To think it’s morally wrong to buy yellow stickered items if I’m not on a tight budget?

[FlatpackHater]

Just to be clear I don’t necessarily think it’s morally wrong but AIBU polls don’t really work on uncertainty do they?

Basically I feel morally conflicted about buying discounted food in the supermarkets, particularly now during the cost of living crisis.

I’m not on a tight budget, but I do LOVE a good bargain. Few things beat the thrill of finding profiterole stack reduced to 25p.

But should I be thinking about people who might be depending on picking up such bargains just to make their food budget stretch.

I often shop in Waitrose and frankly think that most people who shop in Waitrose aren’t on the breadline. But I shop in Lidl as well and feel maybe I should be leaving the Lidl bargains for someone else.

Or should I just crack on, enjoy my bargains and focus on the fact I’m reducing food waste?

YANBU - leave the yellow stickers for those who need them

YABU - enjoy the bargains

I just bought bread in Aldi at 75% off. I've put it straight in the freezer, great for toast or making breadcrumbs for stuffings/meatloaf etc. It never occurred to me that I should leave it for someone who was in greater need

As long as you're not elbowing people out of the way and then piling your trolley high with stuff you won't use, I don't see a problem here...

I tend to pick up odd items but wouldn’t clear the shelves. I used to see a couple in M&S who would regularly have a trolley full of just YS goods. Once I was in Asda and they’d reduced five or six of those green stock boxes full of blueberries to 10p a pack and one lady sent her husband to get another trolley so they could have them all. Best of all one of my colleagues would regularly see the lady who came round our industrial estate with her sandwich van stocking up on YS ham

A few years ago they opened a Tesco metro. Whoever had done research had got demographic completely wrong - it was all posh wine and fancy ready meals (like to appeal to commuters in city) in a very deprived area with a large Muslim population. Fantastic bargains I used to go at reduced time, often saw my mil there too.

They are there to be bought up not to feed the poor. If that happens too then happy days but it's mainly to stop it going in the bin so crack on.

I really wouldn't overthink this. If I see yellow stickered items and I'll use them/like them then I buy them.

Otherwise if they're not bought then they're not bought.

If it was e.g. yellow stickered items which could be donated to the food bank then yes, I'd do that.

Not really, though. It is a moral issue - if you have the money, should you take the reduced items that someone who's flat out broke would want and couldn't pay the full price for?

The only time I care is when people are filling their baskets, wiping the whole shelf with clearly more than they (or even a standard large family) could eat leaving nothing for anyone else.

I have had this rant before and you always get people saying 'Its not selfish, I do that and take it to the food bank' but they dont listen to the logic that if they didnt selfishly buy ALL the cheaper option less people would need the bloody food bank.

All they do is create a monopolised middle man and the worst bit is the food bank likely cant get that food out before it goes off since it usually run by volunteers and yellow sticker food usually has less than 24 hours left so its actually wasted where as a family could have bought it themselves at a big discount.

But someone buying one or two items from the discount bit because they saw something they like for a bargain, Ive got no time or effort to be angry over that... its not like 25p profiteroles are a filling meal for a struggling family.

I don't overthink it. If it is there I will pick up the odd yellow stickered item to prevent food waste. I wouldn't rush to get them if others were waiting.

My most common yellow sticker purchase is fruit teacakes, our local supermarket always seems to have them going out of date and reduced.

No - of course not ! If you were using a food bank , on the other hand ........

You don't know why people may shop in waitress or which ever supermarket it may be.

I shop in Aldi but after work... I always through the city centre no Aldi is too far to go for just a few items so I would shop at tesco express or an M&S.

Buy the yellow stickers OP they are easily missed anyway!

You are being a bit barmy. frankly.

There's probably quite a lot of items, even in Lidl, that someone on a very tight budget wouldn't buy even at reduced rate, ie salmon, luxury fishcakes. Enjoy the bargains yourself and prevent food waste. If you're feeling conflicted, you could always buy the odd can or toiletry and put it in the food bank, that way both you and recipient benefit.

