Found out my grocery store marks down meat every Tuesday and Thursday morning and it kind of changed my whole week.

I'd heard people mention markdowns before but always assumed it was random or you had to get lucky. Turns out our store has a pretty consistent schedule and once I asked one of the guys in the meat department he just told me straight up, Tuesdays around 9am and Thursdays around 8am is when they pull stuff that expires in the next day or two and slap the yellow stickers on it. I started showing up on those mornings maybe once every couple weeks and I've been stocking the freezer with chicken thighs, ground beef, pork tenderloin, stuff I wouldn't normally grab at full price. Last Thursday I got two packs of chicken breasts and a small ribeye for what I'd usually pay for just the chicken. Everything goes straight into the freezer when I get home and I've honestly not noticed any quality difference at all. The key thing I learned is you have to actually talk to someone in the department, because the schedule varies by store and some places do it daily, some do it less often.

Most of the workers are happy to tell you if you just ask nicely, they'd rather it go to a customer than get tossed. Also worth checking the bakery and deli sections while you're there, our store marks those down at the same time and I've gotten really good bread and pre-made stuff for almost nothing. Feels a bit like a small cheat code honestly.