Find out how long your fruit and veg will stay fresh with supermarket packaging hack

Experts have revealed the clever way you can make sure the fruit and vegetables you buy at the supermarket stay fresher for longer. A number of UK supermarkets removed ‘best before’ dates over the past couple of years, it can be tricky to know just how long food will last at home. To help you cut the cost of your regular supermarket shop as well as a food waste, the experts at Which? revealed there’s a clever way to tell how long products are in date.

The key is to have a look at the packaging. Supermarkets removed ‘best before’ dates from various packaging in an attempt to combat food waste. Items such as tomatoes, apples, potatoes and pears are among 500 food and plant products by UK supermarkets.



Climate action charity Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), reported in 2022 that 70 per cent of the 6.6 million tonnes of food thrown away by UK households every year could have been eaten. In a recent video posted on Instagram , Which? explained its five supermarket secrets which can save you precious pennies on your next shopping trip.

Its first is working out the best before dates by looking at codes on the packaging. A post shared by Which? (@whichuk) Which? explained: “At Asda and Tesco , A is January, B is February and so on. Then the number is the day of the month.

“ Sainsbury’s codes have the date between J and S. And Morrisons simply use the first letter of the month, followed by the day of the month.” So for Asda and Tesco, A5 will be January 5.

S25 at Sainsbury’s will mean December 25, and F1 at Morrisons will be February 1..