Housing and kitchen appliances aren't the only victims of the recession: The flight to cheaper everyday staples is hurting profits at Procter & Gamble, maker of name-brand toilet paper, toothpaste, laundry detergent, and other supermarket items Consumer Reports tests. In a recent survey of 1,727 shoppers by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, 84 percent of respondents said they bought store brands in the past year.

CEO Robert McDonald, one of several former military men to head P&G, has responded by waging a price war against low-cost rivals, reports The Wall Street Journal. The tactic is consistent with the West Point grad's no-nonsense rep (favorite film: The Longest Day), though competitors worry it could blitz profits for the entire industry.

But a clash among the household-product titans could yield hefty spoils for consumers, since many P&G products do well in Consumer Reports tests. Tide, for example, tops our Ratings of conventional and high-efficiency laundry detergents, but costs about ten cents more per load than many competitors—at least for now (see the video for a comparison of several Tide laundry detergents). Charmin Ultra Strong scores very good among toilet paper. And in the battery aisle, Duracell was top-rated among rechargeable AAs, the type used in digital cameras, but costs $1.50 more than Energizer.