Wish we had one of these near us but I bet it's a bit like certain shops that snooty people turn their noses up at (e.g. Cash Converters, Poundland, etc.). We are moderately well-off but I keep my food budget low by purposely getting food in the evening when reductions are in - let's face it, if it says BBE 23-Dec, it doesn't go off at the stroke of midnight, you normally have at least 2-3 days left in it if stored well. It's almost 'fun' letting what you're eating over the next couple of days be determined by what you can find, saves stuff from being thrown away and mixes things up a little!

Is it full of sprouts? I bet it's all sprouts.

Spital hill. Best get my bullet proof vest out.

Inb4 Benefits,scroungers,get a job...
heat from me
try and not 'spend the earth' this Christmas folks

Haven't researched it or looked into it, but sounds a brilliant idea on the face of it.

Inb4 Benefits,scroungers,get a job...
heat from me
try and not 'spend the earth' this Christmas folks

Spital hill. Best get my bullet proof vest out.

Fantastic project also available in Leeds - it's mind boggling to see what perfect food the supermarkets would have landfilled if it wasn't for this project. Let's hope that public pressure/opinion about supermarket practices will force them to rethink how they treat dumping such a precious resource as food, in the future.

Thanks, anyone been before?

Leeds one is in Pudsey, just off ring road, not a great choice of goods, but considering you can take whatever you want and just put a few quid in the charity bucket on your way out....its a fantastic idea and worth a look if you live nearby.

What a great idea. Hope it works for all concerned.

Is it full of sprouts? I bet it's all sprouts.

Why not just give it away? Or does that just 'lack innovation' :smirk:
You're going to get 2 sorts of people buying stuff here - the ones who are too poor to but feel pressurised (without anyone even saying anything to them) into paying more than they can actually afford for the stuff, and the stingy b'stards who expect to just pay 1p for everything. And neither benefits the actual aim of this.

Wish we had one of these near us but I bet it's a bit like certain shops that snooty people turn their noses up at (e.g. Cash Converters, Poundland, etc.). We are moderately well-off but I keep my food budget low by purposely getting food in the evening when reductions are in - let's face it, if it says BBE 23-Dec, it doesn't go off at the stroke of midnight, you normally have at least 2-3 days left in it if stored well. It's almost 'fun' letting what you're eating over the next couple of days be determined by what you can find, saves stuff from being thrown away and mixes things up a little!

Millions of tonnes of surplus food from the main food retailers is already being given to projects like: the Trussell Trust (for personal and family foodbanks) and Fareshare UK franchises (for Social groups schools, social community enterprises even elderly care charity supplies), it’s just not been advertised well at all.

Almost all except for the supermarket beginning with “M” have been giving there surplus food for at least the last 3 years. Although its great to see new enterprises its odd that people don’t know just how much the big chains are already doing to reduce surplus goods problems.

Just looked on the map to see where this shop is, it's not in the best area, I as a woman wouldn't go there on my own and I think a lot of Sheffield residents will feel the same.

brilliant, I've been to the cafe and also donated so this is fab thanks

​are you in a cave?

Same as the company shop apart from this is pay what you want and no membership needed

Brilliant idea. A big part of the problem is best before dates and some people not using common sense and their senses of smell and sight to make sure something is good to eat.

Spital Hill, not the best area, someone was murdered there only last week, I work quite close to there, I don't even use that Tesco other than for fuel.

Yes, Morrisons. I've often seen their instore bakery throw loaves of bread into the shredder (plastic and all) - rather than reduce it or give it to charity. Was quite disgusted the first time I saw them doing it.

What!? That annoys me. I mean they could at least take the plastic off and put it in the food recycler for compost.

I go to the one in Leeds. This is a fantastic way of helping the community and run by volunteers. You do have to drop lucky with what's there and I have often come away with nothing. A good time to go is during school holidays, as they work with schools and they don't need help during holidays. Have also seen the greedy people filling baskets and trollies and walking out without donating a penny which really annoys me

My car was broken into on that road.

Find it interesting how many people write comments without thinking about the implications of what they are suggesting are.

