Approved Food: The UK Online Shop Where Bargain Hunting Helps Reduce Food Waste
Everyone loves a bargain.
Finding your favourite snacks, cupboard essentials or household products for less can provide that small but surprisingly satisfying feeling of victory. And when those bargains can also help prevent perfectly usable products from going to waste, shopping starts to feel a little more worthwhile.
That’s the basic idea behind Approved Food, a rather different UK online shopping destination specialising in clearance, surplus and short-dated food and household products.
Instead of offering exactly the same predictable weekly shop you’d find at a traditional supermarket, Approved Food is more like an online treasure hunt. The stock changes regularly, discounts can be substantial and you never quite know what bargain you’ll discover next.
So, what’s the story behind Approved Food, what can you buy there, and is this unusual UK online shop worth exploring?
Let’s take a look.
👉 Visit Approved Food and see today’s latest bargains
What Is Approved Food?
Approved Food is a British online discount retailer specialising in surplus and short-dated food and drink, including products that may be approaching or have passed their best-before date.
That last part might initially make you raise an eyebrow.
However, there’s an important difference between a best-before date and a use-by date, which we’ll explain shortly.
By purchasing surplus and short-dated stock, Approved Food can sell products at discounted prices while also helping to prevent usable food from being unnecessarily wasted.
It’s an interesting combination: save money and reduce waste.
For anyone searching for cheap groceries online in the UK, clearance food, discount household products or simply an alternative form of UK online shopping, it’s a concept worth knowing about.
The Story Behind Approved Food
Approved Food isn’t a new arrival attempting to jump aboard the online grocery bandwagon.
Its history goes back considerably further.
The business was founded by Dan Cluderay and his wife Nicola, who started out as market traders before moving into wholesale and operating retail outlets supplying both the public and trade.
The business became Approved Food in the spring of 2009, retaining some of the bargain-hunting spirit of its earlier market-stall days in Hull and Doncaster.
It has grown substantially since then.
Approved Food says it has shipped more than one million orders, and the business has received plenty of media attention over the years. Founder Dan Cluderay and Approved Food have appeared in programmes and features including Dragons’ Den, Loose Women and Bargain Fever Britain.
Today, the company operates from Barnsley and sells thousands of products through its online store.
Not bad for a business with roots in traditional market stalls.
How Does Approved Food Work?
Here’s where things get interesting.
Approved Food specialises in purchasing products that traditional retailers or manufacturers may no longer want to sell through their usual channels.
That can include surplus stock, clearance products and food approaching or beyond its best-before date.
Because Approved Food can purchase quantities of these products at reduced prices, it can then offer discounted prices to customers.
There’s a catch — although it’s arguably part of the fun.
Stock is constantly changing.
If you see something you really fancy, there’s no guarantee it’ll still be there next month. Or next week. Potentially even tomorrow.
It gives the website more of a bargain-market atmosphere than a conventional supermarket experience.
Best Before vs Use By: What’s the Difference?
This is probably the most important thing to understand before shopping with Approved Food.
What Does “Best Before” Mean?
A best-before date relates primarily to the quality of food.
After this date, a product may gradually lose some of its original flavour, texture or other quality characteristics.
That doesn’t automatically mean the food suddenly becomes unsafe the moment the clock strikes midnight on its best-before date.
Approved Food specialises in products that may be close to or past this date.
What About “Use By” Dates?
A use-by date is different because it relates to food safety and is commonly found on highly perishable foods.
Approved Food states that it does not sell food past its use-by date.
That’s an important distinction and one that shoppers should understand before deciding whether this style of discount food shopping is for them.
It’s also sensible to check the advertised best-before information on individual products before adding them to your basket.
What Can You Buy from Approved Food?
The name might suggest a website containing little more than tins of beans and packets of biscuits, but the range is considerably broader than that.
Approved Food advertises thousands of products across numerous departments, with stock changing frequently depending on the deals and surplus products available.
