BUYING perfectly good food that was heading to the bin will cut waste and save cash.
While you should swerve grub that has gone past its use by date, it is safe to use your senses and judgment on best-before dates on groceries.
Reduce waste while getting cut-price items with our tips.
ONLINE SHOP: You can buy food that is near or just past its best-before date from a number of online shops.
Approved Food (approvedfood.co.uk) lists thousands of surplus products with heavy discounts such as Mars bars for 10p or cans of Sprite for 39p.
Delivery is free on orders over £55. Otherwise it is charged according to the weight of your shop, eg, £3 for one box up to 25kg.
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Similar style online stores include lowpricefoods.com and clearancexl.co.uk.
GET APPY: Local schemes save perfectly edible food from being binned.
Apps Olio and Too Good To Go list items from nearby restaurants and shops that have surplus unsold food.
Too Good To Go offers surprise bags that contain a selection of goods at a discount price. You can get some fantastic deals but you won’t know what you are getting ahead of pick-up, so could end up with grub you don’t need or like.
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Through Olio, local communities can offer up items they don’t need which are usually taken on a first come first served basis. People can also give back and share items they no longer need through the app.
YELLOW STICKER SHOP: Supermarkets clear out food daily that is nearing use by and best-before dates.
Items are often marked down at the beginning of each day — typically with yellow stickers.
Towards the end of the day, products might be more heavily discounted.
It’s worth checking out reductions at your local store while grocery shopping.
Grub can often be frozen if you can’t immediately eat it.
- All prices on page correct at time of going to press. Deals and offers subject to availability.
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