MOST would avoid hitting up the supermarket on Christmas Eve due to excessive crowds and the fear of empty shelves.
But a thrifty few prove it’s the perfect time to shop for bargains with many bagging heavily discounted food including Christmas turkeys, pigs in blankets and a range of fruit and veg.
An Asda shopper was pretty chuffed to have spotted a £45 turkey for just £8 while on his late night grocery run, and shared his find on Facebook.
Meanwhile, another shopper had her “fruit salad” dinner sorted after a range of fruit, including berries, pineapple and watermelon, had been slashed to just 10P, while some veggies were completely FREE.
She wrote: “Fruit salad for dinner! All 10p each and dated the 26th. Also stocked up on carrots, brocoli, parsnips and Brussels for free at asda!”
But it’s not just Asda as other supermarkets including Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and Tesco also slashed the prices of leftover stock in order to clear it before the holiday.
One woman revealed how she made a saving of a whopping £142.17 and shared some snaps of her massive discounted food shop, which she said will tie her over the Christmas and New Year period.
The M&S shopper also picked up a 3kg turkey crown for a tiny £7.50, which should have cost a huge £50.
But that’s not all as she scored a selection of sides, snacks and desserts as well, which were marked at a pound or less.
Posting in the Yellow sticker family cooking Community Facebook group, she wrote: “Good haul in Marks and Spencers this afternoon should have been £178.06 I paid £35.89 saving £142.1.
“Christmas and new year sorted and helping my daughters out too. Turkey was £50.00 I paid £7.50 loads for everyone.”
Over at Waitrose, another bargain hunter got almost £120 worth of food for a tiny £19.17 with the usually expensive meats for as little as £1.30.
She really stocked up too with huge amounts of fish, chicken, beef and turkey heavily slashed in price.
Sharing snaps of her haul in the Cheap Supermarket Cooking – Bargain Meals and Deals! Facebook group, she revealed: “I am giddy with excitement! I decided against the M&S gauntlet due to the mess it was last year, so I went to Waitrose.
“I got half a leg of lamb (organic), 3 packs lamb mince, beef topside, 2 packs organic pigs in blankets, 2 packs wild Alaska pollock loins, stuffed sea bass fillets, sea bream fillets, 2 packs cod loins, scampi, lamb leg steaks, lamb loin chops, sliced turkey, sliced chicken, sausage rolls, tangerines, papaya and 2 packs chicken livers (those are for the dog).”
Adding: ” Original price: £119.47. I paid: £19.17.”
Likewise, at Tesco, a late night shopper was completely thrilled to have saved a huge £43.95 on her shop.
The supermarket had loads of turkey that had to go, as well as any fresh fruit, veg and other meats.
“Xmas Eve reduced shopping WORTH IT . RIGINAL PRICE WOULD OF BEEN £62.67 REDUCED PRICE WAS £18.72 SAVING £43.95,” she wrote in the Feed Your Family on a budget Facebook group.
And said: “There were loads of people and enough for all . Everyone queued and only 1 person at a time to chose what they wanted ( I wasn’t one of the early shoppers as arrived at 5pm but still got what I wanted ).
“Social distancing measures were followed across the all shop. When I left there were several crates of turkeys down from £25 to £6 left ….”
We also revealed how to master your first festive feast – from turkey and veggies to boozy gravy.
And this bloke made Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for 50p a head – his turkey crown cost £1 & the sprouts were 5p.