MILWAUKEE -- It may seem hard to believe, with food prices skyrocketing, but many shoppers continue to ignore some of the biggest savings at the super market.

They refuse to buy store brand items because they think they are not as good as the higher priced name-brands.

WISN 12 News' Kent Wainscott has heard that argument before, and so he decided to put some store brands to the test. And he did so with the people who may be the true experts -- mothers and children.

Wainscott tried to answer the question a lot of shoppers have when it comes to saving money on store brands: Are you really getting a good deal, or are you simply paying a lower price for a lower quality product?

For many shoppers the choice is getting clearer every day.

"You'd buy the store brand?" Wainscott asked.

"I'd buy the store brand," shopper Jeanetta Hill said.

But while the economy is forcing shoppers to find ways to save money, many are still reluctant to give up on name brand products for fear their families won't eat store brands.

"They don't want food that they have to throw away, or they don't think is appropriate to serve their family, so quality is critical," Roundy's CEO Bob Mariano said.

Mariano said his company has made the quality of its store brand items a priority. But still, he knows it's often difficult to convince consumers unless they can see and taste for themselves.

"We've done many tastings with people in malls, in stores because we believe if they taste it against their traditional product that they usually buy, they'll enjoy it," Mariano said.

WISN 12 News decided to put that to the test.

"This one's more tart and sour, and this one's sweeter," taste tester Justice Currie said about some orange juice.

Wainscott gathered a panel of children and mothers at Milwaukee's St. Sebastian School and put various local store brands against name brands in a blind taste test.

"How many prefer A?" Wainscott asked.

They tested items that might be on anyone's grocery list -- things such as cheese, grape jelly and orange juice, of which the store brand cost $1-a-gallon less.

"They're very close, like you can't even tell," taste tester Cassidy McCauley said about orange juice.

"A was a little watery. I like B better," taste tester Laurie Kunz said.

The panel took everything into account about every product -- such as colas, where the name brand cost more than twice as much as the store brand.

"The taste is very similar, but the B has more fizz," taste tester Rachel Lustig said about a cola.

"Is that good or bad?" Wainscott asked.

"I don't know," Lustig said.

And there were some clear differences of opinion, on things such as breakfast cereal, with a $1-a-box price difference.

"I would take this one to that one," taste tester Marina Wellenstein said.

"With less sugar?" Wainscott asked.

"Less sugar," Wellenstein said.

"That's too sweet?" Wainscott asked.

"That's too sweet. It's got a different taste to it," Wellenstein said.

And the differences continued when they tested milk, with a 40-cent-a-gallon price difference.

"Describe A," Wainscott said.

"Creamy," taste tester Tony Richer-Rao said.

"And B?" Wainscott asked.

"Gross," Richer-Rao said.

Most of our testers believe they could actually save money by paying more for better quality.

"I would use more money to get the better product because then I wouldn't throw it away, and that wouldn't be wasting money," taste tester Devin Hudson said.

"I've got four kids, and if they throw away four sandwiches at lunch, that's half a loaf of bread right there," Lustig said.

But what they didn't know was that the lower-priced item was also often one they consider better tasting.

"The milk you chose was the store brand, not the name brand," Wainscott said.

That was surprise No. 1 for the testers.

Surprise No. 2 was that in cases where the kids and moms split on their favorites, it was kids who chose the less expensive brands.

"The kids like the store brand, and the adults liked the name brand," Wainscott said. "So all of you parents who are worried about, 'My kid won't like the store brand' -- they liked the store brand," Wainscott said.

And surprise No. 3 was how often the testers failed tell the products apart.

"I would definitely not notice which one was different, and I know my kids wouldn't either because they really taste the same," Lustig said.

But not all of the products were quite so close in taste. The testers preferred the name brand cheese, bread and breakfast bars.

In spite of the results, not everyone was willing to forego their family favorites to save money on store brands -- still insisting that a brand name matters.

But with some of the items, even the youngest consumers figure it makes sense to switch.

"They taste basically the same and why spend more money on something that tastes the same as the name brand?" Currie said.

Most shoppers Wainscott talked to agreed that children are typically the hardest sell. Some of the mothers believed their own kids can tell the difference and won't eat store brands.

But after seeing the kid testers struggle in some cases, to tell which was which, often choosing the store brand as their favorite, the panel came away convinced that it's at least worth trying the store brands as a good way to save money -- even if it means hiding the labels from your family.

Everyone has different taste, but Wainscott said the "sort of" rule of thumb the testers discovered when the store brand item was significantly lower in price -- a huge savings -- they usually liked the name brand better -- sometimes a little better, sometimes a lot.

But when the savings were lower, around 25 or even 50 percent, they thought store brand was often as good or better than the name brand.

It was just their experience, but that can add up to big savings on a grocery bill.