Ever notice those discount stickers on fresh food at the grocery store? Look closely, and you’ll see that they’re for food near the sell-by date. If you opt for these items, you could get 25% - 70% off without having to worry about clipping grocery coupons.
“Stores will generally mark down prices for products as they approach their ‘Best If Used By’ or ‘Use By’ date to entice customers to purchase those goods and ensure that their inventory is rotated out,” says Andy Harig, vice president of tax, trade, sustainability, and policy development at the Food Industry Association (FMI). “It also helps companies mitigate food waste."
Whether you’re intrigued by the discount factor or the reducing-food-waste factor (or both), taking advantage of food markdowns near the sell-by date requires some strategy. We looked into which stores discount food near the expiration date and how shoppers can best hunt for these discounts.
First things first: Is buying almost-expired food safe?
In short: Yes, it is.
“One of the most common misconceptions is that date labels are always a measure of safety,” Harig says.
In reality, the variety of dates you see on food ("Best If Used By," for example) applies more to quality than to safety, Harig says. It’s the date through which the food will have the best texture, flavor, and smell, and can still be safe to eat after that.
However, on a smaller set of products (dairy, meats, shrimp salad), a “Use By” date can be an indicator of food safety, according to Harig, and the FMI suggests eating the food by that date.
That said, date labels are far from standardized, and manufacturers don’t abide by hard and fast scientific rules when it comes to labeling food, Harig says. So consumers should use common sense and their senses regardless of the date on the package.
“Does the color look different from what it should look like? Does the product have an odd texture? Does it smell different than it should?” Harig suggests asking yourself.
Want living proof? We reached out to personal finance and frugality content creator, Leigh (who posts her food shopping savings tips as FinanciallyFreeLeigh on Instagram and TikTok). One of her saving hacks? Eating food nearing or even past the best-by date.
"I probably eat expired food every single day," she says.
She has yet to encounter any problems.
"We tend to cause ourselves anxiety over things we haven’t tried before, because it is unfamiliar," Leigh told us. "Lately I’ve been telling myself, 'If other people can do this, so can you.' I am proof that you can eat expired food frequently and be fine."
KCL TIP: The FoodKeeper app (developed by the USDA, FMI, and Cornell University) can tell you how long food lasts if stored properly.
Which stores offer sell-by-date discounts?
We reached out to major grocery retailers’ media departments, chatted up store employees, and surveyed the shelves to verify stores’ policies on offering discounts near sell-by dates.
Walmart
What gets discounted? Meat, produce, bakery, grab-and-go items, and Marketside-brand pizzas and flatbreads.
Timing: After visiting a few locations, we learned that, in general, fresh items get marked down the day before the best-by date. However, employees sometimes don’t get to all the items until the day of.
How much of a discount? We found about 20 items discounted at Walmart on or near their best-by dates, with an average discount of 30% off (some discounts were as high as 40% off). According to store employees, the exact discount you get depends on the department and how many of the same item need to be marked down.
Other tips: At some stores, you’ll see a shelf in the bakery with all the items discounted near their sell-by date.
KCL TIP: Combine sell-by-date discounts with other coupons at Walmart.
Target
What gets discounted? Meat. The only sell-by-date discounts we saw were on meat, and employees told us that meat is the only item they’ve seen this type of discount on.
Timing: The meat we found was typically discounted two days before the use-by or freeze-by date. But we found a few packs of chicken discounted a few days earlier.
How much of a discount? Up to 70% off. This was one of our most impressive finds.
Other tips: Go straight to the meat cooler in the frozen food section and look for yellow stickers.
Whole Foods
What gets discounted? Produce and deli grab-and-go items.
Timing: Typically, the day before the sell-by date, in the morning.
How much of a discount? Always 50% off.
Other tips: The stickers are yellow, if you’re scanning the shelves. Short on time? Whole Foods is now part of the Too Good to Go program, which lets you sign up for a surprise bag of discounted food near its sell-by date
Sprouts
What gets discounted? Grab-and-go items, deli items, meat, and produce.
Timing: Typically, the day before the sell-by date, in the morning. But the timing varies by item and department, and sometimes items get marked down earlier.
How much of a discount? We spotted 35% - 40% off
Other tips: The stickers are usually yellow. However, we saw that some of the red Manager’s Special stickers got applied to items on their sell-by date.
H-E-B
What gets discounted? Lots of items get discounted at this regional grocer, from produce to meat, to heat-and-serve meals to fruit cups.
