Cut your grocery bill in half at Umhlali’s Best Before Food Store

If the idea of buying products that are past their ‘best before’ date makes you feel a bit uneasy, you’re not alone.

Shopping for ‘old’ items can seem a bit ridiculous, but simply paying a visit to the Best Before Food Store in Umhlali will most certainly change your way of thinking.

Situated opposite Cindy’s within the forecourt of the BP Garage, the clean and colourful store is stocked to the brim with items that one usually buys on a monthly basis – only much, much cheaper.

Get It Ballito Umhlanga editor Leah Shone paid a visit to Best Before and was amazed with the hidden gem she had stumbled across.

“While I really like the idea of saving money and helping to reduce the amount of food that would otherwise go to waste, I (like most people I’m sure) was initially concerned about the safety aspect of buying items that are past their ‘best before’ date.  

“But that was before I learned the difference between ‘best before’ and ‘use buy’ dates.”

Best before dates are found on shelf-stable products (like canned and bottled foods, sauces, pasta, coffee and biscuits).

This date tells you when these products are at their optimum quality.

Thereafter the taste, quality or texture may start to decline over a period of time.

So, the ‘best before’ date is simply a guide to help you understand the quality, rather than the safety of a product.

‘Use by’ dates on the other hand (on fresh or dairy products, meats, ready-meals, etc) tell you when it is no longer safe to sell or consume a product.

So, where did the Best Before Food Store concept come from?

Local businessman Alan Tyack says the idea had been ‘hatching’ for about two years.

One of eight siblings, Alan has a degree in Agriculture and over 40 years of Fast Moving Consumer Good (FMCG) warehousing experience.

“Our entire family are out-of-the-box thinkers and this, combined with the waste factor noted during my FMCG years, our concern about the environmental damage being caused by dumping, and the current economic ‘squeeze’ we all are feeling, prompted us to move forward with the concept.”

While Alan’s store is the first on the North Coast, the concept is not a new on an international level.

European consumers and manufacturers are already embracing the idea and, Alan says, there is a worldwide movement to reduce waste and the laws regarding the date labelling of products.

With literally millions of South Africans going to bed hungry every night and billions of Rands worth of food being wasted in SA annually (not to mention the environmental damage caused by the agricultural land used to cultivate crops that are wasted – and a large portion of this food being dumped in landfill sites), repurposing this food seems like an obvious solution.

It really is a win-win situation and, because the stores are located in non-formal trading areas, they don’t compete with traditional retailers.

Also, much of the stock has several months to go before it even reaches its ‘best before’ date.

The range changes all the time and includes biscuits, coffee, pasta, sweets, cool drinks and loads of items suitable for kids’ lunchboxes.

They also have a wide selection of toiletries, tissues, wipes and toilet paper.

“On my first visit to the Best Before Food Store in Umhlali I walked away with fruit juice and iced tea, dried fruit, nuts and breakfast cereal bars, all of which were in perfect condition and totally consumable.

“But I definitely plan on going back for a bigger shop, with my shopping list in tow,” said Shone.

February specials

Get in touch

The Best Before Food Store is open Monday to Friday from 8am – 5pm, Saturdays from 8am – 2pm and closed on Sundays.

Follow them on Facebook for weekly specials or visit them here:

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