7 foods you should never buy if you see them in the reduced aisle

Everyone loves a bargain. For the savvy shopper, there aren’t many things more satisfying than spotting a perfectly tasty piece of produce that’s had its price recently slashed by an anxious supermarket. If you’re looking for an easy way to beat the system, this is definitely it.

Given the ludicrous amount of food we all waste every year, looking for a sale is usually a great way to shop. Unfortunately, despite your determination to eat anything and everything on offer, there are some foods that are best avoided if you spot them in the reduced section. It might be frustrating, but if you want to avoid an ill-timed stomach complaint, something should just be left alone. Here are seven foods you should never buy if you see them on sale.

1. Pre-cut fruit and veg

Never mind the fact that pre cut produce is already something of a sham, packages that have been reduced are best avoided. Cutting fruit and veg naturally speeds up the rate at which it is likely to go bad, so unless you’re planning on eating the food that day, it is unlikely to keep for very long. Stick to whole fruits and veg instead.

2. Avocados

The balancing act between perfectly ripe and horribly squishy avocados is easily one of the biggest issues in the life of any trendy millennial. This usually causes several minutes of prodding and groping any time they come into contact with an avo, and can make soft reduced fruits feel all the more tempting. Again, however, unless you are planning to use the fruit that day, the speed with which it will spoil will usually not make the saving worth it.

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3. Cheap meat

Finding cheaply priced factory farmed meat can feel like a godsend to protein starved penny pinchers. But, when it comes to meat, you’re always better off betting on quality. Not only will this make a big difference when it comes to cooking, but it’s perfectly possible to use the same system to find loads of reduced premium products – don’t waste time on the cheaper alternative!

4. Natural nut butter

Freshly ground nut butters have become a popular alternative as people have suddenly discovered that they’re intolerant of all sorts of things we’ve been eating for millennia. However, as fashionable as all-natural nut butter may be, your better off shelling out rather than bargain hunting. The lack of preservatives present means that it will often go rancid long before other alternatives, so reduced items may not be as good a deal as they seem.

5. Seafood

There’s no getting away from the fact that quality seafood is all about freshness. Whilst cooking with reduced fish is unlikely to kill you, if you want to make the most out of your salmon or sea bass, you’re better off buying as fresh as possible.

6. Bread

As a store cupboard staple, we all get through a lot of bread, which can make the prospect of a deal even more tempting. Here again, however, you can’t put a price on freshness. Any reduced bread is likely to be well on the way to going stale, and may well begin to grow mould before you’ve managed to finish eating it.

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7. “Preservative Free” foods

All natural eating is becoming ever more popular as people think more and more about what they put into their bodies. Unfortunately, however virtuous it may make us feel, there is a price to pay. Preservative free foods, as the name implies, do not last anywhere near as long as their chemically altered counterparts, so are more likely to turn before you’ve finished with them.

If you’re a fan of same day shopping and eating, reduced labels are a great way to go. But, if you like to get your shopping done ahead of time, you may need to pay a little more attention to what you’re looking to save on. Discounts can only be so satisfying if all your food turns out to be rotten.