There are times when there are very great deals on food and other products that can even be 90% off. There is one problem with those items though, most of these items expire within a few days of purchase. I do buy them when I know for sure I would put the item to use and for food products, I would eat them that same day. Would you still purchase such items if you were to eat or use them before it expires?
I too only buy such near expiry items when I am sure that they can be consumed or used before the date. When this fails after buying the product, I do giveaway early to others so that it doesn't get wasted.
Whenever we would travel abroad, we would avail of the privilege to shop in Duty Free which offers imported items on discounted prices. Usually, we would see a sale of chocolates at 50% discount. In the first instance, we grabbed a bundle and was so happy to have bought cheap chocolates only to find out that they will expire in a month. Fortunately, it was November and the chocolates were still good as a Christmas gift. So now we are careful to check the expiration date of the food items particularly chocolates and candies.
I never buy food items if they are about to expire within few days. As for edible products, I only buy from fresh lot which has a broad time range to expire. However, for other products which are for external uses I would buy something which is even within a short expiry and the deal is good.
I do buy food products that are about to expire because those are excellent deals. I was never fortunate enough to find one of those deals with 90% discount, but I've bought with 50% discount or more. Sliced bread for example is something I buy very often with deadlines close to expire, I save it in the fridge and from there to the toaster when I want to eat it. A yummy deal!
I think this happens mostly in eatables and other edible products. But I am quite skeptical on such deals because of a bitter experience in the past. I purchased a packet of dates as it offers an addition packet absolutely free. But when I opened it at home it was really not in a good condition as there were some type of dusts or small particles over it. It seems they are no more in good condition. Fortunately the I got it replaced by the seller the very next day. I approached them with open packets and showed them what was inside which might have even led to food poisoning. It was possible as I purchase it offline.
Yes, you are right there @luckycharm, but that is precisely why I never buy those items close to expire without actually looking at them. As I said above, I mostly buy bread close to expiry date and it's possible to see it as they are in transparent bags. Some of them have mold yes, so I don't get those!
This is one where I would just say that you have to be extra extra careful with what you buy and what you are putting into your body. I can just see the disasters now.
Disasters can happen anytime, anywhere @larryl332, at the same time we need to use our common sense to see if the products are good or not. Let's take another example, how many times I have expired yogurts at home, but I don't throw them away just because, I open them to see if they are good first.
I would buy close to expiring products only if they aren't anything having to do with dairy because those are usually the worst. Frozen/cold foods such as sausage or ham are pretty good if you eat them on the same day of your purchase. Most bread and cookies can also be eaten safely after expiration dates so eating them before is fine. Expiration dates don't always determine the state of the product. It's usually a safety precaution.
This is a prudent shopping idea and I usually take advantage of it when shopping. I would however be wary of purchasing food items close to the expiry date due to health reasons. household chemicals and toiletries are the best options to buy in such circumstances as well as construction materials like paints. These can be found in sales at the end of the year at drastically discounted prices.
That's something interesting you are mentioning there @remnant, I never considered chemicals and toiletries close to expiry date. Why do you say those would be safer? My first instinct is to think they might become unstable or lose properties if they approach the expiry date.
Since they are that close to their expiration date I may not be comfortable buying the items. In the event that I do I would have taken a very close examination at what I am buying. Check to see if I can manage to make do with it before the final expiration day.
I always buy my meat discounted, I am lucky enough to have a store that marks down there meat abut a week before the sale by date approaches. I usually just freeze the meat till I need it, and never had a problem, I by lots of different food close to the expiration date when they are on sale, the key is just knowing how to use them up or prolong their life.
There is no problem for that. My wife always buy those items at least she has saved money. The only question is when you have forgotten it that it would expire without knowing it. Then it would endanger your health. Anyway, those perishable goods like bread, veggies and other foods are being labeled as to their expiry date. At least we do when to consume them before they expire.
When I find food item which has heavy discounts but is close to expiry, I will consider buying it provided the discount is more than 50 percent. Once I have to food I will through a party. In this way I will save money on my home parties. However, the expiry date should be at least a week so that I have time to organize a party.
That's true, it all depends on the discount. If I am seeing a 50% discount I usually jump to it. To be honest I have never seen discounts superior to 50% due to expiry dates, but I've seen superior discounts when I have coupons or other promotions. Sometimes they almost pay us to bring the products!
I would. It's not going to be wasted and it's cheaper for me. Seems like a pretty good deal. It also makes sense that they would give discounts as it would become expired and become a full loss whereas having it cheaper gives people more incentive to buy it before they have to incur the loss full blast.
I tend to bargain shop on expired deals. It isn't always to eat it the same night though. A lot of food lasts a couple of days longer than the official sell-by date, and if it can be frozen then it can keep for ages. It is especially true for meat if it is going in a casserole or slow cooker. The best deal I got was a lot of washing powder being sold cheap because it had "expired" due to a packaging change. We had enough boxes stored for a couple of years.
Haha, those packaging changes are the best, I've bought a few of those, but they don't happen too often. Yogurts do have these promotions often, but I don't risk on them because I only know if they are good after opening them, and that's just too risky.
