Food prices are soaring and most shoppers are looking for ways to keep their costs down.
Of course there are food banks available to help the most vulnerable people, however not everyone qualifies for those.
But there's one place that prides itself of helping what it describes as 'the squeezed middle' - those people who don't receive any financial help or support, but are finding it increasingly difficult to put food on the table.
The little-known Rogers Wholesale Foods is hidden away on an industrial estate in Bredbury, Stockport, and is open to the public.
It specialises in food and drink that's either short dated or past its best before date and, because it buys stock in bulk, it's able to 'pass on huge savings' to customers.
After hearing about shoppers snapping up 50p tins of Heinz beans at the warehouse, I decided to give it a visit to see what other bargains are in store.
Like all places it's not allowed to sell products that are past their 'use by' dates as that would be deemed unsafe, but 'best before' simply means the quality may not be as good as it once was.
I was impressed to find that much of the stuff here was either still in date or had only just gone over the 'best before' - the majority of my haul included.
It's not somewhere you can come for a weekly shop, but you can make some huge savings on some big brands, or pick up treats like chocolate that you might be avoiding in supermarkets because of the price hikes.
They had boxes and boxes of Cadbury Caramilk buttons for instance, costing £6 for a case of 10 105g bags - working out at 60p a bag and less than half the price of Tesco, which has them for £1.35. They're in date too, well until Monday at least, but they'll be good for a while after that - if we can be tempted not to eat them all that is.
Other chocolate was a bit far dated for me, Cadbury white chocolate bars dated April 2022 and Caramilk bars dated last July, and while I'm sure they're perfectly safe to eat, it's a little less appealing.
Of course it's the prices that pull people in and with the huge increases we've been seeing amid the cost of living crisis, it's hardly surprising that households are turning to places like this.
I didn't find any of the Heinz soups, apparently they get snapped up, but there were lots of other Heinz products, including huge cases of sauces such as Classic Barbecue, costing £6 for 10 410g bottles. In Tesco, just one slightly bigger 480g bottle will set you back £3.35.
And there's loads of other well-known brands to choose from too, including Napolina tinned tomatoes, Dolmio lasagne sauces, huge packs of crisps from Smiths and Walkers, and Diet Coke in lime or strawberry - costing £5 for a dozen 500ml bottles, equating to 42p each.
I spotted some Tesco products on my way round - some of its budget Stockwell soups in a mug and some Tesco Finest crisps.
A big perk for parents with little kids is surely the Ella's Kitchen stock, which was dirt cheap compared with what you pay elsewhere.
A case of six pork roast dinner pouches was just £1 and in date until May. Four of the beef stews was also £1, as was a case of five whole boxes of The Orange One fruit and veg bars with five in each box and dated until April. That works out at just 20p a box.
There was other Ella's stuff too, as well as toddler snacks from Organix and some baby food from Heinz.
Obviously it's only a saving if you stick to what you'd usually buy in the supermarket and, because it's big packs of products, you're likely to take home more than you typically would.
But with the way things are at the moment, it's probably one of few places you can actually splash out on some treats without feeling guilty about it - or needing to remortgage to do so.
It's about half an hour from me so I won't be calling in each week, but I will be having a regular nosy on the Facebook page where they keep customers updated with stock, and I doubt it'll be long before I'm heading back on the M60 to bag some more bargains.
Here's my full shopping list and best before dates
- Ella's Kitchen The Orange One, 5 x 5-pack of 25g £1, BB 4/4/23
- Ella's Kitchen roast pork and apple, 6 pouches £1, BB 30/5/23
- Ella's Kitchen, beef stew, four-pack £1, BB 30/3/23
- Napolina Cherry Tomatoes, 6 x 400g £2, BB 31/12/22
- Heinz Barbecue Sauce, 10 x 410g £6, BB 1/3/23
- Heinz Fiery Tomato Sauce, 10 x 220ml £4, BB 31/1/23
- Harvest Snap Thai Sweet Chilli 24 x 22g £4, BB 3/4/23
- Burts crisps, 20 x 40g £6, BB 17/5/23
- Alpen Cocoa and Peanut, 10 x four-pack £5, BB 29/4/23
- Cadbury Puds, 3 x 5-pack £3, BB 31/3/23
- Cadbury Caramilk Buttons, 10 x 105g £6, BB 27/3/23
- Cadbury Dairy Milk Snow Balls bars, 4 x 110g £3, BB 31/3/23
- McVitie's Salted Caramel Club, 4 x 7-pack £2, BB 11/2/23
- Diet Coke lime, 12 x 500ml £5, BB 31/3/23
- Highland Spring cans, 12 x 330ml £3.50, BB 28/2/23
Total - £52.50
Rogers is open daily, from 9am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, and from 10am to 4pm on Sunday.
Have you found somewhere similar selling discounted products? Let us know in the comments.
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