As far as food shopping goes I’m quite used to seeking out the bargains.
Having written about the cost of living crisis since it first took hold, I’ve kept a closer eye on prices than many people – and tried to find supermarkets where people can get the cheapest goods.
So it came as quite a surprise to find that there’s a surplus food shop in Greater Manchester that I hadn’t heard about.
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The Company Shop is the UK’s leading and longest-standing redistributor and retailer of surplus products and the commercial arm of the business operates a network of Company Shop ‘surplus supermarkets’, which sell discounted surplus from over 800 brands, retailers and manufacturers to its members.
Inside Company Shop in Middleton -Credit:Manchester Family / MEN
You have to meet certain criteria to become a member, with employees and pension holders from various sectors able to join. These include NHS, emergency services staff and registered charities to name a few.
But each member can take two people along with them, which makes it accessible to a lot more shoppers.
I took a trip there during the week and judging by the cars parked up on a Monday morning it was obvious how popular this place is.
The branch at Stakehill Industrial Estate in Middleton is the only one in Greater Manchester. There’s another just outside the region, in St Helens.
There’s a large fridge section at Company Shop -Credit:Manchester Family / MEN
It’s laid out like a typical supermarket really, with shelves full of tins and packets, fridge and freezer sections and a smaller section with everything from baby food and pet food, to cleaning, laundry and beauty products.
Around the edges you’ll find pallets stacked with special offer products, like the packs of Stella Artois I was impressed to find for just £3.50. A pack of four of the Stella Unfiltered 5% lagers would set you back almost double that elsewhere, like Tesco and Sainsbury’s where they’re £6.25.
It was far from the only bargain I picked up and unlike many of these surplus stock places, it was all in date too. Admittedly some is short dated, some of the ham and yoghurts for instance expired the next day, but most stuff had a good few days or even months on it. Pots of Sainsbury’s houmous with a few days left were being sold off for 10p, while shorter dated ones were being given away for free at the tills.
Three sirloin steaks from Asda, £5.25 -Credit:Manchester Family / MEN
The stock is also much more varied here to other warehouse type places I’ve visited, which seem to focus on cupboard stock, rather than fresh or frozen food.
And the main supermarkets all supply to this place. I spotted stock from M&S, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Co-op, Iceland, Aldi and Lidl.
We’re talking big brands too, like Heinz, Hellman’s, Mr Kipling, Birds Eye, Nestle, McCains, Richmond, Ben & Jerry’s, Carte d’Or, Muller and more.
Some things were staggeringly cheap, like 220g tins of M&S beans half price at 15p, 400g tins of M&S green lentils half price at 35p, Tesco’s 6 mini Melton Mowbray pork pies for 50p when they usually cost £1.99, and Mr Kipling French Fancies for 95p.
Company Shop Middleton -Credit:Manchester Family / MEN
Other savings I made included a 400g of Honey Roast Ham from Sainsbury’s for £1.65 against a store price of £3, a pack of three Asda sirloin steaks for £5.25, when they retail at £6.75 for just two; a 400g block of Iceland cheese for £1.80 when it’s usually £3, and a 524g Goodfella’s Pepperoni Pizza for £2.40, when these usually cost £4.50 each.
I made the mistake of picking up some vegan Sheese, which I thought was cheese, but at £1.80 it’s not the end of the world and I’m sure I’ll find someone who’d like to sample it.
There wasn’t lots of fruit and veg, but I managed to pick up a 1.5kg bag of potatoes for a reasonable £1.10 and they had big 1kg bags of onions on sale for just 95p.
My biggest bargain was probably the extra large gammon joint I managed to get from the half price meat section.
The Sainsbury’s extra large gammon joint was half price -Credit:Manchester Family / MEN
At almost 3.5kg in weight, it was originally £18.96 from Sainsbury’s festive range. But it was still in date and reduced down to £9.48, making it £2.25 per kg, more than £2 less than per kg than Aldi’s cheapest gammon joint.
I’ve cut it up into three portions and frozen them and will get a family meal from each one.
There’s plenty of the sweet stuff on offer too if you’ve not had your fill over Christmas. Freezer desserts included the likes of Magnums, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, and in the fridge there were Gu desserts for £1, a pack of three Morrisons trifles for £1.05 and 100g pots of Tesco Finest Belgian Chocolate Mousse for 30p against a supermarket price of £1.10.
The main supermarkets all supply surplus stock to this place -Credit:Manchester Family / MEN
The shelves were also stacked with cakes and biscuits, including Mr Kipling Moreish Sticky Toffee Loaf Cake for 90p, Lidl’s Rowan Hill Bakery Cherry Bakewells and Bramley Apple Pies for 80p and whopping 600g bags of Gold Bars and Club biscuits for just £2.
All in all, with the packs of 9 toilet rolls I bought for £2.85 each, it was a pretty successful shopping trip and worth the 25 minutes it took to get there.
I spent just over £50 in total and got loads more than I would have done at a traditional supermarket.
Company Shop says a percentage of its profit is re-invested in Community Shop, ‘a social enterprise tackling the root causes of food insecurity by providing access to deeply discounted food and household essentials, along with life-changing personal development programmes’.
My Company Shop buys -Credit:Manchester Family / MEN
Company Shop Middleton is open 8am-8pm Monday to Friday, 8am-6pm on Saturday and 10am-4pm on Sunday. To find out more about becoming a member, visit the website here.
My shopping from the Company Shop
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Potatoes 1.5kg £1.10
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Sainsbury’s extra large gammon joint 3.4kg £9.48
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Asda Beef Sirloin Steak 3-pack £5.25
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Lidl Deluxe Cumberland Pork Sausages 400g £1.75
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Sainsbury’s Honey Roast Ham 400g £1.65
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Waitrose unsmoked bacon rashers £1.69
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Chicken Breast Mini Fillets 475g £2.50
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Tesco Finest Breaded Chicken Breast £2.50
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Morrisons Pork Cocktail Sausages 25-pack £1.20
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Tesco Greek Style Salad Cheese 200g 75p
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Iceland mature cheese 400g £1.80
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Cheddar style Sheese £1.80
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Tesco 6 Mini Melton Mowbray pork pies 50p
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M&S Green Lentils 400g x 2 70p
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M&S Beans 200g x 2 30p
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Goodfella’s Pepperoni Pizza 524g £2.40
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Tesco Finest Lightly Sea Salted Crisps x 4 £1.20
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Mr Kipling French Fancies 95p
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Mr Kipling Lemon Slices £1
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Gold Bars 600g £2
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Stella Artois Unfiltered 440ml x 4 £3.50
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fry light cooking spray £1
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Rinse aid 400ml 75p
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Good-Year De-icer £1.95
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So Soft toilet rolls 9-pack x 2 £5.70
Total – £53.42