British supermarket Sainsbury's has announced the introduction of £2 fruit and veg boxes in over 200 selected supermarkets across the country to allow customers to purchase surplus products at a reduced price. The new boxes became available this February and comes as part of the retailer's ongoing commitment to halve its food waste by 2030 whilst also helping customers to access healthy, affordable, and sustainable food.
The 'Taste Me, Don't Waste Me' boxes will include a variety of surplus fresh fruit and vegetables and the boxes will be sold for a lower price to help ensure customers have access to affordable nutritious food, as the cost of living continues to rise.
Customers can find the boxes in Sainsbury's fresh produce aisles and all products included are carefully selected to ensure they are still fresh. The initiative is part of the retailer's commitment to halve food waste across its value chain by 2030. Last year, Sainsbury's also began removing 'best before' dates from over 100 product lines, including pears, onions, tomatoes and citrus fruits, with over 130 lines to follow, to help customers reduce food waste at home.
Richard Crampton, Director of Fresh Food, at Sainsbury's said, "At Sainsbury's we're committed to helping our customers access tasty, nutritious food that's better for them and the planet too. It's great to see that shoppers have been enjoying the 'Taste Me, Don't Waste Me' boxes, which is why we're really pleased to roll out the trial to over 200 supermarkets, helping even more people across the country. We believe that everyone deserves to eat well at an affordable price, and we hope this additional support will ensure that good quality food doesn't go to waste."
The step is the latest in a string of initiatives Sainsbury's has launched to help customers access affordable fruit and vegetables. Currently, Sainsbury's is offering £2 top-up coupons as part of the Government-funded NHS Healthy Start scheme, to help low-income families in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to purchase fresh, frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables.
Meanwhile, as part of its commitment to helping customers manage the rising cost of living Sainsbury's has committed to invest £550 million by March 2023 in value, ensuring the products that customers buy most are affordable. Customers can find low prices through popular campaigns including, Aldi Price Match, which currently includes around 300 products, over 180 of which are fresh, including fruit and vegetable favourites such as cauliflower, blueberries, bananas and carrots.
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We've been covering the ongoing cost of living crisis, and trends such as that from Sainsbury's here with their new fruit and vegetable boxes, in the format of a foodwatching report - The Big Squeeze. In this new report we have summarised and built on the reoccurring themes that we have seen that are affecting and being affected by the cost of living crisis.
tfp trendhub subscribers can access this report in full, recently updated in February, here. If you're not yet subscribed but are interested in receiving our regular trend reporting then get in touch using the form below.