New Life Community Larder in Sleaford helps to feed more than 700 people

“Cloth_Ears:
The thing is I could take you to these people that would backup all I have said.
I'll give two more, when Colne Asda were rebuilding the store you could make offers for anything, among all the other bargains was a full carrier bag of garlic for 5p (I took most of it to relatives italian restaurant).
When Morrisons first opened in Nelson and it was local holiday fortnight they were reducing so much stuff I filled a large trolley with meat products and things marked down to silly prices like £2.49 down to 19p buy one get one free, when I got to cash out the girl laughed it had charged 19p for each one and computer knocked off the full £2.49 for each 2 bought, at the end I had to go get a couple of blocks of cheese to make a positive value to pay on till otherwise they would have had to pay me to take it away, it took them a time to alter the way the computer made the errors.
I once went into Kwik Save with 6 x 50p vouchers for the 2 pack Chicago deep pan pizza which were £1.49 but till was programmed at 49p so I had pick up a packet of spearmint gum as till would have been negative, the manageress did not like it and removed the stock until till re programmed to £1.49. Beware though as these tills often overcharge for things you have to check your till slip. I only wish I still lived near the supermarkets like we did.”

“"his wife could not believe what I had done"
"the old ladies could not believe it"
"The manager laughed as he could not believe it."

Needless to say neither can i....
Singing carols with the elderly for discounted turkeys, inciting a mad dash where people were crawling over their own mothers for a cheap turkey crown, trying to haggle over the price of a newspaper, as it will only be thrown away at the end of trade, being the proud owner of the countys largest domestic freezer,not to mention turning down an employment oportunity from a multi-millionaire relative, (presumably Scrooge McDuck).

All these tales seem a bit fanciful to me, however, you have inspired me into giving it a go.....”

“Cloth_Ears:
It was about 12 years ago that I got the turkey crowns between Chistmas and New Year, there were 4 shelves of them with 3 days left to sell, I agreed £3 or £4 each but as I said people saw us filling our trolley and there was a mad rush of people grabbing them, so I did them a good turn also. We took them to my mates house I cut out all breast fillets and bagged them for freezer, I took half and my mate took half I had 2 freezers then but 4 now, my mate had room in fridge freezer. Being redundant they enjoyed turkey breast in turkey sauce for ages. I broke up bomes cooked them in pressure cooker until got meat off them all then added stock cubes and frozen mixed veg, it made a great chunky soup, his wife could not believe what I had done. A multi millionaire relative who I did IT work for said I get more bang for my buck than anyone he had known, wanted me to work for him as buyer for his 13 offices but that could have spoilt a good friendship.”

“"I said lets see what we can get all them turkey crowns for, I had a word with the store manager and promised to empty the shelves at £4 each, he accepted and shoppers appeared from everywhere, we did just manage to fill our trolley"

Just out of curiosity what did you do with a trolley load of turkey crowns, once you had navigated a clear path through the crowds of people flocking to the turkey crown section of course, you must have a large empty freezer or been very hungry!!!

On another point are all the deals you strike for poultry or are these just the most recent success stories?”

“Cloth_Ears:
Well that was a laugh. Any reductions are done in each department with the operative or manager in that department, if you knew how to do it you would be suprised how keen they are to do a deal when they have loads of stuff to get rid of. If people running these food box outlets were to go to a supermarket and approach the manager in the right manner I am sure they could get stuff free at the end of business day. I have seen it done in Lancashire to feed the homeless, at the end of trading what reduced stuff had failed to sell was given to then just for collecting it, I am not saying every supermarket will do the same but you will never know untill you approach them. But don't expect them to deliver to them in refrigerated vans, that is costing them for van, fuel and wages.”

“Ah yes I can just imagine one of your transactions now.....

After queuing up at the Morrisons checkout this morning, IT_MAN said to the
cashier, "Can you do this any cheaper?"

"I'm afraid not," she replied, "If we did it for you then we'd have to do it
for everybody."

IT_MAN said, "Yeah, but it's got today's date on it. If nobody buys it
then it's just going to get thrown away."

The cashier replied "Look sir, you're holding up the queue. Do you want the newspaper or not?!"”

“Cloth_Ears: The 2 old ladies were looking at the turkeys saying they were to expensive so my suggestion was a laugh to them, it saved 3 of us £14 each on a turkey.
As for having a laugh with staff reducing items they encourage it as they get rid of the reduced goods quicker so don't have wheel a trolley round the cash outs to try to get people to buy the reduced stuff, may be we have very nice staff in our Morrisons unlike any Tesco.
Some years back at Pudsey, Leeds Asda I had a mate with me that had been made redundant, I said lets see what we can get all them turkey crowns for, I had a word with the store manager and promised to empty the shelves at £4 each, he accepted and shoppers appeared from everywhere, we did just manage to fill our trolley. The manager laughed as he could not believe it. I am allways prepared to haggle as they can only say yes or no. Don't knock it until you have tried it, you might even be good at it.”

“"I got 2 old ladies with me and sang a carol to manager then offered him £5"

"the old ladies could not believe it"

I'm struggling to believe it myself.... Rounding up two old dears and forcing them to sing christmas carols so you can save a couple of quid on a turkey.....Disgraceful!

"I ofted bargain with the girls in fun when reducing and they save put it in your trolley and pop back in 15 minutes and I will reduce them lower when I get the code in scanner"

JESUS!!! what a nightmare you must be, i'd imagine theses poor girls would say anything to get rid of you so they can get back to work!!!!”

“I find they often reduce them by a small amount which still makes them expensive, it's a case of being lucky at Morrisons as all the reduced items in cooler used to get reduced to 19p but not at any fixed time, butchers counter don't reduce meat by much, warm pies and chicken counter reduce quite a bit lower near closing time same with bread and cakes. Lidl only ever reduce their items by 30%, my last 2 evening visits to local Co-op have got stuff reduced to about quarter of price and this week got 2 cooked chickens at 99p each. Used to live near an Asda in Lancashire which was great for bargains. It depends who is reducing things as each person is limited to the amount of discount they can give, manager code can give biggest discounts. Some of the people that turned their nose up at reduced items are grabbing them now. I still think charging retailer a tax on items thrown in skips would end up with them giving bits left for free at end of day, I ofted bargain with the girls in fun when reducing and they save put it in your trolley and pop back in 15 minutes and I will reduce them lower when I get the code in scanner. Tesco are the worst for reductions.
I remember in an Asda just before closing at Christmas there were 3 fresh turkeys £19 each they were trying to sell, I got 2 old ladies with me and sang a carol to manager then offered him £5, it hurt him but we got one each, the old ladies could not believe it. No one can harm you for making an offer, have done it a lot in the past but now I am alone I can't eat as much.”

“If any of you have been to the large supermarket in North Hykeham and visited the reduced item shelves then you will have identified that the price of a near end of sell by date item as been reduced by then you will also recognise they are not too keen to sell you these items by the slight decrease in price.I also agree supermarkets should be taxed on waste it would discourage them from over stocking items and reduce waste .Items with crushed boxes or containers would be an easy item to distribute to shelters and charity's and i cant see a problem with frozen or chilled food distribution because most stores now have chilled vehicles that transport goods for home delivery.Surely these big profit making supermarkets could spare a little of their profits to help the needy.”