Today's Yellow Sticker Bargains

[Mike_P]

my local sainsburys has been taking the p for some time with very minimal cuts on stuff on the sellby date.

Your lucky, mine has stuff on sell by date, or beyond, still at full price. A trip there is more in hope that expectation, they did have a restocking system that ordered an item when one was sold, judging by the empty shelves I think my local store still uses it, if its not on the shelf it cannot be sold and therefore is not ordered.
The oddest YS I have come across is in Waitrose the last two Saturdays with vegan, and also gluten free although not specifically marked as such, Chocolate Tortes reduced by 15% despite having a use by date of at least the following Wednesday. Always an interesting store as whilst a lot of stuff is at "you have got to be kidding" prices others are cheaper than elsewhere, for example two eight packs of Activia yoghurts are nearly always £5 so a good fall back when no else has them as cheap or cheaper - mysupermarket.co.uk is useful for checking where to shop for specific items if you have locally a choice of stores. Waitrose gets a visit every Saturday as with the store card you get a free newspaper if you spend £10 including the price of the paper, so a free Times, provided at least £8 of food etc is bought, which takes me most of the week to get through while the magazines pile up to be looked at when no other reading matter is to hand.

 

[NorthernDave]

my local sainsburys has been taking the p for some time with very minimal cuts on stuff on the sellby date. They clearly have a low opinion of the intelligence of their customers. Have even seen them toss stuff in the sellby date rack with no cut at all. My ys exploits with them long limited to stocking up now and again for freezing bread for toast.

Sounds like my nearest Tesco - recent examples include a pack of mince that was already going grey, was £3 now £2.80 and a £4 pizza with 12p knocked off. Both on their sell by date and both left on the shelf.

 

[Blue Hills]

Profoundly stupid of them of course. For will dawn on most folks of average intelligence that you are better off going to lidl and aldi - fresh stuff for significantly less than their greying sweepings.

Still regularly pick up loaves for 20 or 30p though - if for toast and frozen just as good as fresh. Pretty much all i buy there these days.

 

[Reynard]

Reasonably good pickings last night - could've been better, could've been worse. Just me, Asian Chap and the Two Fat Ladies, but we were all trumped by an opportunist who ambushed the chap doing the meat markdowns, swiped the lot before it could be put in the cabinet and walked off with a whole trolley piled high with meat.

Picked up a nice pork shoulder though - I'd have preferred the free range chicken said chap had swiped, but the pork works well enough for me. Plan on making carnitas.

Other than that, I acquired a pack of fresh basa fillets, haslet, cooked chicken, two pies and two sausage rolls off the deli counter, yoghurt, broccoli, carrots, green beans, spinach, celery, salad onions, some pre-cut chips (a new line, not a good seller according to the chap doing the veg markdowns), an assortment of pastries from the bakery and some bars of plain dark chocolate from the damaged goods bin.

 

[Blue Hills]

Can I ask which supermarket chain this is?

Must admit to not being too bothered about meat YS these days - I ration my meat intake anyway.

 

[Reynard]

Profoundly stupid of them of course. For will dawn on most folks of average intelligence that you are better off going to lidl and aldi - fresh stuff for significantly less than their greying sweepings.

Funny thing you should say that - went on one of my irregular trips to Lidl today to pick up the things that I can't get anywhere else and stock up on some of their very nice xmas stuff. The last time was in Lidl was around 6 months ago and I was walking around thinking that it wasn't any cheaper than buying the mid-range own brand in Tesco. Some of their things are actually more expensive than Tesco.

They (Aldi & Lidl) aren't "Discounters", they are "Own Branders", which is a completely different kettle of fish. That they pitch themselves as "Discounters" is nothing more than a marketing scam (also perpetuated by the media, who describe them in that way) aimed at people who will only buy the big brands if they go to Tesco or Sainsbury's etc. But it's a ploy that sure as hell works.

P.S. I have friends who work in the food industry in the supply chain for the big four and for Aldi & Lidl, and they say exactly the same.

 

[Reynard]

Can I ask which supermarket chain this is?

Must admit to not being too bothered about meat YS these days - I ration my meat intake anyway.

Tesco. But each store is so variable - depends on the demography and the manager etc...

I eat a lot less meat than I used to - what I bought will last me a fortnight. Mind, I also do have a very well-stocked freezer...

