A week-long hunt for yellow sticker bargains at Marks and Spencer found that lunchtime, not the evening, offered the best discounts, with savings of up to 55% on items like gammon and ready meals.
Lunchtime visits yield the best deals
Sophie Harris, Senior Lifestyle Reporter, visited her local M&S Food Hall every day for a week at varying times to discover when the best bargains were on offer. The results surprised her: lunchtime, around 12.30pm, proved to be the best time for yellow sticker reductions at her nearest store.
On three occasions during the week, she found a considerable selection of discounted goods at lunchtime. Reduced items included a honey-glazed gammon cut down to £3.50 from £9, potato dauphinoise ready meals marked down to £2.64 from £4.50, and freshly prepared vegetables reduced to £1.64 from £3. She picked up all of these for just £7.78, when they should have totalled £16.50.
Morning and evening visits offer less
Morning visits, at around 9am on a Saturday and 11am on a Sunday, found very little discounted produce, aside from some bread. This came as no great surprise, as supermarkets don't typically reduce items in the morning.
On the opening day, a fair number of fresh goods were discounted in the pudding section, though most of the reduced products had already been snapped up. Those remaining included yoghurts, a selection of ready meals and some fresh vegetables.
Yellow sticker items can be frozen
Yellow sticker labels indicate products approaching their use-by date. The vast majority of yellow sticker items can be frozen, including bread, ready meals and meat. This practice assists supermarkets in cutting waste while enabling customers to purchase goods at a reduced price.
Harris also noted that reduced items were not all grouped together on a single shelf at M&S Food. They were thoughtfully spread throughout the store and kept within the aisles where you'd ordinarily locate them, making it considerably easier to track down the deals.
She'd strongly suggest looking for yellow-sticker items while shopping, as you can save considerable money and help cut down on food waste. It's also worth noting that this was just one Marks and Spencer food store, and the timing of discounted products can vary between different stores.
