IF you’re not doing a ‘new year new you’ and still want to munch away on Christmas chocolate, then you’ve come to the right place.
Particularly if you love chocolate and have already eaten all of your festive treats, but are eager to nab yourself a bargain, you’ll need to check this out.
Foodies are racing to get to their nearest Sainsbury’s store, desperate to get their hands on big bags of Quality Street and Celebrations that have been slashed.
But if you want to nab the leftover Christmas treats, you’ll need to move fast, as they’re sure to sell out super quick.
One lucky shopper was thrilled when she spotted that the large bags of chocolates had been reduced.
Overjoyed with her finds, Kelly Pickard-Smith took to social media to show off her buys, leaving many open-mouthed.
Posting on Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK, a private Facebook group with 2.6 million members, Kelly shared snaps of her haul and penned: “Sainsbury’s Paignton, £1.35 each.”
But rather than demolish the 300g pouches of chocolate now, Kelly then confirmed: “Put away for Easter baskets”.
Another shopper, Eithyl Jones, also spotted the cheap bags of chocolates in her local Sainsbury’s.
Whilst Kelly nabbed hers in a store in the east of the UK, Eithyl found hers in Stoke.
The bargain hunter, who clearly has a sweet tooth, stocked up on 14 bags of Quality Street pouches, costing her just £18.90 in total.
Although the chocolate pouches had been slashed to £1.35, they were originally priced at £4.50, saving shoppers £3.15 per bag.
Thanks to the epic reductions, Eithyl was able to save £44.10 on her whopping haul – yes, you heard that correctly.
Thrilled with her finds, alongside her post, she penned: “Today Quality [Street] chocolates at £1.35 in Sainsbury’s. Stoke area.”
We all love a bit of chocolate from now and then, but you don't have to break the bank buying your favourite bar.
Consumer reporter Sam Walker reveals how to cut costs…
Go own brand – if you’re not too fussed about flavour and just want to supplant your chocolate cravings, you’ll save by going for the supermarket’s own brand bars.
Shop around – if you’ve spotted your favourite variety at the supermarket, make sure you check if it’s cheaper elsewhere.
Websites like Trolley.co.uk let you compare prices on products across all the major chains to see if you’re getting the best deal.
Look out for yellow stickers – supermarket staff put yellow, and sometimes orange and red, stickers on to products to show they’ve been reduced.
They usually do this if the product is coming to the end of its best-before date or the packaging is slightly damaged.
Buy bigger bars – most of the time, but not always, chocolate is cheaper per 100g the larger the bar.
So if you’ve got the appetite, and you were going to buy a hefty amount of chocolate anyway, you might as well go bigger.
Eithyl later confirmed that much to popular belief, the sell-by date on the Quality Street bags is in fact August 2025 – so you won’t have to worry about them going out of date any time soon.
Foodies were eager to stock up on the cheap chocolates, which many flocked to the comments to express.
Consumer reporter Sam Walker reveals how you can save hundreds of pounds a year:
Odd boxes – plenty of retailers offer slightly misshapen fruit and veg or surplus food at a discounted price.
Lidl sells five kilos of fruit and veg for just £1.50 through its Waste Not scheme while Aldi shoppers can get Too Good to Go bags which contain £10 worth of all kinds of products for £3.30.
Sainsbury’s also sells £2 “Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me” fruit and veg boxes to help shoppers reduced food waste and save cash.
Food waste apps – food waste apps work by helping shops, cafes, restaurants and other businesses shift stock that is due to go out of date and passing it on to members of the public.
Some of the most notable ones include Too Good to Go and Olio.
Too Good to Go’s app is free to sign up to and is used by millions of people across the UK, letting users buy food at a discount.
Olio works similarly, except users can collect both food and other household items for free from neighbours and businesses.
Yellow sticker bargains – yellow sticker bargains, sometimes orange and red in certain supermarkets, are a great way of getting food on the cheap.
But what time to head out to get the best deals varies depending on the retailer. You can see the best times for each supermarket here.
Super cheap bargains – sign up to bargain hunter Facebook groups like Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK where shoppers regularly post hauls they’ve found on the cheap, including food finds.
“Downshift” – you will almost always save money going for a supermarket’s own-brand economy lines rather than premium brands.
The move to lower-tier ranges, also known as “downshifting” and hailed by consumer expert Martin Lewis, could save you hundreds of pounds a year on your food shop.
One person said: “Get out there and grab.”
Another added: “Bargain.”
And a third shared: “Lot’s of Quality Street at Sainsbury’s, Hadleigh Road, Ipswich.”
Meanwhile, at the same time, one user claimed: “I must be the only one that can’t look at another sweet or chocolate till next month at least lol.”
Whilst someone else agreed: “I’m taking my leftovers to work to get rid of, let alone buying more.”
