When it comes to individual supermarkets, Sainsbury's fared of the big four best with food having an average online shelf life of 7.7 days
BUY your food in store rather than online and it's going to last longer, new research from Shop Smart Save Money for Christmas has found.
The Channel 5 TV show, which airs tonight at 8pm, purchased 10 food items in three different Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco stores.
It then bought the same items online from the supermarkets.
The team, working alongside Leeds Beckett University, logged the use by, best before, sell by and display until dates on each of the 10 items for each store.
They found that shopping in-store can seemingly give shoppers longer expiry dates than shopping online.
This is particularly important when people are stocking up on food for the festive period now.
Here's what the researchers bought in all four supermarkets:
But it also means the longer food lasts the better value it is - as people are buying the same priced food online but may end up chucking it sooner as it hasn't lasted as long as expected.
When it comes to individual supermarkets, Sainsbury's fared best with an average online shelf life of 7.7 days - the same as in-store.
Next up was Tesco with an average online shelf life of 6.2 days compared with 6.3 days in store.
Asda followed with an average online shelf life of 5.8 days compared with 5.9 days on average in store.
Morrisons came in last place with an average online shelf life of 5.3 days compared with 6.9 days in store.
Asda says it always tries to pick the longest possible dates for online shops, while both Asda and Morrisons say they make the shelf life of online items clear.
An Asda spokesperson said: "Our colleagues will always try to pick products with the longest possible date codes while we provide information, such as our website date pledge, to help customers make the best choices when they shop online."
A Morrisons spokesperson said: "We tell our customers how much life they can expect on online products and all the ones you selected had at least as much life as we guaranteed."
The Sun has contacted Sainsbury's and Tesco and we'll update this story if we get a response.
If you're stocking up for Christmas, Morrisons' £2 mince pies topped BBC Good Food’s blind Christmas taste test.
Meanwhile, Co-op’s £20 bottle beats Moet in a similar blind Champagne taste test.
Do Jack’s and Tesco products taste the same? Our Bargain Hunter puts them to the test.
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