Haven’t you always wanted to buy commissary store brand cheese?
Whether or not “Freedom’s Choice” cheese is your dream come true, you’ll likely be seeing that option on your commissary’s shelf soon if it’s not already there.
Commissary officials announced November 17 that a series of new in-house brand products are hitting stores stateside now and over the next several months. Cheese, rice and dry beans, foam and plastic plates, juice, water enhancers, drink powder, paper towels and toilet paper have all already arrived on shelves or will arrive soon, they said.
Those products join some beauty supplies, trash and plastic bags and bottled water, among other items, sold under the “Freedom’s Choice,” “Home Base” or “TopCare” brand names.
Unlike most other products currently sold at commissaries, the in-store brands, often known as “generics,” are not sold to consumers at-cost. Instead, the commissary places a mark-up on the items.
Congress gave the system permission to contact for production and then mark-up its own brand as part of a series of larger changes designed to save the system money. Still, in our experience the generic items are less expensive than similar brand name options.
By the end of the year officials plan to have more than 400 commissary brand items available. Stores overseas also carry the products, but don’t get the new items until about six weeks after stateside stores, officials said.
