Reduced Section Lottery

Eddie-B

I have just take up a new game on a Thursday. I am a poor student so all my meals are planned and budgeted so it can get a bit boring. Now though I have set aside Thursday as my lottery day.

On a Thursday i go to my local Tesco and i can only cook what i find in the reduced section. It was great fun last week so ive decided to make it a weekly thing.

I got chicken thighs, tomato soup,onions and cauliflower. This made me pan roasted chicken thighs in a reduced tomato soup and onion sauce on top of cooked and crushed cauliflower (which is my healthy version of mash ).

I have had better meals but thats not saying it was not tasty, It was so much fun and against the routine of norm that it will always at least make me smile if not fill me up.

olaola

We do something similar with the Aldi 'Super Six' and have a 'Frugal Friday' dinner party.

rubadub

Good game, though I expect some weeks you will want to break the rules!

Fresh chicken & fresh fish are probably the only 2 things I avoid in the reduced section. Even tescos chicken when well in date can be dodgy -in my tesco they do not seem to have the fridges turned down low enough.

If you time it right you can get cooked chickens half price at the deli counter, I get up to 3 at a time, I put them out the back to chill faster.

Corsendonk

Eddie-B wrote: »

I have just take up a new game on a Thursday. I am a poor student so all my meals are planned and budgeted so it can get a bit boring. Now though I have set aside Thursday as my lottery day.

On a Thursday i go to my local Tesco and i can only cook what i find in the reduced section. It was great fun last week so ive decided to make it a weekly thing.

I got chicken thighs, tomato soup,onions and cauliflower. This made me pan roasted chicken thighs in a reduced tomato soup and onion sauce on top of cooked and crushed cauliflower (which is my healthy version of mash ).

I have had better meals but thats not saying it was not tasty, It was so much fun and against the routine of norm that it will always at least make me smile if not fill me up.

Monday/Tuesday are good days to shop the reduction section in Tesco if your a lover of ready meals, meat and fresh cakes. If its a quiet weekend trade the 3/4 day shelf life stock is up then. Tesco normally do 3 price reductions in the day, so in theory the same product can get reduced 3 times in the day. But the best items get picked up early in the day with instore bakery the main items on sale in the evening in the reduction section. The stock control system sets the price based on predicted sales and amount of stock it thinks is up that day, smart managers can over ride that if they say have 2 cases of Lurpak butter that they know they can't sell so they might reduce it to something like 10c. So you can get some real bargains.

Usually items are reduced on the Display until date but "certain" stores are tighter with budgets and push it to the use by date. Bakery lines should be reduced the day before the best before but as above now most stores reduce it on its best before date. Produce gets reduced on its Display Until but Tesco roll alot of loose produce like apples well after its Display Until date. Some of the best pickers find an item on the shelf on its reduction date and pester the managers with it until it gets reduced. Its a skill.

rubadub

I live beside a 24hr one and late at night some stuff is marked down which they might have missed during the day, somethings for a few cent.

The ultimate time is christmas eve before closing. I remember them announcing all fresh meat was 90% off at the till but I had no room at home. Loads was already reduced. One year I did get a full fresh turkey for a couple of euro, you get grapes, sausage meat for stuffing and christmas cheese selections for next to nothing.

Corsendonk

rubadub wrote: »

I live beside a 24hr one and late at night some stuff is marked down which they might have missed during the day, somethings for a few cent.

The ultimate time is christmas eve before closing. I remember them announcing all fresh meat was 90% off at the till but I had no room at home. Loads was already reduced. One year I did get a full fresh turkey for a couple of euro, you get grapes, sausage meat for stuffing and christmas cheese selections for next to nothing.

Ahh the great days of the closing down for 2 days at Xmas, great bargains but you could get stuck without a turkey:D

A good supermarket on Xmas eve should be pretty sold down going into trade with sprouts, milk/cream and a few other fresh essentials in stock. Who in their right mind buys a turkey and ham on Xmas Eve without pre-ordering it? Xmas Eve afternoon is mainly booze sales.

Tesco stores aim for a 80/10/10 split on what they call waste. 80% or better of a dept waste should be reductions, 10% out of date(always something missed) and 10% damage(grazing, burst packs) so thats why late in the evening they sell some items for a few cents just to get the figure near 80% and improve the out of date %. Supermarkets do 60-70% of there yearly business at Xmas so the Waste stats can survive the large hit of the xmas evening reductions you mention.