Save on Your Food Shop: Shop Late
The weekly food shop is one of our most important expenses. The last few years has seen an increase in food products and overall living costs, meaning that some struggling families are having to go without basic necessities to ensure that their living costs are met. Those who are confined to a budget need to ensure that the little money that they have is spent wisely.
Featured in a 2015 news story by the Telegraph, a Woman that refused to shop during the day opting to shop at night when reductions had been made, managed to save nearly £3,000 a year, equivalent to nearly £250 per month on food produce. This is a huge amount of saving and could make a great difference to those on a budget during financial hardship.
Many shoppers do not opt for this kind of shopping as there is a fear of buying produce that is on or past its sell by date, however for lots of produce the products are completely safe to consume. It is because of this assumption that there is lots of unnecessary food waste.
Tristram Stuart, author of Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal, told the Telegraph:
“Shoppers are overcautious about food that is about to pass its ‘sell‑by’ or ‘best before’ dates, when actually these labels are used in absurd ways,” he said. “Most of these are overcautious and misapplied, and put us off from using our own common sense about the proper storage and preparation of food.”
In order to try this for yourself, find out when your local supermarkets apply discounts to their produce. Look for the “Whoops!” sticker on Asda produce, and the “Reduced” or “I’m cheaper” stickers at other supermarkets.