 

[Blue Hills]

. Mind, I also do have a very well-stocked freezer...

Careful of that - I have some meat in my freezer that is amazingly old - pretty sure it won't kill me but may be somewhat lacking in nutrients by now - if anyone has info on what happens to the nutritional value of frozen meat by all means advise me.

 

[Reynard]

Careful of that - I have some meat in my freezer that is amazingly old - pretty sure it won't kill me but may be somewhat lacking in nutrients by now - if anyone has info on what happens to the nutritional value of frozen meat by all means advise me.

I happen to have a couple of furry quality control officers. if it gets their seal of approval, then it's fine by me.

 

[Dave7]

Funny thing you should say that - went on one of my irregular trips to Lidl today to pick up the things that I can't get anywhere else and stock up on some of their very nice xmas stuff. The last time was in Lidl was around 6 months ago and I was walking around thinking that it wasn't any cheaper than buying the mid-range own brand in Tesco. Some of their things are actually more expensive than Tesco.

They (Aldi & Lidl) aren't "Discounters", they are "Own Branders", which is a completely different kettle of fish. That they pitch themselves as "Discounters" is nothing more than a marketing scam (also perpetuated by the media, who describe them in that way) aimed at people who will only buy the big brands if they go to Tesco or Sainsbury's etc. But it's a ploy that sure as hell works.

P.S. I have friends who work in the food industry in the supply chain for the big four and for Aldi & Lidl, and they say exactly the same.

We bought some Batchelors mushy peas from Morrisons.....45p.
Next week we bought mushy peas from Lidl......17p. On the label it says (to the effect) supplied by Batchelors Foods.

 

[Dave7]

We dont do YS shopping as such but last week Mrs D was in Morrisons and picked up
4 eating apples.....25p
4 nice baking potatos......also 25p.
All were fresh and good quality.

 

[Blue Hills]

Funny thing you should say that - went on one of my irregular trips to Lidl today to pick up the things that I can't get anywhere else and stock up on some of their very nice xmas stuff. The last time was in Lidl was around 6 months ago and I was walking around thinking that it wasn't any cheaper than buying the mid-range own brand in Tesco. Some of their things are actually more expensive than Tesco.

They (Aldi & Lidl) aren't "Discounters", they are "Own Branders", which is a completely different kettle of fish. That they pitch themselves as "Discounters" is nothing more than a marketing scam (also perpetuated by the media, who describe them in that way) aimed at people who will only buy the big brands if they go to Tesco or Sainsbury's etc. But it's a ploy that sure as hell works.

P.S. I have friends who work in the food industry in the supply chain for the big four and for Aldi & Lidl, and they say exactly the same.

Not really sure I understand your point reynard. Quality stuff for less - very often probably the same stuff for less. I don't really care what some folk might label it. I don't see any scam at all.
If you could ask your pals in the supply chain for specific examples of rebranding same stuff sold under different labels it would be handy.

 

[Fnaar]

I regularly buy yellow-stickered flowers from Morrisons* - usually get at least a week of the pleasure of looking at them before they start to wilt

* I live alone these days, so happy to be a cheapskate for myself. The ex-Mrs Fnaar used to get lillies every Saturday

 

[Reynard]

We bought some Batchelors mushy peas from Morrisons.....45p.
Next week we bought mushy peas from Lidl......17p. On the label it says (to the effect) supplied by Batchelors Foods.

A lot of supermarket own brand stuff is like that. You're paying for the poncy packaging with the branded things...

 

[Reynard]

Not really sure I understand your point reynard. Quality stuff for less - very often probably the same stuff for less. I don't really care what some folk might label it. I don't see any scam at all.
If you could ask your pals in the supply chain for specific examples of rebranding same stuff sold under different labels it would be handy.

My point is this - I don't tend to buy food from the "Big Brands". I do tend to stick to supermarket own brand, which is why I find that Lidl (I can't speak so much for Aldi) is no cheaper than what I usually buy.

Besides, both Lidl and Aldi were in trouble a few years ago over their "we are so much cheaper" adverts - they now *have* to state that it's their stuff versus big brands, and that supermarket own brand stuff may be cheaper than their products.

Marketing in general is a bit of a scam, insomuch that it does play on the fact that people don't tend to be observant and stick to what they know, and that poncy packaging catches the eye more than the less bright own brand packaging.