When do supermarkets reduce food? The yellow-sticker guide

Those yellow “reduced to clear” stickers can knock 50–90% off perfectly good food that’s near its date. There’s no national timetable — every store manager decides — but there are reliable patterns. Here’s roughly when to look, how the markdowns work, and how to turn a well-timed shop into a freezer full of dinners for a fraction of the price.

How do yellow-sticker reductions work?

Stores mark down food approaching its use-by or best-before date in waves through the day — small cuts first, then deeper ones as the deadline nears, to sell it before it’s binned.

It’s not random. A product might drop 30% mid-afternoon, then 50–75% early evening, then to almost nothing in the final hour before close. Fresh, short-dated categories move most: meat, fish, bakery, deli, chilled ready meals and reduced-date fruit and veg. Anything you can eat that day or freeze immediately is fair game.

What time should I go?

There’s no fixed national time — but early evening on the day before a shop closes early (often Sundays) is the classic window, plus the last hour before closing.

The single best thing you can do: ask a staff member on the fresh/meat counter what time they usually do their reductions — they’ll almost always tell you, and it’s specific to that store. As a rough guide, many stores do a morning pass on short-dated bakery and a bigger evening pass on chilled and meat. Sundays are strong because a lot of stock is dated for a Monday the store may not fully open for.

Do Aldi and Lidl do it too?

Yes — Aldi’s red-sticker markdowns and Lidl’s reductions work the same way, often first thing in the morning rather than the evening.

Aldi and Lidl typically apply their markdowns earlier in the day (some stores first thing when they open), which catches a lot of shoppers out who only look in the evening. Tesco, Dunnes and SuperValu lean more to afternoon/evening passes. Again — the reliable move is to ask in your specific store, because it comes down to the manager.

How do I make the most of it?

Buy what you’ll eat that day or can freeze on the spot, focus on high-value proteins, and check the price-per-unit, not just the sticker.

The trick is the freezer: a €2 pack of chicken reduced from €6 is only a saving if it doesn’t get wasted, so freeze it the moment you’re home. Prioritise the expensive stuff — meat and fish give the biggest euro savings. And glance at the price per kg: occasionally a “reduced” item still isn’t cheaper than the everyday own-brand. Pair this with a sense of what your shop should cost and it’s one of the fastest ways to cut a bill.

General information, not financial advice. We take no money from any supermarket. Prices and offers vary by store, week and region — always check in store.