Kiwis eating old food to save money

Short-dated food and groceries past their best-before date are a way of saving money for a growing number of households.

With food prices growing at a rate not seen in 14 years, shoppers are looking for ways to keep costs down, fuelling an opportunity for end-of-the-line grocery items.

Stats NZ said food inflation sat at an annual rate of 10.1% in October, the highest rate since 2008.

Grocery prices rose 9.7% in October, while fruit and vegetable prices rose 17%.

Shawn Thomas, founder of Christchurch-based food outlet store BargainMe, said consumers were increasingly looking for ‘‘alternative shopping’’ and turning to short-dated groceries in droves to keep the rising cost of food down.

‘‘We’ve definitely seen an increase in people walking in through the door, and the way people are thinking in terms of their buying strategy.

‘‘People tell me they are going to go into a Mad Butcher, into a Frozen Direct, into my store, then stop by a veggie shop, and that’s how their route for shopping is going to go. This is what I hear from customers on a daily basis when they are in store; they are not shopping in the big supermarkets, they want to go and see where they can save – even if it is $10 or $20 per department of their shopping trolley.’’

BargainMe specialises in shortdated groceries and items past their best-before dates, selling everything from UHT milk to frozen foods, pet food, chocolate, biscuits and other dried snacks.

Some of the goods it sells are three months after their bestbefore date, while other items are close to the use-by date or feature damaged packaging.

Thomas said business was ‘‘booming’’ and demand began to take off at the end of August. He said consumers appeared to now be more willing to eat old food.

Thomas said BargainMe was different to other end-of-the-line outlet food stores because it repacked the majority of its goods after receiving them in bulk from the likes of Griffin’s and Tip Top, allowing for extra savings.

‘‘Something like UHT Sanitarium milk, it gives around four to six weeks after the best-before date to be used, and because the price is so good compared to the supermarkets, people are willing to give it a go.

‘‘It is $4 or $5 in the supermarkets for a 1 litre UHT milk and we’re selling it for $1, so for the consumer that has a really big impact and once they give it a go and see there is no issue with it that’s how we’re getting return customers. They come back and do a bigger shop.’’