Online Clearance & Short dated Grocery sites

pipk62

After posting at an "Approved Foods" thread I thought it may be a good idea to have a single thread discussing and comparing all the short date sites.

Approved Foods

Food Bargains

Big Brands for Less

Swinco

If there are any others mention below and I'll add them to this list every so often:

ADDITIONS:

Bargain Brands Foods (ty frugal_shopper)

frugal_shopper_2

Big Brands for Less

http://www.bargainbrandfoods.co.uk is another one that started up a few months ago. They offer free delivery to all B, DY, WS, & WV postcodes for orders over £15. It is not clear wether they deliver nationwide or not at the moment, they used to but the delivery info page is quite vague & no prices for nationwide delivery are mentioned.

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Approved Foods

Oh lovely new thread.

Subscribed, thank you!

HHx

Puddleglum

Approved Foods

I've tried them all and they all have their good and bad points. Although AF have at times reduced me to a gibbering wreck, they have the most comprehensive range and clear to use website. I have saved loads of money and overall the benefits from all the sites are well worth the risk to your sanity occasionally.

roxycan

swinco looks the best site, the others arnt that great once you pay p&p your not really saving.

jo58

Swinco

Great Idea pipk62!

Approved Foods is well known and established, has been trading online for over 2 years now and founded by Dan Cluderay. Then came Mark at Food Bargains with similar products, now getting a lot of in date / long dated stock. Big Brands for Less came next then Swinco about 4 months ago. Paul who owns Swinco is a university graduate and used to work for Approved Foods from the start. They have clearance food and drink as well as other clearance household items.

All sites sell out fast so if there is anything you like, be quick or you will miss out. You can sign up to each site's newsletter and facebook pages for promos and deals etc. There is money to be saved on all of these sites, trust me, so worth a visit :-)

mcallister1

Approved Foods

roxycan wrote: »

swinco looks the best site, the others arnt that great once you pay p&p your not really saving.

It all depends on what they have got in when you look. Their stock changes quickly so one day they are selling lots of one sort of thing, another day lots of something else. For instance I made an order a couple of weeks ago that was all cereal and fruit juice. The next one was lots of indian food, and I made another this month with lots of high end organic/hamper type stuff.
They also have stuff which they always have in which is is not really a saving but people who want stuff delivered will order with their order I suppose.

frugal_shopper_2

Big Brands for Less

roxycan wrote: »

swinco looks the best site, the others arnt that great once you pay p&p your not really saving.

Swinco = 28kg of goods delivered for £5.25 which is not significantly different to any of the other sites usual delivery charges. I have always made a significant saving whichever site I have ordered from, it's all down to which products you purchase & taking advantage of promotions, discount codes etc...

You also need to remember that actual savings are not always accurately reflected on the websites themselves, to give an example:

CASE PRICE 5 X De Identified Supermarket Value 500ml Anti Bacterial Handwash RRP £5 SWINCO 99p
http://www.swinco.co.uk/epages/es136752.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/es136752/Products/5051790612909
Actual retail price = £0.38 per tub so £1.90 for a case of 5.
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=257047891

In this instance still a saving but it's £3.10 less than the claimed saving.

jo58 wrote: »

.....All sites sell out fast so if there is anything you like, be quick or you will miss out.

BB4L is an exception to that rule, they seem to purchase huge quantities of goods so take ages to sell out however they don't add new products anywhere near as regularly as the other sites do.

jo58

Swinco

Swinco = 28kg of goods delivered for £5.25 which is not significantly different to any of the other sites usual delivery charges. I have always made a significant saving whichever site I have ordered from, it's all down to which products you purchase & taking advantage of promotions, discount codes etc...

But it is different, Approved food offer £5.25 for 25kg last time i checked??

CASE PRICE 5 X De Identified Supermarket Value 500ml Anti Bacterial Handwash RRP £5 SWINCO 99p
http://www.swinco.co.uk/epages/es136.../5051790612909
Actual retail price = £0.38 per tub so £1.90 for a case of 5.
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Produ.../?id=257047891

These are exactly the same as what Approved Food had months ago at 99p per case. These where 59p each in my supermarket last time i checked. I suspect prices are subject to fluctuations. I did notice this tho -

Cadbury Caramel Biscuits 130g RRP £1.49 SWINCO £0.59 each or 2 for £1

Actually retails at £1.79 per pack:

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesco-price-comparison/Chocolate_Biscuits/Cadbury_Caramel_Biscuits_130g.html

Despite the product being undervalued they still are a bargain at 2 for £1 and i dont see these on the other websites. Correct me if im wrong.

BB4L is an exception to that rule, they seem to purchase huge quantities of goods so take ages to sell out however they don't add new products anywhere near as regularly as the other sites do.

Valid point Big Brands for Less are bigger than Approved Foods but again they dont have the influx of new prouducts like the others so the stock must be sat around there shop. I noticed the Lloyd Grossman Rissotto is still there, they had them when they first open over a year ago!
http://www.bigbrandsforless.co.uk/?page_id=7&category=102&product_id=240

Frugal Shopper is a regular forum poster on the Approved Food and the Food Bargains Forums. Users various other alias on the forums. We know her as Julie and she is really friendly once you get to you know

Jox

frugal_shopper_2

Big Brands for Less

I have no desire to get into another pointless argument about swinco I was using a randomly selected product from a randomly selected website to demonstrate the point that some savings are not as big as they seem at first glance. I could of picked virtually any product on Foodbargains to demonstrate the point just as easily but that would of been too easy with their prices. Instead I used a product which does still save you money if you purchase it.

If you insist on turning this thread into an argument too then it may end up being deleted just as most of your other posts/threads have been which is not fair on any of the other forum members who want to discuss the differences between short dated food sites in a civilised manner.

jo58 wrote: »

Frugal Shopper is a regular forum poster on the Approved Food and the Food Bargains Forums. Users various other alias on the forums. We know her as Julie and she is really friendly once you get to you know

Jox

As I am already bored of saying, I have never had an account on the foodbargains forum, I am not the approved food forum member you insist on believing I am & my name is not Julie B**** (or David J**** if you once again decide that that is my name). It makes no difference how many times you make these claims publicly or how many pm's you send me demanding that I tell you what my name is you have me mistaken with a completely different person. I do know who the FB/AF forum member you think I am is & their name is not Julie or David either so you clearly have them confused with somebody else too.
Can we please drop the subject of my identity, even if you do work out my real name one day it is of no interest to other forum members in any case, it is only you who seems to have a particular interest in it.

frugal_shopper_2

Big Brands for Less

jo58 wrote: »

But it is different, Approved food offer £5.25 for 25kg last time i checked??

It is actually £5.25 for 50kg if you spend over £35 on goods or less if you happen to purchase any items in the discount shipping section at the moment. This is due to a shipping trial taking place, the usual price is £5.25 for 29kg of goods. There is no information provided as to how long the shipping trial will last nor is there any option to opt out of it. Whenever it does end I expect the prices will change again.