I've noticed that often when a [food] item is fast approaching its expiry or sell by date, the prices will be slashed and there are people who buy these items not knowing that unless they use/consume them within a day or two, though they might have got a good deal, they'll be tossing out their money. Do you take advantage of these "special deals" or do you think they are a bad deal?
I buy these all the time. My favorite place to buy old stock at slashed prices is at the bakery because at a certain time they start selling everything left at half price, so I almost never buy their bread at full price during the day if I can help it. I also like doing this at supermarkets since as long as I'm aware of the expiry date and can calculate how much time it might take for me to use the product then I usually could make a good estimate enough for me to know if that particular product can be used soon or if I should just let the deal pass.
If you've got a freezer, it's easy enough to take advantage of in-store reductions. If you're not going to eat it that day, it can simply be frozen until needed. Jobs a good 'un!
Yes, there are certain items where I specifically wait for them to be marked down before I purchase them, since I hate paying full price for them otherwise. One of these would be fresh mushrooms. They are perfectly fine to cook with even after they've started to darken and look bruised. I rarely eat them fresh to begin with, so in most cases I'm cooking them down anyway. I've seen them marked down as low as 99 cents for a small carton of them, which is about as much as canned mushrooms. I don't normally buy bagged salad mixes or fresh spinach, but the once in a while when they have them priced to sell fast, at like $1-$2 a bag, I will snap those up as well. Another great deal I've been enjoying lately is one of our grocery stores has been selling hot peppers super dirt cheap - like 70 cents a pound, when they normally sell elsewhere for over $4 per pound. Potatoes are another thing I wait for to go on sale before buying them. Why pay several dollars for a 2-3 individual potatoes, when I can get an 8lb bag of them for under $2 a few days later?
I purchase these reduced items or "special deals" at the grocery store all of the time. In fact, today while at the grocery store I found steak for $2.99 per pound, which is very inexpensive for beef in my area. The expiration date is tomorrow, so I plan to cook it up tonight for dinner and freeze the leftovers. Besides reduced meats, I also regularly find marked down produce, bread, and dairy products. Bread and some dairy products freeze pretty well. If I buy reduced produce, I will either use it right away or chop it up and place into freezer bags for stir fry or soups.
