocery store in 1883?
4. Big K
Sporked gave its Best Red Cream Soda pick to Kroger's Big K line in the site's cream soda ranking, last updated in 2025.
Kroger Big K Red Cream Soda scored an 8 out of 10, a half point ahead of A&W Zero Sugar Cream Soda.
The reviewers said it tastes almost exactly like Big Red, with a little more fizz.
That's a big compliment.
Regular A&W Cream Soda, Jones and Dad's were all in the tasting, and none of those bottles made the ranked list.
Murray's Cheese Medals
Kroger's Murray's Cheese label came home with six medals from the 2026 American Cheese Society competition.
The society says the contest drew more than 1,600 entries.
Judges tasted them in Minneapolis in May, and the society announced the winners in July at its conference in Louisville.
Double Doe took first place among washed-rind cheeses made from milk other than cow's milk.
Four more Murray's cheeses placed second: Treeline, Savage, Stockinghall and Greensward, which Murray's sells as Mini Greensward.
A third-place finish went to Carpenter's Wheel, an aged goat's milk cheese.
Kroger says Treeline, Savage and Mini Greensward were competing for the first time.
That's not bad for a debut.
Kroger's Ballardsville Road store in Louisville opened in 2024 with a Murray's Cheese shop inside.
Kentucky State Fair Golds
At the 2026 Kentucky State Fair, sour cream from Kroger's Winchester dairy scored a perfect 10, according to a Kroger release that the Winchester Sun published.
The plant's skim, 1%, 2% and whole milk took gold medals, too, along with its buttermilk.
That's six golds in all.
Kroger says the Winchester plant employs 170 people and turns out about 425,000 bottles of buttermilk a month, roughly 109,000 gallons.
Its milk goes to stores throughout Kentucky and the Cincinnati area.
Kroger ships Winchester buttermilk as far west as Utah and sends the plant's protein smoothies across the country.
Taste Tests Store Brands Lost
Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream beat Kroger's Private Selection version in a 2012 Consumer Reports taste test.
In that round, Consumer Reports found 11 store-brand products that tied or beat their name-brand rivals.
Kroger's ice cream wasn't on that list.
Big K fared worse on Good Mythical Morning in 2023, Sporked reported.
Hosts Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal tried to spot name-brand sodas in blind lineups that included store-brand decoys.
Both hosts picked out Dr Pepper from a lineup that included Big K's Dr K.
They also agreed that Canada Dry was the best ginger ale in its round because it was the fizziest.
Rhett flatly disliked the Big K ginger ale.
