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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

'Reduced' aisle in supermarkets

86 replies

supersop60 · 25/04/2017 10:27

AIBU to think that my DH and I can afford to pay full price for our groceries and to leave the reduced aisle stuff for the people who might really need it?
DH is always 'careful' with money, but between us we earn about 50K. I don't think we should be buying this stuff and potentially making life harder for someone else.

OP posts:
Gottagetmoving · 25/04/2017 11:26

If you really want to help the poor, just don't vote Tory

^ THIS!^ Grin

BlooBagoo · 25/04/2017 11:29

Some of them see a bunch of reduced items and just shove them in their trolleys and baskets, literally every single item. I'm pretty sure they don't even know what they're buying at times.

I was once chased away from a reduced section by a guy who was incredibly pissed off that I picked up a couple of items before he got there. He swiped everything else on the shelf into his trolley and then I swear he growled at me.

On another note though, I really wish my DH would stop buying reduced bread. It's always stale, only really good for toast or bread pudding, and ends up mouldy quickly and I have a huge mould phobia. Blush

BBCNewsRave · 25/04/2017 11:30

I can't believe the sarcastic responses OP is getting. Some of us do actually think like this and consider others automatically. (Wasn't there a thread here once about feeling sorry for leftover baked beans in the tin? Which is the extreme version of the same thing!)
I mean, I know that's not the point of the reduced aisle, but I have had the same thought process as the OP! Surely the "I love a bargain and I'm well-off" type posts deserve the Biscuit, not someone considering others?

SanityAssassin · 25/04/2017 11:37

our household is on many x your income - I love the yellow stickers!

FeedTheSharkAndItWIllBite · 25/04/2017 11:39

Well, you may think like that, yes.

But I personally think paying less for food is great (if it's the same quality etc. I would be very careful where meat etc is concerned). We really do not have financial troubles. But why spend more than necessary?

Sparklingbrook · 25/04/2017 11:40

I always think stuff in the reduced aisle is there because nobody bought it and wonder why that is.

But if there's lots of one sort of food in there it's selfish to take the whole lot.

I remember going to the Next sale once (never again) and people were just taking everything off the rails to buy without even looking at it.

pringlecat · 25/04/2017 11:42

I don't buy yellow stickered items anymore for the reason that if other people are willing to push, scream and trample others to get to the reduced food, clearly they are more desperate than me. It would be different if it was a polite queue.

Buying cheap clothes in the sale is different, because no one is trying to stand on me to get to the clothes I want.

AppleOfMyEye10 · 25/04/2017 11:44

I'll give you a round of applause for being so wonderful. Hmm

Sologirl1982 · 25/04/2017 11:44

I love the reduced section - I have 12 guinea pigs and the discounted veggies are a godsend! :D

AnaViaSalamanca · 25/04/2017 11:49

I like to buy these, it reduces food waste. What do you think would happen if nobody buys them? Bin at the end of the day.

Sparklingbrook · 25/04/2017 11:49

Many supermarkets donate it to charity if not sold at the end of the day.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 25/04/2017 11:50

Many put it in locked bins and spray it with bleach.

Just buy it if you want it. If you don't, don't.

pringlecat · 25/04/2017 11:52

Sparklingbrook Maybe it's just where I shop, but there is nothing left to donate. A crowd appear just as the stickers come out, there's a massive scrum and then everything is gone!

MackerelOfFact · 25/04/2017 11:52

I love a bargain but mostly can't be faffed with the reduced aisle. My rule of thumb is that if it takes you longer to find the bargain than it would to earn the difference, it's just not worth it.

I can't see the logic in spending ages rummaging and elbowing to obtain a broken quiche reduced by 70p. Also it's not a bargain if you wouldn't have bought it anyway.

Sparklingbrook · 25/04/2017 11:53

pringle that's the ideal. For all food to be sold.

LockedAway · 25/04/2017 11:59

The sentiment is nice albeit a bit strange to me IMO. My personal policy in life is "why pay more for something when you can get the exact same thing for less".

EssentialHummus · 25/04/2017 12:03

Where are all these Morrisons with 9p bargains??

I love the reduced aisle. I'd never thought that my shopping there (we're high earners) was taking food from someone else, but that's possibly because in my local (Waitrose, Greenwich) it's a 20% discount rather than 9p joints, and because there's never a scrum in that section when I'm there.

Sparklingbrook · 25/04/2017 12:04

People to tend to park their trolley across the whole reduced bay while they look. Tactics. Grin

CasperGutman · 25/04/2017 12:13

I like to buy reduced-price food, as although we're comfortable financially I'm a bit careful with money. It's OK though, I only buy the nice middle class food which the poor wouldn't know what to do with. I mean, hummus and olives would just confuse them, right? I leave the value sausages and so on for those that need them.

Seriously though, I think the OP means we'll but this is a bit patronising. Supermarkets reduce food for commercial reasons, not as an act of charity.

mousymary · 25/04/2017 12:13

I slightly see OP's point. I was a bit surprised to see school parent who is hospital consultant and married to hospital consultant scrabbling in the reduced Asda stuff - not the Whoops! things but the dented tins and burst bags which are kept in a crate in a far corner.

HotelEuphoria · 25/04/2017 12:20

Sainsbury's Tuesday evening from about 18:00 - best bargains. All the meat that stocked the shelves for the weekend and hasn't sold gets a rock bottom price. At least the huge one in town by us does. I used to drop DS off at the Sports Centre next door then have a rummage. Best ever bargain, boneless butterfly leg of lamb 30p.

M&S Simply Foods is good on a Sunday about 14:30 before they shut at 16:00.

Morrisons Kirkstall Leeds this Sunday 15:00 - 2 plaice fillets 50p one large fillet of cod 50p 2 Sea Bass fillets with tomato and herb crumb 99p - guess what we had for tea?

Applebite · 25/04/2017 12:28

I push the yellow stickered items out of the way to get the stuff with a longer date from behind them Blush

Bubbinsmakesthree · 25/04/2017 12:30

Even if you freeze it, though. I'm pregnant. I don't want to buy chicken that could have gone off and give myself and my baby salmonella

They're selling food which is still within it's use by date, which are generally very conservative. The chances of getting food poisoning from yellow-stickered food eaten on the day it is purchased or promptly frozen are remote.

Trills · 25/04/2017 12:38

I don't want to buy chicken that could have gone off

What if you bought the chicken yesterday, when it was not yellow-stickered, and then used it today? Would it be safe then?