Buying yellow sticker/reduced 2012 challenge

needtosavE_2 · 9 February 2012 at 2:15PM

When I first seen this thread starting i though 'no chance', theres no way you coudl live off whoopsies. I have been proved wrong. I have actually found there to be too much reduced food. A while back I stopped buying anything that I wouldnt normally buy as I was coming home with cakes, pies and ready meals all the time. I now am at the point where my freezer is full but I keep buying. I came home last night with 870g pack of mince for £1.95, a veggie haggis for 64p, blueberrys 74p a pack (on BOGOF in Sains and it still works on the reduced price!) and 2 packs of blueberries. Only on sunday I got 6 salmon fillets for £3, 8 sausages 49p, chicken thighs for 80ish p.

OH has now taken my card off me. We cant physically eat the amount of food we have. Its crazy! There is only 2 of us

To be fair though I made blackberry jam and blueberry muffins last night and have taken the muffins to work. Everyone else appreciates them!

Thanks so much to everyone on here for giving me the bug, its such a buzz when you get food for next to nothing. Especially if you had gone into the shop 2 hours earlier and paid 4 times the price!But, in a sulk, I realise I have to stop.......... for a few days :-)

picklednut · 9 February 2012 at 2:44PM

Just a couple of questions - 1. If you buy meat to use by today's date eg whole chicken is it ok to freeze today and use at a later date eg a chicken normally says freeze on the day of purchase whereas I presume a chicken with a yellow sticker has been in the supermarket a few days and not sold and therefore getting to the end of its "freshness" 2. Do shops have more than one reduced area? Where should I look for the whoopsie areas?

Thrifty_Sister · 9 February 2012 at 3:03PM

picklednut wrote: »

Just a couple of questions - 1. If you buy meat to use by today's date eg whole chicken is it ok to freeze today and use at a later date eg a chicken normally says freeze on the day of purchase whereas I presume a chicken with a yellow sticker has been in the supermarket a few days and not sold and therefore getting to the end of its "freshness" 2. Do shops have more than one reduced area? Where should I look for the whoopsie areas?

Its absolutely fine to feeze on the last day of shelf life - then treat as fresh when its thawed again. Once cooked it can be treated as a 'normal' chicken but be careful with chicken anyway as it should be thawed and cooked correctly. Don't want anyone getting upset stomachs etc

computerfixer · 9 February 2012 at 4:24PM

Thrifty_Sister wrote: »

Its absolutely fine to feeze on the last day of shelf life - then treat as fresh when its thawed again. Once cooked it can be treated as a 'normal' chicken but be careful with chicken anyway as it should be thawed and cooked correctly. Don't want anyone getting upset stomachs etc

When I find a whole chicken reduced I tend to 'poulter it' into breasts, legs and wings so can use out of freezer in portions, then throw the carcass into a pot and make stock with it, takes up less space in freezer that way and you get your stock made that night, next day even for some nice soup.

It is fine to freeze whole so long as then defrost thoroughly(I always tend to defrost in fridge personally where possible before cooking) This also means if I buy too much stuff to freeze I can take out 2 meals worth of stuff and cook one lot thats defrosted by next night and is fine to cook from defrosted within 24 hours so use other lot day after.

Im always on a freeze/defrost cycle with most of my meals as it lets me ensure I rotate my freezer contents and nothing gets left in there for too long, though Im sure most meat is ok for about a year though I know some people have had trouble with fish if left for too long, probably not properly wrapped though :S

she_who_can_not_cook · 9 February 2012 at 5:09PM

i just want to say well done to you all on the offers you get i am very jealous of the mark/downs you get when i go shopping and i go ALOT in the afternoon early evenings even mornings (with iceland and aldi) and the best i can is 50percent /30 off

i even walked to morries in the snow lol to find NOTHING on the reduced but that me trying to execise

computerfixer · 9 February 2012 at 7:45PM

Attention all customer's items are now available at reduced prices in the chiller cabinets

Perfect timing today just after 6

3 x lamb chops 45p each
1 x chicken thighs 40p
1 x small pack chicken strips 40p
1 x beef sausages 40p
1 x cauliflower 10p
1 x chinese stir fry veg 10p
1 x brown rolls 20p
1 x kipling french fancies 20p

Not as good as some of the bargains im used to there but still is fab

Got enough lamb for the curry tmrw and had taken thighs out for the chicken curry so this will replenish.

