January 28, 2020

Does Reduced Food Go Off Quicker?

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One thing I write about a lot is buying reduced or ‘yellow sticker’ food to save money. There are often lots of bargains to be had and using food from the reduced section can dramatically reduce your supermarket spending.

Does Reduced Food Go Off Quicker?

However, the reason this food has been reduced is that it’s going out of date, so should you buy it if it’s likely to go off quicker? Will it end up being a waste of money if you can’t eat it that day?

The first thing to understand here is the difference between use by and best before dates.

Best before is an indicator of the quality of food. Food can be completely safe to eat for a long time after this date provided it has been stored correctly (and the packaging remains undamaged) There is a very small chance it might not be it’s best. Tins, jars and most dried goods have a best before dates but these can pretty much be ignored as most food will be fine for ages after this date.

Use by is the date given to perishable foods that it should potentially be eaten by. It’s worth noting while supermarkets and restaurants are legally required to dispose of food past its best before date, you don’t need to be so strict at home.

Does Reduced Food Go Off Quicker?
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If you buy loose veg from a greengrocer or fresh meat from a butcher, it doesn’t come dated – it’s assumed we as the consumer will be able to tell when the food is passed its best.

There are definitely some foods that will go more quickly when they’re bought reduced though.

In particular, I find soft fruits such as strawberries and raspberries tend to already be past their best when they’ve been yellow stickered. However, this doesn’t mean you should write them off completely – overripe fruit can be used in smoothies, sauces and baking. It’s always worth checking as sometimes they are perfectly edible as they are too.

This also applies to things like stir fry mixes and bagged lettuce. These products usually only last a couple of days anyway so I’d advise only buying reduced if you’ll be using the same day.

Hardier fruit and vegetables will often last well past their best before dates. I’ve used both carrots and potatoes that have been yellow stickered more than two weeks later and they’ve been fine.

Use By Dates On Meat

Does Reduced Food Go Off Quicker?

I know people can be a bit funny about the used by dates on meat and tend to stick to them pretty stringently.

Personally I find meat is usually okay for two or three days past its use-by date, however, when you’re buying reduced food to save money, you’ll want to avoid the risk of anything going off and needing to be binned.

If I’m not going to use an item of yellow sticker meat within 24 to 48 hours typically I’ll freeze it. Sometimes I’ll unpackage it in a smaller container to save room in the freezer.

Another option is to cook it. Once cooked, meat should be ok for at least three or four days if cooled and stored correctly in the fridge. Cooked meat could also then be frozen down for use at a later date. Make sure it’s clearly labelled before popping in the freezer.

Out of all the meats, I find reduced lamb goes off quickest so I’ll always eat or freeze on the day of purchase.

What about bread and cakes?

Bread and cakes are also found in the reduced section pretty often.

Whilst bread may go off a little quicker, I find a loaf or rolls from the reduced section are still good for several days. If you get through lots of bread for sandwiches and toast then it’s likely the bread will be eaten before it goes mouldy.

Remember you can also freeze bread and make toast from frozen, freeze whole filled sandwiches or use it for something else such as making stuffing or a bread and butter pudding.

Cakes, pastries and biscuits will also be fine for a few days after purchase. Remember that food doesn’t suddenly become inedible when it hits the use-by date. I have quite a sweet tooth so I’m always buying reduced biscuits and cakes.

Also, did you know you can freeze the whole birthday cakes? If you see a novelty cake reduced yellow stickered that your child would love, buy it, save the money and pop it in the freezer!

Not all yellow stickers are short-dated

There are plenty of times I’ve been able to pick up yellow stickered food that isn’t short-dated too. The olives pictured below were bought a month before the use-by date was up. Sometimes this is because a product is being discontinued or because the packaging is being changed.

This goes for dried foods too. I picked up these simply cook spice packs (pictured below) reduced to 20p each in Sainsbury’s and they still had 4 months date left on them. While these were best before rather than use-by it still meant they would be at their best long after I bought them.

If the idea of eating out of date food does really worry you, these are the kind of yellow sticker bargains you could be picking up.

What To Do With Short-dated Food

If you’re worried about short-dated food going off quickly, here are a few easy things you can do to get the most of your bargains and make sure they don’t end up as food waste!

Freeze it – remember to label with the date it was frozen and a reminder to yourself that it’ll need cooking or using up quickly as soon as it’s been defrosted.
Cook it – once cooked, the food should be fine for several days if stored correctly in the fridge.
Cook and then Freeze – Batch cooking and freezing food is a great way to use up reduced items that will go off quickly.