Admire them for their prudence - but don't tell their friends.

Middle-income earners are the most enthusiastic consumers of supermarket own-brand products.

Almost half (48 per cent) of those earning between £25,000 and £50,000 said they would always choose a supermarket label - generally considered a budget option - when possible, a survey has found.

But more than 10 per cent of them say they are too embarrassed to admit to their friends that they do so.

However, they will draw a line in their hunt for a food bargain.

More than a third of middle earners said they would only shop in a supermarket they deemed to be 'socially reputable', with Sainsbury's and Waitrose topping the popularity poll.

Of these, two thirds (62 per cent) claimed that the main motive was a fear of being judged financially on where they shopped.

Of the 48 per cent of middle earners who always chose own-brand products, 10 per cent said they tried to avoid buying any other type of branded good, with 62 per cent admitting frugality and just 12 per cent believing own brand items were of better quality.

But 14 per cent of those who bought the supermarket brands would not want their friends to know.

A spokesman for MyVoucher-Codes, which carried out the research, said: 'Although stereotype would have us believe that own brand means a lack of quality, it seems that the middle class is more financially motivated when food shopping, shunning the initial prejudices that often lead to their choice of supermarket.'

He added that standards have risen to such an extent that a supermarket own brand does not necessarily mean lower quality than the known food label.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.)

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(Agencies)