A fantastic way to save money on your groceries is to visit the yellow sticker shelves at supermarkets. This is where supermarkets reduce their food that has a best before date coming up soon. They will massively slash their prices to get rid of stock. I am going to share the best supermarket reduction times.
Why buy yellow sticker food?
Yellow sticker food shopping is great for so many reasons.
First of all it has a massive impact on your budget, helping you to spend less on your weekly shop.
It also allows you to try out foods that you might not usually try.
It also helps the environment – think about how much energy has gone into producing something, only for it to then be thrown away. By shopping from supermarket reduced shelves you can stop that food and packaging going to waste.
How much you can save buying supermarket reductions?
The amount of money you can save by buying supermarket reductions depends on the supermarket, the time of day and the items on sale.
You can save anything from a few pence to a massive 90% off the full price of the items you are buying.
What food to buy from the supermarket reduction shelf?
You can buy anything from the supermarket yellow sticker shelves.
The most important thing is to look at the produce and decide if it still looks like it is decent quality. That means that fruit and veg isn’t wet or mouldy, and that meat packets haven’t expanded.
Food from the cheap shelf can be used to help to stretch your budget or stockpile your freezer. For example products like meat, fish and bread can be frozen, and something like cream can be turned into butter.
There are also foods that are perfectly safe to eat after their best before date. A yogurt that expired a day ago is unlikely to cause you any harm!
The best supermarket reduction times
Here are the best supermarket reduction times listed by the supermarket.
ASDA reduction times
ASDA’s final reductions start around 7pm which is when you will save the most money at the cheap shelf. Visit after 9pm and you are likely to have missed out on the bargains.
Sainsbury’s reduction times
Sainsbury’s reduction times will vary depending on the store, however from lunch time onwards you can see reductions in store. My husband actually worked at Sainsbury’s a good few years ago, and when I would drop him off for work around 8.45pm I would often find reductions down to just 10p in our local store.
Morrisons reduction times
Morrisons reduction times seem to be a bit more set across the board than other supermarkets. The night before the sell by date you can expect to find items reduced by about 20%, and for items past their sell by date that day you can expect them to be reduced to about 50% by 3pm. You can then expect a 75% reduction after 5pm and sometimes as late as 8pm.
Later than this and you might even bag some items for mere pennies.
Tesco supermarket reduction times
Tesco is another store where the reduction times vary. You can usually find some half-arsed attempts at reductions from around lunch time, where you can find maybe 10 – 20% off. Visit after 8pm and you are likely to find the best reductions on offer.
M&S reduction times
M&S reductions depend on what time you store closes. If your store closes at 7pm you can expect final reduction by 6.30pm, and if your store closes at 9pm then you can expect final reductions at 8pm.
Some M&S stores also have heavy discounts after the lunch time rush – from about 2pm onwards.
Aldi supermarket reduction times
You might think that Aldi doesn’t do food reductions, but they do! You will find reductions on their fresh product and meat, but instead of being confined to a reduction shelf the items will likely be on the shelf in their usual place, with a 50% off sticker across them.
You can expect 50% off at Aldi from around 7.30pm.
Lidl reduction times
Lidl do have a reduction shelf with items 30% off. Whilst the discount isn’t massive you will find the cheap shelf is stocked at most times of the day.
Co-op reduction times
The Co-op reduction times also vary my store. We lived in a village with two Co-op stores and they didn’t follow the same reduction patterns.
The yellow sticker shelf at the Co-op tends to have its first reductions for the afternoon school run, then after 8pm you can expect final reductions which are 75% off. Some stores do a reduction at around 5pm.
Waitrose reduction times
Waitrose reduction times are store dependent, however I have found Waitrose to be the least generously discounted supermarket. Even at 5 minutes to closing time on Christmas Eve their Christmas turkeys aren’t more than 50% off. Visit as close to the closing time as you can for the best discounts.
Share your supermarket reduction times in the comments
The above supermarket reduction times have been compiled based on my experience and asking others online. Help to keep this list as up to date as possible by sharing your supermarket yellow sticker times in the comments below.
