How to Get the Most out of Clearance Discounts

Ways to make the most of clearance in your local grocery store.

I am always amazed when I get to a store mid-day and there is still a bunch of markdowns that I know was put out the night or morning before. I see nothing but savings and great deals, so how in the world have so many people passed right by it and not thought the same thing? I just recently found over ten pounds of ground meat for a bit over a dollar a pound! That is unheard of, but it was there so I snagged it up with a quickness. Hamburger is versatile and I love having it in my freezer in all forms.

So, the big question to me is why was it still sitting there? I read the statistics that say many people are out of money and need more food in their house. Here it is, fifty to seventy percent off all the time, so why is it still in store or worse yet, why do I see the grocery employees throwing it away when they don’t sell it? What’s going on here?

The only thing I can come up with is that people don’t trust that the food is safe for their family. Maybe people think that the food doesn’t taste as good. I am not really sure what goes through someone’s mind when they turn down fifty percent off meat but let me help you get over it so that you can save a substantial amount of money on your groceries.

Go Early

We had to find the deals first, right?

Early morning or late night is when most markdowns are done in stores. You can go to your local store and ask, or just go in right before closing and then a little while after opening. Observe which time will give you the best chance for clearance and go then. In my area, the sweet time is about a half an hour after the store opens. It gives the store employees time to mark things down and early enough that there aren’t many people interested in it yet.

Go the day after a sale starts

Not only have I pegged down the best time of day to go clearance shopping, but I’ve also found the best day of the week to do it as well. The second day of the sale is the best day for a couple of reasons. First, there will be enough time for the employees to put out the signage for the week. If you go too early on the first day, signage will likely be a work in progress, and you can lose good deals that way. Secondly, there will be an abundance of certain sale items from the week prior that will likely be on markdown. If eggs were on sale the week before, many times they will have ten cartons the day after the sale for less than a dollar a dozen.

Inspect the clearance items

Some clearance items aren’t necessarily as dangerous as others, so you don’t have to inspect them as much. If a crunched-up box of cereal is half off, it’s pretty easy to see why. Non-perishable items are usually on clearance for only a few reasons. There is an overstock, customers don’t like it, it’s seasonal or holiday related, or it has reached its best by date. The only problem you will encounter with these foods is staleness or you might not like the flavor like everyone else.

Perishable items like meat and dairy are a different story altogether. You can get sick from these items if they have spoiled. So, these items must be inspected carefully. First, check the date on the package because that date will be a use by date, very different than a best by date. The date matters more because the food will be inedible very close to that date. While this might feel like a risk to buy potentially harmful food at a store, it’s really not that way at all. While I will say that I’ve never been sick from perishable food I bought on clearance, there are many factors why that it. The store isn’t going to sell bad food, simply because it doesn’t want to open itself up to a lawsuit. If you inspect the meat and it looks fine, it likely is fine.

The savings on these perishable foods are a lot higher usually than non-perishable clearance. This is because the store must get rid of it before that use by date or it gets thrown away and they lose the full purchase price.

What do you look for?

The obvious answer is that you look for mold or discoloration. There is also a smell that comes with bacteria, so a quick sniff test will assure you if the food is bad or not. Meat that has a high bacteria count that will likely get you sick, will produce a gas and the packaging will become tight. If the food doesn’t look right, smell right or appears to have anything wrong with it, don’t buy it. Better yet, hand it to an employee if there is one around.

Now what?

When you get your deals home, the best way to deal with it is simple, use it up. There is a date on there for a reason, so if it’s not for a meal that day, cook or freeze the rest of it. I basically break everything up for meal-size packages and I freeze it all when I get home. It will be used for many meals to come in the months ahead and it will stay as fresh as when I put it in there. Dehydration and canning are other ways to preserve the food long-term, so use whatever method is good for you. Freezing is the easiest method in my opinion, but always have something in mind before you buy it. You must take care of it immediately or it very well could go bad and then you are out the money. A deal isn’t a deal if you don’t use it.

How to use clearance items from freezer

Once I freeze the meat or cheese, whatever it is I want to use later, I pull it out of the freezer and use it up that day or the next. I can use it just like any other meat or dairy item I’d buy. With a little trial and error, I’ve learned what I can and can’t freeze. Some foods will have a texture change like dairy products, while most meats will not have any difference detected. A quick internet search will also tell you if something is freezable or not, as will most packages themselves.

Have I changed you mind or are you still going to pass that savings by?

Clearance shopping has saved my family’s budget during this trying inflationary time. I am happy to save on meat that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. How is your family working to keep costs down when it comes to your grocery bill? We are all looking for new ways.