Some people seem to think

1. That people who are buying things from the reduced counter but could afford to pay full price should leave the reduced things for other people less fortunate than themselves.
2. That supermarkets primary reason for reducing products is to be nice to customers.
3. That supermarkets give to charity because they are inherently good and nice.

Personally, I consider myself to be slightly more of a realist, who thinks supermarkets are slightly more driven by economics and politics than generosity.

But there are always lots of foreign folk there. So it's clearly unsafe. :man:

This made me laugh, have you ever seen the big Tesco Extra when reduced food is going out? Always a queue, always a commotion, people fight for the deals

have one in Wigan called fur clempt, and do dinners in the cafe. just surplus stock close to sell by or odd shaped great place and not just for people on benefits it's for anyone and pay as you feel

Plus Company Shop have some sort of "work for welfare" related scheme, poor folk can work there for free (or be forced to by the social) in order to gain access to the discounts. They can dress it up how they want with buzz words like "community" and "opportunity", but anyone with half a brain can figure out how abhorrent it is.

​really? I am always picking up reduced pies, bread, chicken from our local morrisons.

I always check the reduced section in Tescos but it's getting really naff.

There seems to be more stuff but the reductions are laughable and on the last two occasions the items I looked at were actually more than the original price!!
Secondly most of the clearance stuff seems to be the overpriced stuff anyway, like the finest range "was 4.99, now 4.79" or you could but the normal version for £1 :laughing:

What happened to the good old days of things being reduced to 10p just to clear them! :stuck_out_tongue:

Cold. I want to pay as LITTLE as I want.

:smirk:

​no I have a parrot

Get off your high horse nothing wrong with people being prudent / wise / clever with their hard earned money. There should be more emphasis on people not getting into debt in the first place.

Wanted to say this myself but didn't want to feed the self-righteous troll - too many people just out for a fight on HUKD!

It's a bit obvious why really.

1. Supermarkets won't give it away directly in their store or near to their store.
2. It would require volunteers and a place to give it away from, at some point in the process money is required.

A similar model is used in 6p per minute cafes, there will always be people who take advantage of the system.

its a right toilet down their!!! you will probably come back to your car on bricks after your shop!!

Don't get it

You mean through stagnating wages, hard workers requiring benefits to survive, escalating living costs, soaring rents? People are being driven into debt by this government and their complicit voters. You can emphasise that if you like - there's going to be years more of this to come.

I don't consider it wise or clever to deprive those in need. Many of those who shop from the discount aisle not out of choice but because they have a family to feed. Along come the well-to-do who will take the remaining scraps from their plate. Emphasising that is getting on a high horse? This attitude of division that is brewing is part of the problem. There used to be such a thing called civic duty. It's important for the fabric of society. In a capitalist country supermarkets aren't going to ration, it is incumbent on folk having and exercising morals.

If you thing I'm being preachy maybe you haven't experienced the scale of suffering in the 6th richest nation on earth. I have and despite being in poverty myself I've given food to families who through no fault of their own are in constant distress, struggling to buy basics like bread or potatoes. We live in hateful times where consumerism trumps being a good patriot who helps their fellow citizens.

Personally I always try to buy the sticker reduced food nearing its end date at the supermarkets; thus doing my bit to cut down on food wastage or at least that's what I pretend to myself.... :stuck_out_tongue:

Because you asked with an element of respect unlike the other poster, I'll answer. Moderately well off means not on the poverty line, everything I've done came from hard graft including setting up on my own, from money I saved up. I went to school on a scholarship surrounded by people who did grow up with silver spoons in their mouths and fat inheritances. You have identified a problem with how and why you think me and others who buy reduced food that we should leave it for others less fortunate but no-one has actually found a solution to this - how are you policing it? Did you question if I didn't buy reduced if I could afford to eat full price? Surely then the Good Samaritan (you?) should come along, buy it reduced and donate it? Shouldn't the supermarkets bypass the issue entirely and donate it all then so it can't get into the hands of what some people seem to deem as the 'greedy'? If I don't buy it then how do you know it won't just go to landfill anyway? I didn't think there was anything to criticise in this deal but a couple of people have made this about politics and their resentment about others they don't even know.

