Americans Add Surplus-Food Shopping to Their List of Money-Saving Grocery Hacks

Americans will spend Thanksgiving Day around tables loaded with food. But even while they’re filling up, many are looking to scale back on spending. One tactic they’re trying? Snagging sellable food before it heads to the waste heap. 

American consumers, according to a recent reading, are feeling less optimistic about the economy and their finances for reasons including the rising cost of necessities. While spending hasn’t come to a halt, experts say price-conscious shoppers are focused on hunting for deals, clipping coupons, trading down on brands and buying less of everything—including food and beverages.

Some shoppers are increasingly checking out deeply discounted surplus or soon-to-be-discarded vegetables, fruits, meats, frozen and refrigerated foods, deemed safe for consumption but are otherwise seen as less suitable for store shelves because of imperfections or looming expiration dates.

“It’s not so much that food itself is so much more expensive,” said Kimberly Palmer, personal finance expert with NerdWallet. “It’s that everything else–housing, utilities, consumer goods across the board–is pressing on their budgets. That means spending on food, which is a huge and … variable portion of most household budgets, will be cut back, especially for lower-income households.”

In July, Kroger (KR) partnered with FlashFood, a company with an app-based service that works with grocers to connect consumers with discounted groceries at up to 50% off store prices that would otherwise be tossed away. 

Amazon-owned (AMZN) Whole Foods Market works with Too Good to Go to sell “Surprise Bags.” or pre-filled bundles of ready-to-eat food items at about one-third of the retail price at its stores nationwide. This month, the retailer added seven new categories to the offering.

These efforts help reduce food waste and help consumers stretch their dollars, said Beth Johnson, a grocery industry expert who is director of vertical marketing at RRD, which offers print, packaging, supply chain and other services.

“Shoppers have been dealing with persistent financial stress for five years,” she said. “We’ve had a pandemic, inflation, job insecurity and now tariffs. We’ve been accustomed to changing our shopping behavior by buying differently or doing without.”

Misfits Market, an online grocery store that sells discounted “rescued” food along with grocery staples such as snacks, eggs and dairy, said its customer growth has accelerated over the past year.

“Customers are more candid than ever that grocery affordability is impacting their choices,” Misfits Market spokesperson Holly Eagleson told Investopedia. “People want better food, but they need a better way to distribute their grocery budget.”

Consumers are “hyper-attuned to value,” said Zak Stambor, a senior retail and ecommerce analyst with market research firm eMarketer. “That dynamic is putting significant pressure on grocers to demonstrate to shoppers that they deliver a strong bang for the buck.”