Another one saying that when I was so poor I could barely afford food (and I mean affording to eat once every 2 or 3 days) I never even looked at the yellow sticker food. Its all fresh stuff and I bought stuff like rice, with a sauce that'd last 2 or 3 portions, but if needed would last a few weeks if I happened to get lucky and one of my flatmates managed to get something edible from a friend or something. I simply couldn't afford to cook a whole chicken for example, because of the electricity cost and I had a tiny freezer so I wouldn't be able to even cut it up and freeze portions.

Same here, I rarely buy meat at full price as its what really pushes our food shop costs up. I meal plan and try and eat cheaper, vegetarian meals. But sometimes I get lucky and find some great whoopsies that I then make a meal with. I just got some lamb which was really reduced. Lamb is a luxury for us so it's nice to be able to have something a bit more exciting that chicken for Sunday lunch.

^if you are on a low budget then you have a meal plan and a shopping list.
No one is going pick up a reduced lettuce if they have no plans for it^

This isn't true. I regularly plan meals around what I have bought reduced. I won't buy what I won't use - but frequently I don't plan beforehand. I am on a very limited budget.

I do think it's wrong when there's say, 10 packs of Desirable Food Object and the person at the head of the scrum puts all 10 packs in their trolley. That seems unfair. If there's nobody waiting for reduced food, then I might take some but leave the rest behind.

You are WAAAY overthinking this! By your rationale, even people in poverty shouldnt get them because there might be someone out there even poorer than them. Its first come first served- thats the only fair way and as others have said- they'd likely be thrown out anyway and no use to anyone at all.

This is a complete non-issue. Or do you want applauding for leaving the bargains behind for the 'poor people'? Sorry but this just fake virtue signalling.

Well I'm glad it isn't just me with the Lidl Fruit & Veg boxes.

Yellow Sticker - I don't go crazy but if they have something I would have bought anyway, or something looks good that I can work into my plan then great.

When I first saw the Lidl Fruit & Veg boxes advertised I thought they sounded great and reached for the car keys, then I stopped myself..... It just didn't seem right when I'm fortunate not to need to scrimp and save at the moment. Nice to know it's not just me.

Just buy it and eat it without overthinking it. It's there to be bought.
I am on a very tight budget and most of the yellow sticker stuff is too expensive for me (even when reduced). I'm in another country so you might get more bargains in the UK. But most of it, and especially recently as people have turned to cheaper brands en masse, is the more expensive stuff to start with. Even with the reduction it can turn out to be more expensive than the cheaper brand.

I have had some good reduced meat recently and also a load of cauliflowers. No idea why they were all half price. They seemed very fresh still. Cut them up and shoved them in the freezer.

I'm on a foodie FB Group and the Lidl boxes have caused a lot of arguments recently.

On particular poster has posted on a few occasions show off her multiple bargain boxes and others have commented that purchasing several when others have greater need of them isn't on.

I'm somewhat inclined to agree tbh...grabbing a yellow stickered sourdough loaf on the cheap...Good on ya for getting a bargain. Grabbing all ten that are on the shelf and shoving them in your freezer...not so much (assuming you're not the old woman who lived in a shoe).

Enjoy that rack of organic lamb I saw in Waitrose today, discounted from £19 to approx £14....

Not sure people on minimum wage will miss that

I can only grab a Lidl veg box when I am with someone with a car.

It is a moral issue - if you have the money, should you take the reduced items that someone who's flat out broke would want and couldn't pay the full price for?

You have no control over who buys it if you don't. The person behind you might be richer than you, they might be poorer, you have no idea. Bargains are not means-tested.

As someone who very much is on the breadline, you’re fine. Buy the yellow sticker stuff.

Everyone understands it’s first-come-first-serve with that sort of thing.