Surely this is actually about how good the pay what you want supermarket is and you can bet if we had one here, I would use it without feeling guilty and would donate generously to what I think is a good cause.

lots of homeless people around who can benefit from food from here. most people buying from here will be rich reptilians

No it doesn't, and well you know it.


It wouldn't need policing if folk had a moral compass.

I don't know if things have changed, but when I used to work in M&S in the mid 80's, food that went out of date that day was first offered for sale very cheaply to the staff after closing. (Lived on 1p packets of Skips for most of one week!) Then a local care home used to come and have their choice of what was left. What they didn't take was collected by a local farmer for feed for his pigs - so nothing thrown away at all. Dare say it's different now though...

I went to a pay as much as you want Cafe in shoreditch and paid £2 for a Nescaffee coffee only because i felt guilty

i think you might be right the people how really need it will feel like benefits scroungers thanks to our media with its benefits porn and public opinion supposedly agreeing with it
i do think if you pull up in a bmw or a merc maybe you shouldnt be there lol
can the homeless use these places?

Kept telling myself not to feed the troll but couldn't help myself. You don't know me or anyone else here. You have made massive assumptions based on your own narrow-mindedness. I won't change my way of thinking or my 'moral compass' because of some small minded individual who is bitter at everyone else who has achieved more in their life than them. My family grafted to get where it is, I don't have a six-figure income if that's what you worry about but I am comfortable, I got to these stores in the evenings because I get out of my self-started business at 7-8pm most days having worked 12 hours and that's when I do my shop, my missus was homeless for a while when she grew up and knows this all too well. You can reply or do what you want, but I would suggest rather than arguing about it on a deals site maybe you could give up all your worldly possessions and campaign for change if that's what you want and truly believe in. Don't worry, because we won't miss the lukewarm alcohol deals you post from Booths every so often.

It's not the foreign folk that make people think it's unsafe, it's the crime!

Sorry op. Bad case of fat fingers. Meant to vote hot but hit cold instead.

Most of the people here have either a) never worked in a supermarket or b) have no understanding of the food waste chain within supermarkets. Due to the nature of my job, I'm luckily privy to the inner workings of certain processes.

You'll probably find that these items are from the likes of ASDA, Tesco and Ocado. Aldi and Sainsbury's both have zero food waste to landfill projects that are extremely successful. I've looked into some of the things they've done and this is my understanding of it:

Aldi will mark down goods to help them sell, by up to 80% of the RRP and if they don't they're donated to local charity partners, anything else is sent to a plant to be turned into compostable material or animal feed.

Sainsbury's has Store-elected local charities and food banks who collect the food at the end of each day and utilise it to help those in need in their local area. Anything that can't be donated is turned into animal feed which in turn supports British farming and farmers (which they already help with their farming schemes which are world renowned apparently). Anything else gets sent to a Biffa plant to be turned into biomethane gas, that then powers a store somewhere in England.

As you can see Asda, Tesco, Ocado are all about maximising sales even on reduced goods, the other two are about helping their local community first and foremost.

And, who gives two poops if someone who is 'well off' takes advantage of this? I am by definition 'well off' as I've worked hard in life but that doesn't make me any more proud than the next guy willing to buy a pork pie that goes out of date in 20 minutes.

You all need to either get off your high horse or stop being so bitter someone else works harder than you because all I'm seeing is Guy A with a job fighting with Guy B without a job over their 'right' to use this service.

I have formerly worked in a supermarket and my dad currently does part-time but I appreciate the time you took to write that post as I didn't know it in such detail. He and I only have experience of the 'big T'.

He (my dad) often tells me about how much they have to throw out, in particular bread and certain sandwiches because they are strictly SOR and must not be marked down at all. He also tells me how he tries to encourage less well off customers to buy reduced and even keeps some stuff back for them, but they genuinely believe it will make them sick when it goes past BBE and instead prefer to pay full price for longer dated stock. For now, I'm just glad that there are initiatives to reduce wastage and improve awareness because waste is part of why I choose to buy these products and why our business model is partly based around recycling rather than buying brand new.