Been wanting to make cauliflower soup for one of my friends so thats handy.

not had a sausage in weeks so will be nice for breakfast rolls tmrw

The chicken strips will be frozen untill have fahitas in next couple weeks

finaly, who could resist a treat for over the weekend, a french fancy or 2 here n there

So not my best haul, but nonetheless, marked price would have been not far off £20 all for £2.95

Hope everyone does well tonight, i'm off to start cooking

abitofhelp · 9 February 2012 at 7:45PM

victory wrote: »

What time was it?

Hi Victory. I hope i have done this quote thing correctly. Last night we went to A*** just after 6pm. Loads of fruit & veg reduced to 20-30p. Where they put the meat/fish etc they were on 2nd sticker reductions. I went again this afternoon approx 3pm (to take my mum i wasnt being greedy & she wont buy reduced items loony woman) i really wasnt expecting to find anything at that time but they had loads of fruit & veg reductions then. i got broccoli, more stirfry packs, salad bags, mango, strawberrys all for 20 - 30p each. i also got for 10p each pots of garlic cloves ready peeled i picked up 3. bakery items do seem to be between 8-10pm nipped in last week friday & saturday night. plenty of loaves & rolls reduced to 10p also donuts and cookies (packs of) 5p & 35p. hope this helps. this afternoon they were bringing out chickens chops etc but on first reduction so not much off. however plenty of packs of meat from deli counter 50-60p so bought a few to freeze. we are now ok for meat for sandwhiches for a couple of weeks.

victory · 10 February 2012 at 8:57AM

Thanks abit will go around 6pm and give As** a go thanks

Morries yesterday chatting to the lady and she was going on that she had three sections to do within a hour and she really tried hard to get them done by her lunch break which is 12.30pm so yet again they were doing the second reductions around lunchtime (SA did say that morries likes to leave it to 2p onwards and do the second around 4pm but that depends on how much, if they say it is little they have they put it on lunch time if they have a lot they put it on later in the afternoon) it really is luck with my morries:D

I left and so did the other yellow sticker hunters a lot of it yesterday because it did not seem especially reduced, it comes to something when you question the second reduced price and still think it is not worth it:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I got some chicken fajita sandwich filler pots for 19p instead of £1.50, says on the label eat on the day of purchase, nothing about freezing but I did, can you? I figure it is trial and error as not sure if they will be ok defrosted but it is basically chicken in a fajita sauce so figured you can freeze chicken and you can freeze sauce- lost 19p if not so not to worry, do anyone else freeze the sandwich spread fillers?

Garlic bread slices 55p from £1.50, garlic baguettes 45p from £1.25 , gammon slices 2 in pack 99p from £2.49, some pork pies 19p instead of £2.49 2 pasta meals huge ones were £5 now £1.99 and some pasta in mushroom and cheese sauce £1.49 from £3.49 oh and some curries £1.59 instead of £3.49 they used to be £1.15/£1.19 so have gone up even on the second reductions.

The SA says that she threw away £25 worth of sandwiches because was told to do the reductions at x time and they were too late, no one wanted them and so they got binned, SA says you have to make sure that the reductions go out at a decent time so that people see them, walk past them and want them, the first lot of reductions SA says are psychological, people walk past see the sticker and even though it is 50p off they think somehow they are getting a bargain and buy it, I don't:D

SA says that morries and other stores rely on the I have got a bargain mentallity to shift as much as they can before they have to reduce it again.

victory · 10 February 2012 at 9:03AM

Oh and a couple of other things... I have noticed shreddies 500g says £2.08 now £1 bargain you may assume but no bargain really because the other deal is shreddies 750g was £2.74 now £1.37 so for an extra 37p you get 250g more of shreddies, so watch out for that one, everytime I go to morries I buy another 750g shreddies must keep the store cupboard filled to the brim:D

