Secret supermarket codes revealed including Tesco Clubcard trick – how many do YOU know?
THE cost of a weekly shop keeps rising – but secret codes could be the key to helping you save money, speed up your shop and make your food last longer.
Britain’s Coupon King Jordon Cox reveals how to crack supermarket codes and find hidden savings on shelves.
Fruit and veg ‘best before’ dates
Have you noticed that supermarkets have stopped putting ‘best before’ dates on some fruit and veg?
This allows you to decide whether food’s gone bad – and prevent unnecessary waste.
But if you really did want to know when things should be used by – there’s a secret code that you can decipher, that’s usually just for the staff.
On the packaging near the batch code, you’ll find a letter followed by two numbers.
The letters will be between A-L, and will correspond with the month of the year. A = January, B = February and so on, up to L being December.
The two numbers you find beside it will give you the date. This will be from 01 up to 31.
So as an example, if you saw the code E20… you’ll know the use by date is May 20th.
If you want to buy produce that will last a little while longer, you can use this hack to buy the ones with the longest date on them.
Lower case ‘e’
If you ever look at the weight of an item and find a large lower case ‘e’ next to the weights, then there’s a reason for it.
This tells you the estimated weight for the product and that it won’t weigh less than this amount.
For example, if you picked up a bag of basmati rice for 250g and it has this symbol it could be a few grams more.
It might not make much of a difference – but every little helps when you’re trying to save money.
Tesco Clubcard trick
If you shop in Tesco, then you know it’s essential to have a Clubcard to unlock cheaper prices.
If your favourite item is on offer it’s tempting to stock up – but this could lead to you overspending.
However, there is a code on the shelf that helps you decide whether you need to or not.
It’s a six digit number on the left hand side of the ticket which staff use to indicate when a deal will end – but it’s in reverse.
For example, 250422 – shows that the deal will end on 22 April 2025. The first two digits are the year, the middle two are the month and the last two are the day.
If you see the deal is about to expire – this is your queue to stock up.
How to save money on your food shop
Consumer reporter Sam Walker reveals how you can save hundreds of pounds a year:
Odd boxes – plenty of retailers offer slightly misshapen fruit and veg or surplus food at a discounted price.
Lidl sells five kilos of fruit and veg for just £1.50 through its Waste Not scheme while Aldi shoppers can get Too Good to Go bags which contain £10 worth of all kinds of products for £3.30.
Sainsbury’s also sells £2 “Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me” fruit and veg boxes to help shoppers reduced food waste and save cash.
Food waste apps – food waste apps work by helping shops, cafes, restaurants and other businesses shift stock that is due to go out of date and passing it on to members of the public.
Some of the most notable ones include Too Good to Go and Olio.
Too Good to Go’s app is free to sign up to and is used by millions of people across the UK, letting users buy food at a discount.
Olio works similarly, except users can collect both food and other household items for free from neighbours and businesses.
Yellow sticker bargains – yellow sticker bargains, sometimes orange and red in certain supermarkets, are a great way of getting food on the cheap.
But what time to head out to get the best deals varies depending on the retailer. You can see the best times for each supermarket here.
Super cheap bargains – sign up to bargain hunter Facebook groups like Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK where shoppers regularly post hauls they’ve found on the cheap, including food finds.
“Downshift” – you will almost always save money going for a supermarket’s own-brand economy lines rather than premium brands.
The move to lower-tier ranges, also known as “downshifting” and hailed by consumer expert Martin Lewis, could save you hundreds of pounds a year on your food shop.
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