I have a pal who is a food scientist - she told me that by law the stores Have to add 20% extra leeway on use by dates but some supermarkets have policies of higher additional time ( m&s, waitrose etc) she is appalled by the fear that is created over 'bad' food, telling us all to use our noses and common sense and stop wasting stuff - food poverty is such a crime - this project's primary aim is to stop food going to waste, hence no income testing but the one in Leeds often has charities such as st George's crypt donating TO them as they can not use all their donations. So pleased people are hearing about this project :smiley:

Nothing wrong with yellow label stuff. But in my local store people fight over the reduced stuff and no way i am getting involved in that.

This is my understanding of how the Real Junk Food Project works -
Food that would otherwise be thrown away is donated, either to the RJFP supermarkets or to the RJFP restaurants.
For example, it was in my local newspaper yesterday saying that a whole field full of cauliflowers was donated because they were 'slightly too dark a shade of white' for the supermarket.
Now, cauliflowers on their own would not make a totally nutritious meal (WARNING - Vegetarians and Vegans need not lecture me about this, I and most people are omnivores), so if the Real Junk Food Project can generate cash by selling food to those who can afford to pay some or all of the value of their shopping basket or meal, then they can provide free food to those in need, maybe supplementing other ingredients and paying the utility bills.
SO - if you can afford to pay some or all, then you are helping the totally impoverished. I believe that the moderately well off are helping themselves AND OTHERS by using these stores and restaurants.
It is shameful for food in such a rich nation to be thrown away when people are starving or in debt.
Lets not stigmatise or stop people from supporting the Real Junk Food Project by all these negative comments.

This to my mind is not a good idea as I feel it is better if it is given to the charity organisations for food banks and cafes etc. in properly run places where drop outs and homeless can take advantage of this food donated by food retail outlets. Some of you may have seen the 5 programs on this charity run operation on BBC One last week and it is not easy for them as they still have to comply with health and safety which can cost a lot even for a charity.
I don't think it is fair for anyone who can afford to live a hardship free life style should be allowed to take advantage of this under the shield of L" well I am making a donation to charity ", if that is their argument there are lots of boxes they can put money into all over the country.

No not Marks and Sparks other wise I could have written their initials, lol. They've (M&S) been amazing facilitating redistribution of many items, even their finest sandwiches with Cray fish in them to some of the organisations I help out.
Even the two German shops (L and A) have been giving their surplus to be redistributed to good causes.

Nobody has to justify their income in order to buy what they want anywhere else in the supermarket so don't feel like you have to when it comes to buying reduced stuff either. If you want it and it's there buy it, that is your choice as a customer. My sole aim when I go shopping is to buy food for my family. I don't know if I leave that pie that's reduced to 50p that someone who really needs it is going to get it.
Before you brand me heartless my chosen route to help and assist those less fortunate is charity donations and fundraising, that is when I have my 'moral duty' cap on and my money goes where I choose it too, which for the most part is school breakfast clubs as that way I know it definitely is helping where I want it to.

I think it is a shame for any food to go in a landfill when people are hungry, through whatever their circumstances are. Nobody can predict where their life is going to take them and in my opinion, being successful is not about making money and living a comfortable life, it's about finding peace and happiness, but also using the inbuilt moral compass and contributing to those around you who need help. It's a long way down if you fall and I imagine we would all want non judgemental help if we were ever unfortunate enough to need it. I have recently discovered a couple of companies who sell BBE food at very reduced rates and I buy in bulk and donate it to homeless charities such as Crisis. I am happy as I can get more for my money and others are happy to eat. I have no idea why they are hungry or homeless and I don't feel I have the right to judge. I have slept on the streets through no fault of my own and wish I had been given help. This feed has turned into a very emotive one, everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but ultimately I believe that, especially at this time of year where spreading peace and goodwill is meant to be at the forefront of people's minds, that moral compasses should be more prevalent and not just a desire for bargains just for ourselves.

I know of one coffee shop where they would give food away but were told to stop due to liability reasons (i.e. if they got ill).

Wouldn't surprise me if this and various costs (transport, man power, etc.) were a big reason for just dumping food.

​I've seen stuff reduced in all stores including morrisons except for one and that's Aldi I even asked them if I could buy the stuff for reduced prices but they refused and just scanned and threw everything in a massive bin that's worse maybe they will do the same as the others and either reduce it or give it away to a group like this.