Every so often I post on Facebook about how much I have saved with my most recent Approved Food order just give them a good old fashioned plug because credit where credit is due they have helped me save a small fortune on my grocery shopping over the past few years. Tonight someone asked if I had blogged about it and of course I haven’t so here you are….
What is Approved Food?
You may have heard of it and wondered what it is, had a quick look, got distracted then forgotten all about it (a few of you are nodding now). I did the same and it took a while for me to actually sit down with a brew and properly investigate. Approved Food offer short, out of date or case price grocery and household items. I’m talking about everything from toilet roll to cereal bars to potatoes and dried goods and beyond.
Out of Date Food?
I won’t rattle on about the difference between buy dates, use by date and what not however invite you to have a look at the LoveFoodHateWaste website. Brits throw away on average a staggering 7.2 million tonnes of food a year. That is pure madness! I personally hate waste myself, cooking what I need or saving the rest and many households nowadays can’t afford to throw perfectly edible food away.
A few cereal bars that are a month out will not kill you however if you are in any doubt each item has the Best By or Use By date included so that you may make your choice regarding what you are happy with.
Can You Save Much?
Hell yes! My best order as far as savings are concerned was one where I paid £52.70 for £136.49 worth of goods, a whopping £83.79 saving. This stocked up my cupboards and my pantry for ages, keeping me out of the expensive supermarket.
Hints and Tips
Approved Food is a fabulous site for money saving and being a little extra savvy with the way that you use it makes those savings even more fabulous.
- Search first for “case” or “case price”. Approved Food often have cases of goods such as 35 chunky chocolate bars for £2.99 (these were fab for Roy’s packed lunch box spread over the weeks), and other bulk items. I find these particularly useful during term times for lunches.
- Set up favourites. I have a thing for Maggi gravy and sauces, Roy likes Walker’s crisps. We have favourites set up so that if Approved Food get any of our favourite items in we immediately get an email. This enables us to stock up at low prices.
- Watch out for the Approved Food Lucky Box. Every so often you can add one lucky box to your order for a pound. Each and every time I do this I easily get £5 worth of food items if not more. You don’t know what you will get but that is half of the fun!
- Share delivery. It costs £5.25 delivery up to a certain weight which I don’t find horrendous considering the savings you made however I do sometimes share an order with a family member or friend and we split the postage. Orders come by courier and are amazingly well packaged yet not wasteful (I hate wasteful packaging!).
- Recommend Your Friends. If you try AF and like it recommend it to your friends and family by sending them an email via your account. If they join via your link and order you will get a £5 credit to put towards an order. You can invite as many people as you like and they in turn may invite their contacts and save money. Obviously if anyone wants me to send them an email they are welcome to get in touch 🙂
Customer Service
If there is one thing I can’t abide it is poor customer service. Over the years I have contacted Approved Food for odd things such as a delivery that the courier damaged beyond recognition so wouldn’t deliver (I had a fresh order in my kitchen the very next day) and any other queries I’ve had have been answered quickly, efficiently and in a friendly manner. 10/10 for customer service which is not something I give often.
So… what do you think? I am 100% confident in Approved Food, their service and of course the savings I can and have made, so much so that I introduced my Mum to it who is a fan like myself. For those on a budget or who hate waste Approved Food really are a top choice.
