I've found that the supermarket and other shops I go to don't always have a reduced section at night. It's nice when they do, but I've gone out of my way once to visit a shop at 9:30pm to find there is nothing in the reduced section, despite there being very close to out of date food.
I use Tesco and frequently find that there's not a great deal in the "Reduced To Clear" section. My main complaint is the reductions themselves though, they're terrible. Today, I saw a joint of beef there, priced at £7.52. It had been reduced from...£7.72!
The only "Reduced" section that we have at our local grocery store is a stand alone rack with bread that needs to be sold that day. I've gotten a couple organic loaves of French bread for only a buck each, and they lasted several days after that! I just froze the ones I wasn't eating that week. I've never seen reduced meat, but then any meat that goes bad just gets put into the "crab bait" freezer at our grocery store.
For some reason I don't like to shop the reduced section in grocery stores, if they have them. I prefer when the item is on the shelf where it belongs and reduced like that. Otherwise I always wonder how the items ended up in the reduced section, if they were damaged, or if there is something wrong with them. I have no problem buying reduced meat if it still looks good. That type of thing they have to sell by the freshness date, so they just reduce it right on the last day or day before. If you cook it right away or freeze it, it is fine.
Nope, mine don't always either. And it's not just at night for mine actually. Sometimes mine have them early in the morning instead (so things they've pulled off the shelves overnight). I always pout a little bit when there's not a reduced section while I'm shopping.
My local grocery stores usually have a reduced section, but the items vary, so sometimes I don't really find anything I like in that section anyway. Walmart is pretty good about having a reduced rack of baked goods back by the milk section. I pretty much never buy baked specialty bread or sub buns from the regular bakery section, since I can usually find what I need on the reduced rack. I also just freeze it and it is fine if I use it up within a few weeks. After that it will sometimes get hard patches in it, but I don't mind freezing bread if it's a good deal.
It's incredibly difficult in a big city to get to the reduced items before they have been ransacked. I've found if you establish a relationship with people who work in the store or, even, own the store you dramatically increase the chances of getting to these deals when they are 'fresh' (so to speak). In every store, from Walgreens to a local grocer, the employees know what is going to clearance or getting discounted first. If you're on good terms with them they don't mind helping you out. That is after they get their shot at it
The reduced section always seems to be stocked for some reason at my supermarket. It's a great place to hunt for deals, I recommend staying away from more perishable options though-stick to canned/dry foods!
It depends on the store and the manager on duty. My parents always go as it's a past time of theirs to get bargains and my mother does quite well in Morrisons, she gets things when they are reduced to 15p or 9p, pizzas, fish, coleslaw and pies. I look, but it's hit and miss. Tesco on Sundays start to reduce about 2p.m. as they close at 4 p.m. and that's a good time to go as the staff want to finish work early.
I live in the boonies, so to speak. The closest place to shop for food is a little locally owned old time corner grocer in a tiny town about five miles from us. About the only other things there are a beauty shop, the post office and a wonderful little barbeque shack that's only open four days a week. Anyway, I can almost always find produce at half price or less. There's never anything wrong with it. They just need to get rid of it to make room for the newer stuff off the trucks. It's the same with their meats, though I don't find a meat I want as often as I do the produce--I think there are people right around the little square who more or less hawk the meats and know pretty much when to look for them. Still, the rest of us get lucky once in awhile.
The local supermarket has always got reduced items, like bread and vegetables. I buy them, cook them straight away and freeze them, so they are just as good at a fraction of the price. We tend to use bread a lot so if we know we are going to use the bread that is reduced then you can pay half price for it if your lucky! Meat is good to because that keeps in the freezer too!
I haven't figured out the magic time of when discount meats magically appear at my local Kroger store, but I'm always appreciative when they do. I've gotten some amazing deals in that section, and they're always good, and taste delicious. I'm not quite sure, but I think they taste better when I pay less. The last deal I got in there was some basic ground hamburger, but I've also gotten whole large roasts, good cuts of beef, and chicken breasts.
