Morrisons launches discounted boxes of food past ‘best before’ date

The aim of the boxes is to mitigate food waste and make nutritious products more affordable. Image: Morrisons

The boxes of groceries are priced at £3.09 each and contain a selection of products from across Morrisons’ fruit, vegetable, bakery and deli departments.

All products included in the boxes will be approaching or past their ‘best before’ date – the date which indicates that the quality of a product may deteriorate after that point. By law, they are required to be within their ‘use by’ dates, which indicate when it becomes less safe to consume the food.

Morrisons has pledged to ensure that the contents of each box will collectively have a RRP of £10 or above. But customers will not be able to see the contents of their box before purchase; they will instead need to buy through the Too Good to Go app and then pick up in-store.

The supermarket said that earlier trials of this model had proven to be a success. Therefore, the boxes will be on sale through all 494 Morrisons UK stores from today (26 November).

Morrisons’ director of Market Street Jayne Wall said Morrisons is expecting to sell at least 350,000 of the boxes in 2020, mitigating 882 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from food waste.

“We are using technology to help us reduce food waste and to help more people afford to eat well,” Wall explained.

“It will also mean we waste less food this Christmas as it will find a home for products that can’t be sold after the festive period.”

Morrisons, like many other UK supermarkets, is a signatory of  WRAP’s Courtauld 2025 Commitment. The commitment binds signatories to halve food waste by 2030, in line with the aims of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Its launch of the boxes in a bid to meet this ambition comes after competitor Lidl recorded success with its ‘Too Good to Go’ boxes of fruit and vegetables. The boxes, which retail for £1.50 and contain 5kg of fresh produce which is considered fit for human consumption, but either past its best or not up to current regulations surrounding size, shape and colour, were rolled out to all UK stores earlier this year following successful trials.

Sarah George