Supermarkets and small convenience stores will tape over barcodes with a yellow label when items are nearing their use-by date.
While some reductions to food prices can make the products considerably cheaper than they would have been otherwise, it’s not always the case.
Many shoppers have been lured in by what seems like great discounts but upon a closer look, realise that they’re saving a measly 10p on the item.
That said, mega savings are possible when shopping at the right time of day, according to supermarkets.
Retailers have confirmed the best time of day to visit their stores to bag the best yellow-sticker (or red if you’re shopping at Aldi) deals.
The good news is most major brands slash the prices of their products at different times of the day, so it’s easy to bag a whole range of bargains by visiting a few different shops.
Finance blogger Fiona Hawkes – who has written extensively on yellow sticker shopping – told Metro that the best bargains appear on shelves from around 7pm onwards.
She explained: “I’ve seen 90 percent off yellow stickers at 8.30am in Morrisons so it really does depend on your local store.
“The best advice I can give is to always check the yellow sticker fridges no matter what time of day you shop as you could end up with a bargain”.
The savvy shopper found that for her, one of the stores with the most reliable time is Sainsbury’s at 2pm. Fiona explained that bargains at this time have included fresh mixed vegetables for 10p and fancy ready meals reduced from £7 to just 99p.
Supermarket yellow-sticker timings
Based on tips from Fiona and supermarket recommendations, these are the best times to find deals on shop shelves:
- Marks and Spencer – 30 minutes before closing
- Morrisons – 8.30 am and 6pm onwards
- Sainsbury’s – 2-3.30pm and 6pm onwards
- Lidl – 8am (when stores open)
- Asda – 7pm onwards
- Tesco – 6pm onwards
- Aldi – 8am (when stores open)
- Waitrose – two hours before closing
As with all major brands, Aldi and M&S change the times at which items are reduced depending on the store but are likely to be near closing time.
According to Which? Aldi marks down perishable products like bread, meat, fruit and vegetables by either 30 percent or 75 percent on their last day of shelf life before stores close, and gives a 30 percent discount on ambient groceries such as cereal, pasta and tinned food if it deems the packaging “imperfect”.
Asda said yellow stickers are generally applied to items twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening.
Lidl works in much the same way, revealing that its employees tend to make reductions first thing and then a few hours before closing, but can opt to do so throughout the day.
Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose claimed that there aren’t specific times when their in-store employees apply yellow sticker price cuts.
