Little-known way to get free or discounted food from supermarkets – and it only takes minutes
THERE is a little-known way you can get free and discounted food from supermarkets - and we have all the info.
Many households are looking for clever ways to save money as rising bills and the general cost of living has left many people struggling.
And while summer brings the chance to save on energy bills, the weekly food shop shows no signs of letting up.
If anything impulsive BBQs and filling up the freezer with ice-cream treats could see your weekly shop rising.
Many supermarkets have loyalty schemes and coupons that can give shoppers the chance to get some rewards after a few weeks or months.
And there is always the opportunity to look for stickered items at the end of the day, but there is also a little-known way you can get free and discounted food in minutes from some of the biggest supermarkets, just by downloading an app.
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Too Good to Go
Too Good to Go is an app that allows you to rescue end-of-day food from many popular cafes, restaurants, shops and supermarkets that would otherwise go in the bin.
All you need to do is download and set your location on the Too Good To Go app and you can choose from nearby stores listing their unsold food at a reduced price.
Listings show how much a bag of food costs and how many are left as well as where you need to pick it up.
The items in the "magic bag" are always different as it depends on what hasn't sold so there is no guarantee that you will like what you get.
But there are plenty of tasty brands to try such as Greggs, Morrisons, Pret, and Costa.
Karma
Similar to Too Good To Go, you can search for nearby food to pick up based on your location through the Karma app.
You can then purchase meals at discounted prices.
However, unlike Too Good To Go, Karma will tell you what food you are getting, so there is even less chance of it going to waste.
It promises to save households as much as £630 a year by ensuring their food is put to good use and doesn't end up getting thrown away.
You can download the free app on an iPhone or Android smartphone.
It scans your supermarket receipt and lists your items in the app so you can always check how much food you have.
You can set reminders for when items such as milk or bread go past their sell-by date and record what you have thrown away so you can work out how much money you have wasted.
The app also has thousands of recipe suggestions that you can filter based on the products you have at home.
No Waste
No Waste is an excellent way to get organised, as you can scan your food and list it by expiry date, name or category.
It makes it easier to see what you are running out of, so you don't double up on items in your next shop.
Lists can be shared with family so you can give away unwanted food plus you can track how much you are wasting by deleting items you have eaten or that have expired.
The app will tell you how much of your food you have eaten each month and how much money you have saved or wasted.
Olio
Do you regularly over-order items when you go shopping? if so Olio could help you, and your neighbours too.
With the Olio app you can share unwanted food for free among your neighbours rather than let it sit at the back of the fridge waiting to be put in the bin.
Food shared could be nearing its sell-by date, spare homegrown veg or groceries you over stocked on.
You can also share non-food items such as furniture, clothes, toys, household and beauty products.
Users take a picture of the item, post it to the app and then agree where and how it should be picked up with anyone interested.
The app is free for households but businesses have to pay for a service that will take unsold food and distribute it to them.
Almost 10 million portions of food have been shared through the app, which has 2.6 million users worldwide.
Other ways to save money when you shop
Not using a cashback site or app means you are missing out every time you shop.
Here are full-time bargain hunger Collete Jones' best tips.
Check out welcome offers
Cashback sites have amazing freebies for new customers, such as a takeaway from Just Eat or a Benefit beauty product.
Free gifts can change regularly so do check online to see what is being offered before you sign up.
Look for cashback on everything
You can claim on things such as MOTs, insurance, train tickets and holidays.
It is worth looking around and what companies offer cashback schemes as you could be earning hundreds.
TopCashback reckons its average user makes £345 a year.
Save money at the supermarket
It’s a good idea to download apps Shopmium, Check-outSmart, Quidco ClickSnap, GreenJinn and TopCashback’s Snap and Save.
Check out what is available, pick it up in-store and upload a photo of the receipt to get your cashback.
Combine cashback offers with promotions
Double savings and maximise cashback by matching third-party offers from cashback sites with in-store and online promotions.
You can’t always use discount codes with cashback, but you can take advantage of sales and offers such as free gifts.
Download cashback notifiers
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The website Honey has a great notifier.
It sits in your browser, pops up when you click on a website that offers cashback and searches voucher codes.