Susan Bish has five children to feed, and the money just wasn't making it through the month. To help stretch her food budget, about a year ago the Wilkins resident began skipping many of the brand-name products at the grocery store.

"I've been switching to the store brand, and I found it's just as good," said Ms. Bish, as she pushed her cart through the Shop 'n Save store along Business Route 22 in Wilkins this week. Two aisles in, she'd already grabbed three cans of pork and beans offered at a discount, as well as a private-label box of cereal and bag of cookies.

The rising price of food and fuel has captured Americans' attention. Shoppers are doing everything from clipping more coupons to taking fewer gas-burning trips to the grocery to make their paychecks adapt.

The economic slowdown may offer, oddly enough, a break for grocers trying to build up the sales -- and reputations -- of lines they produce under their own names, usually at lower prices than name-brand items heavily promoted by companies such as Kraft, Procter & Gamble and Frito-Lay.

Sixty percent of consumers are now buying more store-brand items, according to a Harris Poll Online survey of more than 2,000 U.S. shoppers for the Food Marketing Institute. Seventy-one percent are cooking at home more.

"I think in general private-label sales are going to benefit from the current food price inflation and the economic environment," said Jim Hertel, senior vice president of consulting firm Willard Bishop in Barrington, Ill. "I think that's real."

Overall, food dollars are shifting toward less-expensive options and grocers hoping to benefit have to be ready, said Mr. Hertel. "The smart ones are going to figure out where the puck is headed and will be merchandising in front of it."

Already, O'Hara-based Giant Eagle has been promoting another round of price cuts, and the Shop 'n Save group of independent stores in Western Pennsylvania has instituted two-day sales, often timed around pay days, in addition to its weekly specials and other promotions.

Shoppers' budgets and habits vary, of course. Avid restaurant users looking to save may respond to hot, prepared foods from supermarkets. Those who were buying discounted items from supermarkets may move to discount chains such as Aldi and Save-A-Lot.

The in-between shoppers seem to be giving so-called private-label lines a chance. Prices for many store brands have risen, too, but they tend to trail those of name-brand goods.

"I'm buying generics, getting the deals," said Kelly Reese, an Export mother who happened to be standing in front of the display of Giant Eagle brand potato chips at that grocer's Monroeville store.

Mickey Osman, over in the cleaning aisle, pulled a bottle of Valu Time glass cleaner out of his basket to show his thriftiness. That brand happens to be the no-frills line that O'Hara-based Giant Eagle added a few years ago to answer competition from discounters and dollar stores.

"Certain things you can use the generic," said the Monroeville resident, whose cost-savings efforts also include plans to carpool to the family vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina this summer.

If the shift is going to convert into long-term shopping changes, store brands have to prove themselves. Many shoppers still question the quality and remember the days when some "generics" were packaged in cheap black-and-white wrappings that too often reflected the bland products inside.

The past few years have seen more acceptance. Fifteen years ago, just 12 percent of consumers bought private-label products "frequently." By last year, that had risen to more than 40 percent, according to a report by Chicago research firm Information Resources Inc. The private-label customer base has traditionally been concentrated among lower-income consumers and larger households.

Many grocers now offer two or three tiers of store brands, from really basic to more upscale. "It's not so much a trade-down; it's a trade-off," said Bill Lipsky, director of merchandising for the region's Shop 'n Save stores, which have seen their percentage of sales of private-label items rise over the past year.

Typically, a retailer keeps more of the profit when selling its own brand, but even grocers with strong private-label results usually produce the bulk of their sales by carrying name-brand products.

And name-brand manufacturers aren't exactly ready to cede market share. During the 12 months ended last August, the IRI researchers found private-label offerings lost market share in many categories.

While companies such as TreeHouse Foods, which makes private-label soup in the former Heinz plant on the North Side, try to offer alternatives to name-brand rivals, companies such as Downtown-based H.J. Heinz are working just as hard to innovate and bolster a quality reputation to keep customers from shifting.

It's often effective. No matter how much they're trying to save money, consumers tend to develop certain loyalties. Mr. Osman, for one, volunteered that he wasn't about to buy a store brand ketchup. "You can't get anything but Heinz," he said, firmly.