The end of the year is a time for giving. For UK supermarkets, that meant cutting customers extreme deals as they did their shops for Christmas and New Year’s celebrations.
Discount chains such as Aldi and Lidl set the bar low on prices on fresh produce, coming in this year at 19p. As other retailers jumped on board, Aldi dropped its pricing to 9p. Not to be outdone, Iceland offered some frozen produce products at 1p.
But in the war of price cuts, the king was still Asda, which has for several years stealthily put out excess bags of veg – those that hadn’t already been purchased or donated – for free. Customers at stores across the UK again took to social media in late 2021 to report the best signs they had seen in a very tense time – 00p.
From Inverness to Southend, the welcome signs could be spotted in stores, that had messages such as “Please take some veg on us and have a Great Xmas from ASDA. No need to scan through the checkout” and “We love food but hate waste, so please help yourself.”
Those deals were on top of an already generous offer by Asda of 20p on numbers Christmas staple items such as broccoli, 1kg bags of Grower Selection Carrots and 500g bags of sprouts and parsnips.
“Our aim at this time of year is always to help our customers make Christmas extra special,” Shamma Mohammed, Category Planning Manager for Produce at Asda, said. “We know how much hard work goes into shopping for everything for the Christmas day feast, so this offer means customers needn’t worry about price – we’ve got it covered.”
