How Coles shopper scored $520 worth of meat for just $52

A Coles customer has left fellow shoppers in awe after she managed to bag $520 dollars worth of meat for just $52. The delighted woman from New South Wales showed off her massive haul of blade roasts, sandwich and quick-cook leg steaks, chicken breast fillets and schnitzel, which she says will be feeding multiple families for the jaw-dropping price.

The blade roasts all weighed over a kilogram and were all reduced to only a few dollars, with prices ranging from $1.76 to $3.74, while the sandwich and quick-cook leg steaks were all going for 70 to 75 cents each. The chicken breast fillets were also over a kilogram each and were all just over a dollar per tray, while the schnitzel was marked down to a similar price.

'Right place, right time'

"$520 and paid $52 split between four families," the woman proudly told other members of popular Facebook group Markdown Addicts Australia. Her post has received over 2,900 likes and hundreds of comments from fellow bargain hunters who were gobsmacked by the haul, as some members pointed out how hard it is to buy meat for their families amid the cost of living crisis.

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"That is the best haul I've ever seen! Well done!" one woman commented, while other members of the group asked how she managed to bag such an impressive haul for that price. "Is there a secret time to get these amazing bargains?" asked a group member, to which the woman confessed it was all about luck. "Right place, right time," she said in the comments. "I just try my luck after work."

Other members of the group also praised the woman for the haul, pointing out that these unsold items would only be thrown out and picked up by dumpster divers, if at all. Some however argued that these items are donated to charity through food donation programs where edible surplus food that can no longer be sold in stores are sent to help feed Australians in need.

Coles shares markdown process

A Coles spokesperson previously told Yahoo News that stores sometimes mark down products near their best-before dates to reduce wastage and offer value for money to shoppers. "We know our customers love good value so when a product is near its best before date we often mark it down so it can be enjoyed for a cheaper price, instead of being wasted," the spokesperson said, adding there's no set time to secure marked down items. "Markdowns do not uniformly take place at the same time across all stores. There are many things that can impact when this takes place including stock on hand, delivery schedules and team member rostering," the spokesperson confirmed.

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