Coles worker shocks serial bargain hunter with unbelievable $1 offer: 'Blown away'
The Australian shopper said luck had a lot to do with it, but revealed some of her tricks to reduce her supermarket bill.
As Australian grocery prices continue to soar, a Coles shopper has revealed her supermarket markdown hacks after snagging hot roast chickens for 90 per cent off. Sassy Walkinshaw, from Melbourne, managed to score eight $11 Coles hot roast chickens for the outstanding marked-down price of just $1 each.
The serial bargain hunter has landed deals as low as 45 cents before. But told Yahoo Finance the find while shopping with her sister at the Keilor store was her best budget purchase to date.
“I walked into Coles around 9:30pm and it would have closed at 10pm. A Coles staff member approached and asked if I would like some discounted chicken. I said, 'yes, please'. They led me to the roast chicken section where there were about 30 odd chickens all discounted from $11 to $1,” she said.
“We were blown away. We ended up buying eight roast chickens for $8. It was pretty amazing. That's never happened to me ever before.”
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How to get better deals at supermarkets?
Walkinshaw puts her huge savings down to the luck of being in the right place at the right time, but this isn't the first time she's taken home a decent budget haul.
"You have to learn how to spot bargains when you don't have a lot of money. Whatever looks OK and it's discounted I will buy it," she said.
"You need to use your intuition. Sometimes just a few more minutes of looking for a good deal provides good dividends."
Constantly scanning supermarket shelves wherever she goes, searching for bargains Walkinshaw said her most trusted method is perfectly timing when to head into Coles or Woolworths — at night, just before closing time.
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"I do mostly shop late at night when things are marked down to clear so they don't have to throw them away and waste them," she said.
"My sister and I often shop together so if we find markdowns we share them."
Some of her most recent savings which are stocked in her freezer include $1.50 packets of prepped vegetables, $5.20 turkey rissoles, $4.50 sausages, a 45 cent Spanish-style Chicken and Rice pre-made salad, $1.25 chicken drumsticks and a $3 Coles Chocolate Iced Cake which usually retails for $16.
"I freeze some markdowns if I know I haven't got time to cook. Some I take as meals to work so I don't have to cook if I don't have time or energy," she says of what she does with all of her bargain buys.
Another way she suggested saving money was to look at the store’s markdown shelf.
She said almost every supermarket has one “hidden” in the back corner which is often full of discounted items.
'Never seen them that cheap'
It's not just Walkinshaw looking for bargains and when she shared her results, Aussies were just as shocked.
“I have not seen chickens go this cheap in about 10 years WHAT A SCORE!!… hope you cleaned them out!” one person said
“And I thought I scored when I got two for $5 each. Well done!” another said.
“Never ever seen them at that price," added a third .
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