Savvy shopper reveals what the codes REALLY mean on supermarket fresh produce and it’s blowing people’s minds

HAVE you ever looked at the packets of supermarket fruit and veg and wondered what the codes mean?

Well, one woman has been praised by other shoppers after taking to Facebook to offer an explanation as to what the numbers indicate – after many stores ditched the best before dates on certain items.

Alamy

A woman has revealed what the codes on the front of some supermarket fresh produce packets really mean[/caption]

Extreme Couponing And Bargains

The letter indicates the month, and the number is the date[/caption]

Extreme Couponing And Bargains

People quickly praised her for sharing the code breaking trick[/caption]

“If like me you have noticed supermarkets not putting best before dates on certain fresh items now, I have been told how the supermarket staff work out the dates,” Karen wrote in a post on the Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK group on Facebook.

“Look at the code on the item without a best before date, for example the grapes are D01 and cucumber D27.

“The letter is the month so; A-January, B-February, C-March etc.

“Then the numbers are the date.”

She shared a picture of the packaging for some grapes and cucumber she’d bought, and added: “So grapes best before 1st April and cucumber best before 27th April.”

“Hope it helps,” she concluded.

“Thanks for sharing that,” one person wrote in the comments section.

“Aah wondered what they actually meant I usually try and pick the higher no thinking it would be more fresh,” another added.

“Now We know thanks for the info.”

“Thank you, that’s a great help for me as I buy my food for the week,” someone else wrote.

“So it’s helpful to know how long it’s likely to stay as fresh as it is at that moment. Thanks.”

“Thank you for the tip,” another added.

“It’s a fab thing for those people who like looking at the dates. I agree they’re a good help with certain things, but our parents, grand parents etc all did well without best before and use by dates.

“Even with a good date on, food can be rubbish. I bought milk with a good date and it was off the next day.”

While someone else wrote: “I work in a supermarket and was told they’ve taken dates off fresh produce because there’s so much food being binned because of the sell by date when actually the food is still perfectly fine.

“It’s to reduce waste.”