March 25, 2017

Reduced Food (and why you should be buying it!)

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I love buying reduced food and there are a whole host of benefits aside from saving money, including reducing food waste, buying better quality food and shopping places you might not usually be able to afford.

Oh, and if you’re looking for supermarket reduction times I have those covered too!

If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts you will know that I love saving money on my groceries. I spent the whole of last year challenging myself to spend just £50 a month for two of us.

The majority of the food I buy is reduced food and as well as saving money I think there are other benefits too. I’ve recently seen a lot of people turning their noses up at the idea of buying reduced food branding it ‘scabby’ and something that only really poor people do.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, I could afford to buy full weeks of shopping the same way everyone else does but I choose not to. I like being able to spend less, still eat fantastic food and save that money for fun things like holidays and days out.

Buying Reduced Food Is Eco Friendly

Buying from the reduced section helps prevent food waste, as you are buying food that the supermarket will be throwing out at the end of the day anyway. While some supermarkets do have schemes in place to send food to various charities to prevent food waste, many of these have limited storage facilities so there is only so much food they are able to take.

Just because supermarkets can’t legally sell food that is out of date, it doesn’t mean that food is not fit for consumption.

If you buy some chicken fillets with today’s use-by date at 10 pm, they are not suddenly going to be inedible when the clock strikes midnight.

I find most foods are okay a day or two after their use-by date, longer for vegetables, especially hardy things like potatoes.

Of course, if you have any doubts about whether food is safe to eat then throw it out. I find cooking food on the day of purchase and then freezing is a great way to ensure it stays safe to eat.

As well as buying reduced fresh produce I often buy yellow sticker non-perishable goods too.

These items are reduced because they are short-dated, the supermarket is no longer going to stock them or the packaging has been updated.

It’s worth remembering that Best Before End is simply an indication of a product’s quality and food can be consumed safely long after this date. Just remember food may not be at its optimum quality.

Buying Reduced Food Can Help You Get Creative In The Kitchen

As I buy the majority of my food from the reduced section, I never know what I am going to find. Most people shop with a list and stick to many of the same staples each week.

When you don’t know what meat and other ingredients you’re going to find, it really forces you to mix things up and try some new dishes.

I’d never cooked scallops before but we ended up eating them for weeks after I found 10 packs reduced to 9p each in Morrisons between Christmas and New Year.

When buying a lot of reduced food I always make sure there is plenty of room in my freezer. I un-package everything to save space and freeze it on the day of purchase. This is also where batch cooking comes into its own; I often buy several packs of reduced mince and cook it into a large batch of Bolognese.

Check out this post on how to make the most of your freezer space.

Buying Reduced Food Allows You To Shop At Places That You Might Not Usually Be Able To Afford

The food in places like M&S and Waitrose is amazing and while I would love to buy all of my food shopping there I simply can’t afford to.

Going in occasionally and buying a few reduced bits means lovely fancy food without spending a fortune. And as with any supermarket, it’s worth checking for reductions on dry goods too.

Best Time For Yellow Stickers:

ASDA – Asda reduce food throughout the day usually starting at 12p with the best yellow stickers being early evening, from 7 pm onwards.

MORRISONS – Yellow stickers can be found at any time of day, but the best reductions seem to be from mid-afternoon for bakery items and 5 pm for fresh meat and produce. Especially good discounts between Christmas and New Year.

TESCOS – Reduction times at Tesco very massively between stores so check no matter what time of day you shop.

SAINSBURY’S – One of the best times for yellow stickers at Sainsbury’s is Sunday afternoon between 3 pm and 4 pm

Find a more detailed analysis and all supermarket reduction times in this post: Supermarket Reduction Times – The Best Times To Find Yellow Stickers