How many of you do this or have done it? I don't know what it is like around the rest of the globe but in the UK, pretty much every big supermarket, will have food items that will be thrown out reduced to pennies. One week I managed to live soley on reduced food other than what I already had in The House(which thankfully was some veg and fruit), my food bill was under £5 for a week. I managed to find some very nice speciality cheese that is usually £4.50 for £1.43, it lasted just over two weeks. And a loaf of bread for £0.35p that lasted just over a week. This is for a single persons food bill, I'm sure families could still benefit from the savings of purchasing reduced foods though.
I have bought reduced food in supermarkets for a few pence but because the shelf life is extremely short on them I can only use them for a day to two afterwards. So I can't really buy a lot or they will go to waste. I am talking about fruit and veg which you can't freeze really. I have seen things like ham and fresh pizza reduced which could be frozen so I should make more use of the reduced section. It's good if you can find things which last a week or longer. To live on just a fiver for a week is fantastic! Well done you.
I am a big fan of the reduced meat section and my freezer. Buy it up, bring it home and portion/label and freeze. Be mindful to use it up quickly, it will not keep as well as fresh meat. Few months max for me. Also I will buy up some discount produce, and go home and make a huge huge meal. Then I will portion/label it and freeze it and meals for work!
I've never bought reduced veg,fruit or meat or eggs. I only tend to pick things that I would be happy eating past their best before date or that would be gone in a couple of days. But freezing pizza sounds good! Thats a great idea if you have a lot of freezer space, and is handy when you are in a rush and don't have time to cook so that you can still get a healthy meal in you!
I pick up these types of items when I can. Unfortunately, there aren't nearly enough for me to live off entirely. They usually only reduce food like fruits that are getting ready to go bad, so I need to use them up that day or the next and it's only a specific food. That's not much to work with most times.
I could possibly live on reduced food but it would have to be from several different stores. Walmart reduces baked goods. My local produce market reduces fruit and vegetables and a couple of other stores mark down certain things. I would have to think about whether the savings are worth going to all those different places.
There are some really good deals on reduced items I think, just because they are close the there sell by date does not always mean they need using right away. The local shop near us sell things that still have a week left at half price especially meats which we then just freeze, it is a good way of cutting your food bill by half if you ship right!
My parents love to pick up food bargains, they have the time to do it though as not many people do. It is about timing and knowing where to go and which stores do their mark downs. Morrisons are known for markdowns and Tesco too. My parents tend to buy fish and freeze it and the same with bread. I got a pack of cheese scones for 9p and sometimes quiches too. It's hard to live off it completely as you need a balanced diet, but you can use it as a foundation and top up with other items.
I buy a lot of things on clearance. I don't take issue doing it either. They're usually specialty items for holidays or things the store tried but people didn't buy at full price. I like it. Sometimes it causes me to change up my style of cooking & work in new flavour profiles.
If I were fond of your standard sandwich bread, I would definitely purchase all my bread, hamburger buns and hotdog buns at the local bakeries thrift stores - you can get like 4-5 packs of buns or loaves of sandwich bread for $1! There is no point in paying full price for it, since you're just going to bring it home and eat it over the next few days anyhow. It's gonna be "day old" tomorrow anyhow, long before you are able to finish it. However I try to avoid that type of bread, and mainly stick to the 99 cent loaves of Italian bread one of our local grocers makes fresh each day. For meats, as long as they aren't grey and or feel lukewarm and swimming in juices, I will buy them when they are priced for clearance. In some cases though I would see stuff like chicken wings/drumettes, or chicken breasts, priced way low, but the package felt like it was almost room temperature and there was a lot of milky juices in it which did not look safe to eat - usually it's packs that had been sitting at the edge of the freezer window and went bad sooner, I'm assuming. A few times I got upset stomach from eating pork product that I had bought on clearance as well, but that could have just been from me cross contaminating the food by accident. I wouldn't serve stuff like that to guests though - the last thing I need is to make a whole party of people sick with my cooking, lol.
I hardly eat anything that comes in a package, so no, I don't eat reduced or clearance foods very often. Usually I see a deal, check the ingredients list and realize it's not something that belong in my body and move on.
I used to really enjoy the reduced items of my groceries, because veggies and fruits would be very cheap there! Really a good find. However, where I now live, the grocery's reduced items are sometimes just a few cents cheaper, which makes no sense and is very irritating, but can't do anything about that... so nah, I just go for the regular "on discount" items that are in the flyers etc. *firstworldproblems*
Although price-wise reduced goods can make a difference in your budget, I also think buying them can bring a lot of pressure. For instance, you always feel the need to cook them immediately lest you end up eating spoiled food. I'm not a huge fan of reduced goods but there are times I buy them to save up on money (they usually come with other products like the usual buy one take one promo).
I do this a lot as well because often the products you will get for a cheaper price aren't even necessarily that old. A good example of this would be bread since bakeries usually slash their prices daily when the store is about to close so they don't end up with old bread on their next business day. I always do this for certain products like potato chips or any packaged goods that the supermarket is trying to dispose of due to being near their expiry date.
I always check the "reduced to clear" section of my local Tesco but find that the markdowns aren't always that great. If there are bargains to be had, I'll get what I want and freeze it as soon as I get home, if I'm unable to eat it that day.
The local supermarkets near me reduce their bread, produce, and meat when it is near the expiration date. Depending on the store, there may be a particular place for the reduced grocery items, or sometimes they are mixed in with the rest of the groceries. I check these areas each time I shop. It seems like early Sunday mornings are the best times to find reduced groceries in my area. I regularly find bread, hot dog buns, or hamburger buns for .49 cents each. Bread freezes pretty well, therefore when I find it reduced I usually grab a few loaves. I often find reduced produce for less than $1 per pound, such as apples and bell peppers. If I do not think I will use them before they expire, I will cut up the peppers and freeze them for stir fry and other recipes, or make homemade apple sauce in the slow cooker with the apples. Reduced meat can easily be frozen if I do not think that I will use it by the expiration date. Reduced grocery items are a great way to save on your grocery bill!
We have a bread thrift store in 2 locations on the island of Oahu where they sell day old bread or left over bread that didn't sell at supermarkets and other outlets go for real cheap. As long as you put them in the freezer and careful when you buy they last in the freezer to toaster. At some supermarkets they have special deals on soon to expire cottage cheese that's really marked down and other stores do the same with damaged canned goods going for a song. We have weekly sales from supermarkets and drug stores like CVS, Walgreens and others. The other stores have a sale usually that last a week we love on island. You can see them like Safeway.com, or Walgreens weekly ads online especially CVS has their ads online all the time and they are nationwide. I love the special markdown or it's called in-store specials or when they have special prices for almost expired food at the store's bargain counter too!!!
I love reduced food! As long as the discount is good and it's something I will actually eat though. I especially like the bakery reductions - most of the stuff freezes really well. Especially the doughnuts : ) I regularly have a sandwich with "posh bread" and a doughnut in my packed lunch at work and it costs me literally pence.
This thread reminds me of my grandmother. She used to go to the market for our needs. When she comes home, we would always find a bunch of bananas that are already brown instead of yellow. Her reason is the cheap cost of those rotting bananas. What cheap price? We could only eat half of those rotting bananas so I guess it's not a bargain after all. That's the reason why I learned to have a high standard for food - don't scrimp on the quality.
When I see an item that I can use on the reduced shelf I will get it. I like to see large bags of bananas that I can get to make banana bread with also bananas can be frozen for use in smoothies later. Anything that can be frozen I will get. We have also gotten good pieces of meat that have been reduced, if you can find it you can get a great deal.
