The Reduced section: Your best bargains

punkpink

European_Citizen wrote: »

I think my best bargain was lamb chops for 30p. The problem is that now I'm so used to buying reduced ones and freezing them that I always feel ripped off when I have to pay the full price.
Do normal etiquette rules apply at reduced-to-clear counters? For example, when you see 3 identical pizzas reduced to 20p each do you take all of them, especially if there are people behind you? Do you wait for your turn or just push yourself and grab whatever you can without any consideration for the others? I don't want to be seen as rude yet I also don't want to miss a good bargain...

Personally, i will wait my turn unless there is a complete a$$ infront of me looking to clear the shelves, but if there is an elderly person/couple about then i will generally let them go first, after all i would expect the same when i reach their age.
With regards to grabbing how many, depending on whats there i like to leave something for others, but if its something i will specifically look out for in reduced sections (whole roastings chickens are one - i use about 4/5 of these in a month, si if i can get them cheap all the better)then ill take as many as i can get away with without feeling guilty about what i have left.

My pet hate with the reduced section though, is the way people root through the food and when they do not want something they throw it back down, usually with a 'thud' and proceed to do the same thing with every item!
I tend to not touch unless its something on a higher shelf (im a short a$$ lol) or to see the price if hidden unless i am sure i want it of course. And people do not do the same thing with full price items..what makes the whoopsies different? :mad:

YORKSHIRELASS

squeaky wrote: »

Yeah, yellow stickers in my local Arsda barely even get as low as half price. A pack of fruit or a loaf of bread for ten pence...? Forget it. Never happens.

Same here. I went in our local Co-op the other afternoon and there was loads of stuff on the reduced section. Most of it was going out of date that day but there was hardly anything knocked off the price. Eg Pack of sausages reduced from £2.99 to £2.59. I bet most of it went in the bin and it really annoys me, why not reduce it enough for people to snap it up then it doesnt get wasted?

I did buy a 800g pack of mince reduced to £2.59 but nothing else was worth bothering about.

st_owly

I wait my turn, and if there's duplicates of things I want, I don't take them all. My freezer's not that big and you'd get bored of things otherwise.It's the old ladies that push through with the superior sense of entitlement who really get my goat though. One night I was in just before they started reducing everything, and I swear there was a rabid mob who were going to kill the poor guy tasked with doing the reductions. They were like a pack of hungry wolves. I was nice and tried to wait my turn, despite nearly being pushed into the fridge by a woman who was nearly the size of a whale, and the guy gave me some sushi I'd had my eye on before anyone else could grab it, which was awesome. If I'd been him though, I'd have said "I'm not reducing anything until you all stand back and wait for me to finish."

VJW87

St_owly - totally agree about the sense of entitlement. Totally puts me off going anywhere near the reduced section of my local Tesco! Total carnage. I have spotted some cheap priced meat before but never thought of buying it and freezing it. Sometimes, I can be really thick.

FelinePrincess

I'm very jealous of all the bargains on this thread as I never have much luck getting reduced stuff! I only ever seem to see stuff reduced by about 20% I will keep trying though

adelight

It's always banans reduced at my local A$da, dozens of bags of them for 10p each. I haven't had any incredible reductions in ages, just consistently good 50-75% off useful things like f&v and fish that i'd buy anyway.
I used to live by a budgens which did brilliant reductions, I got things like chicken, salmon, fillet steak for 50p each.

My pet peeve is the people who push people, nag staff and take everything from the reduced shelves. Like when people find someone's sniffed a Grabbit and bought the lot. It's so flipping greedy, even if you're that hard up you don't need to act like an animal, you can still spare a thought for all the other people who are relying on those reductions for dinner too.
At the shops in town here you get some very well to do looking couples elbowing and grabbing everything. Of course they could have got those designer clothes and posh jewellery at a car boot, just happen to talk like the queen and have those posh hair cuts because she's an ex hairdresser. But I doubt it! Probably another bunch trying to maintain a life style far beyond their means, like that family in the papers moaning they could barely afford private school because the dad lost his job... But refused to take a lower paid job or sack the cleaner :eek::eek::eek:

punkpink

adelight wrote: »

It's always banans reduced at my local A$da, dozens of bags of them for 10p each. I haven't had any incredible reductions in ages, just consistently good 50-75% off useful things like f&v and fish that i'd buy anyway.
I used to live by a budgens which did brilliant reductions, I got things like chicken, salmon, fillet steak for 50p each.

My pet peeve is the people who push people, nag staff and take everything from the reduced shelves. Like when people find someone's sniffed a Grabbit and bought the lot. It's so flipping greedy, even if you're that hard up you don't need to act like an animal, you can still spare a thought for all the other people who are relying on those reductions for dinner too.
At the shops in town here you get some very well to do looking couples elbowing and grabbing everything. Of course they could have got those designer clothes and posh jewellery at a car boot, just happen to talk like the queen and have those posh hair cuts because she's an ex hairdresser. But I doubt it! Probably another bunch trying to maintain a life style far beyond their means, like that family in the papers moaning they could barely afford private school because the dad lost his job... But refused to take a lower paid job or sack the cleaner :eek::eek::eek:

That is also something i hate, if your going to the reduced section, generally i like to think its because you need to, not just because if you do not get that last bit of salmon in the reduced section then poor me, i cannot have my nails done for another week!

charlie-chan

I recently bought a small gammon joint for £1 at Mr S. Its original price was £7.83 .

That is now in the freezer waiting to be defrosted for a Sunday lunch.

I tend to buy meat at reduced prices and portion them out too.

MarilynMonroe_2

I miss my bargains from Tesco, I used to get cakes and bread buns for 2 and 4p, sometimes you had to fight to get the cakes. We'd go down before it was due to close and our tea would just be a surprise depending on what was reduced. Good times.

The bargains I get now are regualr Sunday Lidl freebies - anything from plants to frozen party food!

M.E.

I was in the right place at the right time. I was buying for the ploughman's supper for our quiz night. 116 people.
I was looking for tomatoes, grapes, cheese.

Instead I came across the "whoopsie man" doing reductions down to 3,4,5,10p etc..

Went home with
Bags of salad, pasta salads, carrot batons, tomatoes, mushrooms, seafood cocktails, apples, radishes, spring onions, dips, some cheeses including a mighty-hot chilli one that was a roof lifter! (we warned everyone it was HOT), celery, beetroot salad, herbs. Less than £5 in total.. for 116 people... fabulous feast

plus a few items for my own use (parsnips/chicken breasts):beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer: