Looking to dramatically reduce the cost of your weekly grocery shopping? Head to the yellow sticker shelf and grab yourself some reduced price bargains to help feed your family on a budget.
How To Find The Best Yellow Sticker Bargains
While some people may turn their nose up at yellow sticker food, savvy shoppers know that it’s one of the best ways to reduce the cost of your food bill and make some bargain meals.
Yellow sticker shopping is great for the environment too as it can stop food from ending up in landfills.
It can also mean your budget stretches further to better cuts of meat than you might otherwise not have been able to afford.
Use By Vs Best Before
Best before dates are an indication of quality, rather than food safety. Use by dates are there to tell you when food is no longer safe to eat. Most fresh yellow sticker food has a use by date of the day you are purchasing it, so technically should be eaten, cooked or frozen that day.
However, the problem with use by dates is they cause thousands of tonnes of food to end up in landfills each year because people stick to them so stringently. Many foods are fine to eat after the use by date and I advise using your own best judgement on this.
For more on this, take a look at Is it safe to eat out of date food?
Best Time of Day For Yellow Sticker Shopping
Is there a best time of day for yellow sticker shopping? In all honesty, I don’t think there is.
While evenings do tend to be better as they have the biggest reductions, it can also mean there’s nothing left by the time you get there as it’s all been snapped up by other bargain hunters.
I’ve also seen lots of yellow sticker food with between 70% and 90% off at 8.30am in Morrisons recently. The best piece of advice I can give is to always check the yellow sticker section no matter what time of day you go shopping.
Best Time of Year For Yellow Sticker Shopping
Christmas and New Year are some of the best times to find yellow sticker bargains. This is partly because most people have stocked up for Christmas and aren’t shopping much but also because the supermarkets are usually closed for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day, meaning they want to get rid of as much as possible before the shop shuts.
While I wouldn’t recommend leaving your entire Christmas shop until Christmas Eve, it’s a great time to grab some bargains and fill up your freezer if you have room. It can also be a fantastic way to make sure you have plenty of food ready for January which can always seem like a stretch to get to payday.
Always remember to check supermarket opening times during this period as they can be different to normal, especially on Christmas Eve.
Some of my best bargains during this period have been 5p Scallops, 5p King Prawns, 18p Ribeye Steak, 20p Lamb Chops, and a 49p Gammon Joint. One year I also catered an entire New Years Eve party with yellow sticker party food.
Additionally, you may find supermarkets giving away free vegetables during Christmas and New Year where they have over-stocked. These are perfect for making big batches of soup and then freezing for cheap lunches in January.
U.K Supermarket Reduction Times
One way to get the best yellow sticker bargains is to get to know the times your local supermarkets reduce their food. While is does change between supermarkets, most follow this pattern:
10-30% Reductions in the morning between 10 am – 12 pm
30-50% From Mid-afternoon onwards – between 2 pm and 4 pm
50% or more from around 5 pm
As I mentioned above, this can change like with Morrisons having early morning bargains so it’s worth getting to know your local supermarket and how they do things there.
See this post for further information on U.K Supermarket Reduction Times
Final Yellow Sticker Tips
- While it can be tempting to clear the shelves when you see good yellow sticker discounts, do try to leave some for other people, think about whether your family will eat those products and whether you have the room to store them once home.
- Dry goods are often discounted when the product packaging is changing or the line is no longer being stocked, so look out for these in store too.
- Knowing which products to freeze can be a huge help when deciding which yellow sticker products to buy. If you’re unsure of what can and can’t be frozen, take a look at freezethatfood.com
- It’s not just big supermarkets that have yellow stickers, lots of corner shops and smaller convenience stores do too, so be sure to check them as well.
Yellow sticker shopping is a great way to reduce food costs, help the environment and be inspired to try new recipes. Let me know in the comments if you’ve found any good yellow sticker bargains lately!
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