OAK CREEK, Wis. — Your grocery bill probably takes a big bite out of your budget. What if there was a way to lower your bill — by as much as 50%?
Finding a deep discount could be as easy as opening an app. And to use a food metaphor, there is icing on top of the cake. You can save money and help keep perfectly good groceries out of landfills.
Regina Renner typically shops at Meijer in Oak Creek. "I'm usually shopping for fresh produce," she explained. "I try to eat as healthy as I can."
Like most shoppers, Renner is always looking for ways to save. "I feel like I'm much more of a couponer now."
But what some people may not realize is that they have a tool in the palm of their hand — the Flashfood app.
"It's just another piece of technology enabling us to help customers better," said Steve Talbert, the store director in Oak Creek.
Since 2021, the Flashfood app has helped Meijer keep 10 million pounds of potential food waste out of landfills by allowing shoppers to find items that might be approaching the expiration date. "It can be as much as 50% off, it could be more," added Talbert.
Other stores might toss these items but Talbert's store sells them at a discount. And what doesn't sell, gets donated. "At the end of the day if something is still left we can freeze it, in most cases, and then we can get it to Feeding America," he said.
Shoppers can search by zip code to find discounted food, pay right in the app, and then pick it up at the Flashfood zone inside their local store.
The Flashfood app is free. Click here to learn more. If you're worried about food safety, experts say that "best if used by" doesn't mean spoiled.
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