Groceries and Cupboard Essentials
Unsurprisingly, groceries are a major part of the website.
Depending on current availability, shoppers can find everything from everyday cupboard fillers to branded food products, snacks and cooking ingredients.
This is potentially where Approved Food becomes particularly useful.
If you’re stocking a cupboard with foods that naturally have longer shelf lives, being able to pick up products at clearance prices can make plenty of sense.
Drinks
There’s also a sizeable drinks department.
Again, exactly what you’ll find will vary because of the nature of the business. That’s really the golden rule when browsing Approved Food: today’s bargain isn’t necessarily tomorrow’s bargain.
For regular customers, that constantly changing selection is arguably part of the appeal.
Household Products
You don’t have to eat everything you buy.
Thankfully.
Approved Food also sells household products, which can make it possible to combine groceries with practical everyday essentials in the same order.
That makes browsing particularly interesting if you’re trying to reduce the cost of products you regularly use around the home.
Beauty and Health
The selection stretches beyond the kitchen cupboard too.
Approved Food has categories covering beauty and health products, adding another dimension to the store and making it considerably more varied than the name might suggest.
Baby, Dietary and Pet Products
Other departments include baby products, dietary products and pet supplies, although availability will naturally vary.
If you have children, dietary requirements or a pet that appears to consider eating a full-time occupation, these sections could be worth checking whenever you visit.
Bulk Buys and Case Price Deals
Bargain hunters should also keep an eye on Approved Food’s case-price and multibuy offers.
Buying larger quantities isn’t appropriate for every product or household, of course. But if it’s something you regularly consume and can sensibly store, bulk buying can be another way to make your money go further.
Just make sure you actually like whatever you’re ordering before committing yourself to 24 of them.
What Is Shopping at Approved Food Like?
We need an important disclaimer here.
This isn’t a hands-on Approved Food review. We haven’t personally placed an order, unpacked one of its boxes or taste-tested our way through an enormous pile of discounted biscuits.
Tempting though that research methodology sounds.
What we can do is assess the concept, website, range, company information and publicly displayed customer feedback.
The Biggest Attraction: The Bargain-Hunting Experience
One thing immediately stands out about Approved Food: it isn’t really designed to replace a supermarket in the conventional sense.
You probably won’t arrive with a rigid shopping list containing 30 precise items and find every single one waiting for you.
Instead, it makes more sense to approach the website thinking:
“What useful bargains can I find today?”
That’s a very different style of online grocery shopping in the UK, and potentially a much more entertaining one.
New stock and deals arrive regularly, so browsing itself becomes part of the experience.
There Are Some Serious Discounts to Hunt For
Approved Food organises parts of its website specifically around savings, including sections for biggest savings and money deals.
There are even categories dedicated to products costing £2 or less, £1 or less and 50p or less, alongside other special deals when available.
That’s the sort of browsing that can turn “I’ll just have a quick look” into a surprisingly full shopping basket.
What Do Approved Food Customers Say?
There is also plenty of customer feedback associated with the retailer.
At the time of our research, Approved Food was displaying an “Excellent” customer rating of 4.63 out of 5 based on 9,884 reviews on its website.
That’s certainly encouraging, although reviews should always be considered alongside your own requirements and expectations.
As with any retailer, individual experiences can vary.
Approved Food and the Fight Against Food Waste
Saving money is probably what initially attracts most people to Approved Food, but there’s another interesting aspect to the company’s business model: food waste reduction.
Perfectly usable products can become difficult for conventional retailers to sell for numerous reasons.
Perhaps they’re approaching their best-before date. Maybe packaging has changed. Perhaps there’s surplus inventory that simply needs to be moved.
Whatever the reason, throwing usable products away isn’t exactly an ideal outcome.
By finding another route to consumers, surplus-food retailers can potentially keep more products in use rather than allowing them to become waste.
And if shoppers get a bargain in the process?
Even better.
Could Approved Food Save You Money?
Potentially, yes — but it pays to shop sensibly.