Mr T has really upset me, their own brand tuscany bean soup gone up by 10p:eek: was 49p now 59p that is hell of a rise considering they keep advertising their price drop, only bought one, told the cashier, we were joking that for 10p they had lost my business:rotfl: but that is quite a hike, very disappointed Mr T if you are reading this:D

gailey_2 · 10 February 2012 at 9:07AM

Morning guys

wanted to update on yesterdays activity but site was down:(

Had a mixed day yesterday going to usual 3places

3pm -spar just on off chance there might be bargains

diced beef was 3quid now 75p brought all 6:)
reason why well hae brought before and 1pack not much meat hubby moans so 6packs =3meals still not bad! nice to have change from sausage and mince dishes have kept buying last few weeks.

they had reduced sausages 77p but not great reduction were spar own brand and hubbys sick of sausages. did get him mini trifle reduced to 19p sp spent less than a fiver.

5pm-went to corner shop-got sugar cheaper than supermarket

sadly the out of date cans coke 4 for £1 gone was slightly gutted.:(
no out date crips and choc that I could see

picked toddler up from nursery went to co-op leaving toddler and baby in car with hubby.

got there 5.15pm.

OMG it was awful

1st checked out veg crates.

a few things wanted all had 50%off stickers

picked up red roosters £2.19 down to 99p
stir fry-50p
noodles-50p
spring onion s40p
cress 15p.

so not great.

2ladies came out with trolly and reducing gun

asked if going down further she said yes.

but young girl i spoke to wasent doing it.

basically they took the 2 crates and put on trolly and wheeled behind deli counter to do reductions.
I thourght take a walk keep close eye

hardly any meats and onl;y 25%off what they did have
oddly no chilled reduced which is usually good

bread only have 25%off and not much did buy pack reduced 6pack organic eggs for 95p

only went in for value fromage frais which dident have next cheapest pack was £1 so done out of 6yogurts!

grocery bric brac reduced not much and not huge discounts.

there was one thing been there weeks

jammie dodgers toffee think gone down to 35p but kids were not keen last time.
but according to latest flyer tehy going bogoff so will try next time im in there as would work out 17p a pack!

This is where it gets horrible.
clocked lady taking her trolly back to section.
followed as fast as i could thinking could swop what i did have for same reduced further.

there were 3ladies riflimg through it.
one lady was particuarly agreessive and filledher trolly with whole crate ellbowing people and knocking apples flying. sp by time got there after the 20mins patiantly hovering got nothing.
thamkfully i put mine in basket before final cut but dident feel good toi be buying something at 50%instead of 75%like other shoppers but stor frys quick easy lunch still full of cold maybe overdose veg do me good. we were out of potatoes and low on eggs. got cress so hubby could have egg and cress sandwiches.the potaotoes red rooster so at least nice ones.

Stopped to speak to member of staff used to work with and said reduced scrum was bad he said its always like that recently relly horrid. im guessing doing it behind deli means less hassling.

I only had 6quid to spend so couldent have gone mad.

because we been so skint this month reduced realy helped us although havent had much to go shopping so havent done sundays last few weeks just getting odd items every other day from spar and co-op as each time get reduced meat its a meal!

I try keep list only buying what we need or will eat.
any treats like desserts/choc always reduced.

last night had chicken casserole from reduced chicken thighs £1 with rice was ok.
made chicken and veg soup from reduced chicken £1.63 so that chicken fed us 2meals.
defrosting mince today to make sheperds pie which will feed us tonight and tommorow.
will defrost maybe 3packs beef tommorow and make beef stew as got stepson coming over sunday.

actually quite like diced beef in stirfry and currys for a change.

dident do as planned xmas hitting city centre for reductions.
but wondering if worth making the trip to waitrose over easter
difficult as hubby works nearly all the bank hols.
wondering if waitrose nornally any good in evenings
its 2buses and cemtre of city up a hill.

hubbys agreed to try different quieter sainsburys different direction as our nearest is businest and home shopping so maybe less bargains to be had. also if passing will try popping into large tesco.

my bread stash has gone right down maybe just 30rolls left.
no crumpets or muffins
no croissents
3loaves of bread.

cant wait until payday and a good shop.

Buying yellow sticker/reduced 2012 challenge

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