Timing: Typically, the day before the sell-by date.
How much of a discount? Find a wide range of discounts. Some items were hit with a 25% off or 50% off sticker, while others had varying discounts applied.
Other tips: The stickers are yellow. Some have additional instructions for applying the discount at self-checkout, and we got hit with an error when we tried. So consider taking these through a staffed checkout lane.
Kroger
What gets discounted? Meat. We found discounts on chicken, ground beef, sausages and more.
How much of a discount? Discounts vary. We found 35% off chicken breasts and chicken gizzards and pork sausage priced at two for $5 (a 34% discount).
Timing: We found stickers placed on items between one and five days before the sell-by dates.
Other tips: Kroger makes it easy to find discounts on meat near the sell-by date. Look for the yellow "Reduced: Let our surplus be our savings" signage.
Tom Thumb
What gets discounted? Bakery items, produce, and meat.
How much of a discount: Varies by item.
Timing: On the sell-by date or the day before.
Other tips: Store employees told us to look for the discount rack near the double doors leading to the back of the store. Generally, items on that shelf are kept there until 3 p.m. on the sell-by date.
Winn-Dixie
What gets discounted? We spotted discount tags in the bakery, produce, and meat departments.
How much of a discount: Varies by item. Most of the discounted items we saw were 35% off, but we did find cake doughnuts for 43% off and sliced apples for 57% off.
Timing: At stores we called, employees told us items get marked down the day of or the day before the sell-by date.
Other tips: Look for the yellow and red Quick Sale tags.
Publix
Instead of discounting items near the sell-by date, Publix donates them locally to those in need.
Trader Joe’s
According to Trader Joe’s media department, food doesn't get discounted near the use-by date. “We instead donate 100% of products that go unsold but remain fit to be enjoyed,” said a Trader Joe’s spokesperson.
Grocery Outlet
If you live near this salvage grocery store chain (which has more than 100 independently operated locations in the western U.S.), you can shop at stores that specialize in excess stock from name brands (much of which is nearing the best-by date). According to Grocery Outlet's site, shoppers can expect 60% off compared to mainstream stores.
"It tends to be easier to get deals on almost expired food by shopping at different grocery outlet stores," Leigh says. "I love Grocery Outlet bargain market for this."
How to make the most of sell-by-date discounts
Given all the different store policies, finding sell-by-date discounts can be a bit of a treasure hunt. Use these strategies to maximize your savings and minimize time spent.
Concentrate your efforts on fresh food.
You may not always have time to walk every aisle looking for discounted food near its sell-by date. So focus on food with a shorter shelf life (think meat, produce, and grab-and-go deli items). This is the food that's most likely to have a discount sticker because stores don’t want to get stuck with it.
“Remember, anything that comes into the back of a store and doesn’t go out the front as a consumer purchase, we have to figure out how to dispose of,“ Harig says. “And there are costs associated with that.”
Be flexible and and creative with meal prep.
If you’re the type to shop with a written-in-stone meal-prep plan, consider being a bit more flexible. Let the discounts tell you what your family is eating for dinner that night. Or freeze what you find on sale for the next week.
"I recently bought some grass fed bone broth, Colovita balsamic glaze, and Masienda Masa Harina that is close to sell by date," Leigh says. "I can freeze the bone broth and keep everything else at room temperature and it will last well past expiration."
Chat up store employees.
At Whole Foods and at Walmart, we had employees walk us straight to the best discounts when we asked. Also, we learned from a Walmart employee that if we noticed a fresh product that had reached its sell-by date and had not been marked down, we could ask for a sticker.
Know your local store.
Being a regular at the same store location will help you become more efficient over time in finding sell-by-date discounts. Leigh, for example, says she knows to check for reduced produce near the deli at her local Harris Teeter. She also checks weekly ads, knowing that Harris Teeter and Lidl offer special sale items on the weekends.
Take stock of what you have at home before you shop.
We know that there's a (sometimes thin) line between stockpiling food when things are on sale and hoarding. So don't get so excited by sell-by-date discounts that you waste food you already have that's perfectly good to eat.
"People try to focus on saving money at the grocery store, but don’t focus on saving money when you’re in the house," Leigh says. "Every time you throw food in the trash, I want you to picture yourself throwing cash in the trash. You can eat food when it’s expired. AND you can freeze way more food than you realize, before it expires, to keep it fresh"
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