Approved Food says its regular customers typically save around £60 on their monthly shop compared with high-street prices, although your personal savings will obviously depend on what you buy and the prices available at the time.
The best approach is the same one we’d recommend with any discount retailer.
Don’t buy something just because it’s cheap.
A £1 bargain that sits untouched at the back of your cupboard for three years hasn’t really saved you £2. It’s cost you £1.
Instead, look for discounted versions of products you’ll genuinely eat or use.
That’s where clearance shopping becomes genuinely useful.
Things to Know Before Ordering from Approved Food
There are a few practical points worth knowing before filling your virtual trolley.
There’s a Minimum Order
Approved Food currently states that grocery orders have a £22.50 minimum order value after discounts.
That means this isn’t necessarily the place to order one discounted packet of biscuits whenever the mood strikes.
It’s better suited to a larger bargain-hunting session.
Don’t Forget Delivery Costs
Delivery is another factor to include when deciding whether you’ve found a genuine bargain.
Approved Food currently lists standard delivery to England, Wales and Scotland from £3.99 for the first box of up to 25kg, although costs depend on location and there are different rates for some areas.
The company also advertises reduced or free standard delivery at certain spending thresholds, so check the current delivery information before ordering.
Check Best-Before Dates
Approved Food displays best-before information for relevant products.
Check it.
The whole point of the business is that some stock may be short-dated or beyond its best-before date, so it’s worth understanding exactly what you’re buying rather than treating the website like a conventional supermarket.
Who Might Enjoy Shopping at Approved Food?
Approved Food could be particularly appealing if you:
- Love hunting for online bargains
- Want to reduce your grocery spending
- Regularly buy snacks and cupboard essentials
- Understand the difference between best-before and use-by dates
- Want to help reduce unnecessary food waste
- Like buying household essentials at clearance prices
- Have space to store bulk or multibuy purchases
- Enjoy discovering unusual products and changing deals
- Want an alternative UK online shop to traditional supermarkets
It could also appeal to anyone who simply enjoys the unpredictability of clearance shopping.
You might visit looking for coffee and leave with pasta, shampoo, dog treats, cereal and enough biscuits to survive a minor national emergency.
That’s half the fun.
Approved Food: Our Verdict From Browsing the Store
Without personally ordering from Approved Food, we can’t give you a traditional product or delivery review.
But we can say that the concept is genuinely interesting.
Approved Food has been operating under its current name since 2009, has shipped more than a million orders and offers a huge and regularly changing selection across food, drink, household, health, beauty and other categories.
Its combination of discount online groceries, clearance products and surplus food gives it a clear identity among UK online shopping websites.
There are some things shoppers need to understand first — particularly best-before dates, minimum-order requirements and delivery costs.
But once you understand how the business works, that’s really part of the proposition.
This isn’t an ordinary supermarket.
It’s bargain hunting from your sofa.
Is Approved Food Worth a Look?
If you’re searching for a UK online shop for cheap groceries, clearance food or discounted household products, we’d certainly say it’s worth browsing Approved Food to see what’s currently available.
There’s very little downside to having a look.
You don’t have to buy anything, stock changes regularly, and you might discover something you normally purchase for considerably less than you’d expect.
And because the business helps find customers for surplus and short-dated stock, there is an environmental argument alongside the financial one.
Saving money while helping prevent usable products from going to waste sounds like a pretty reasonable excuse to go bargain hunting.
Ready to Go Bargain Hunting?
The interesting thing about Approved Food is that we can’t tell you exactly what bargains you’ll find.
And that’s precisely why it’s worth looking.
Today’s selection could include familiar branded groceries, cupboard fillers, household essentials, drinks, toiletries or something you’ve never considered buying before.
So put the kettle on, make yourself comfortable and have a rummage through the virtual bargain shelves.
👉 Visit Approved Food and check out the latest deals
Just remember: if you somehow end up with enough discounted snacks to open your own corner shop, don’t say we didn’t warn you.