Savvy shopper shares clever hack for slashing your grocery bill as she reveals how to check if more expensive products are from the same batch as cheaper versions
- Maneet Kaur, 29, from Leicester, has revealed a clever hack to save on essentials
- Revealed batch code helps you find out whether pasta come from same supplier
- Expensive and cheap pasta can come from same batch, difference is in brand
A savvy shopper has shared a genius hack that could save you half of the price you pay for products in stores.
Maneet Kaur, 28, from Leicester, has revealed how you can use batch codes to find out if food sold for difference prices – pasta, for instance – is actually all from the same supplier.
Maneet had watched a video on how medication is marketed and decided to look into the food industry – and was stunned at what she found.
In a clip shared to TiKTok, the process technologist compares a 500g packet of penne pasta from Tesco, which costs 53p, with a packet by Hearty Food Co – also owned by Tesco – and shows how these appear to have identical batch codes.
She suggests that this means the products are from the same place and that shoppers are spending 26p more – nearly double – for the packaging alone.
Maneet Kaur, 28, from Leicester, revealed how batch codes can show you which pasta comes from the same provider and save you from spending more than you need on branded options. Pictured left: a Tesco brand pack of pasta, costing 53p. Pictured right: A pack of pasta from Hearty Food Co, also owned by Tesco, costing 29p. Both packs have the same batch code, meaning they come from the same supplier
Maneet, pictured, said she shared the trick to raise awareness about the tricks supermarket use to up their prices
‘I work in the food industry so know that whatever product we make will have a supplier code on it for traceability,’ Maneet, who has 10,000 followers on TikTok (@minsmeals), said.
‘I went into a supermarket and looked at staple foods like beans, pasta and bread and looked at the codes.
‘It didn’t surprise me but essentially it’s all about how these brands market it to the consumer.
‘The only thing I can do is make people more aware that buying branded is not always the best option and we need to be more conscious about the tricks supermarkets use.’
Maneet’s trick revealed that you could pay 24p more for the exact same product if you buy the Tesco brand pack
Maneet, pictured, also said supermarket own brands will often be displayed at eye level, while cheaper options will be at the bottom of the shelf
She also has another top tip for shoppers: ‘Branded food will most likely be at eye level while unbranded, cheaper items will be either on the top or bottom shelf.
‘I’m sure if people had the time and were interested, the same could be applied to many other food items.’
Maneet loves sharing hacks and hunting down new snacks for her followers to buy, such as fun finds like popcorn-flavoured KitKat bars and punch-flavoured cans of Fanta.
She also went viral last year after discovering a cheeky hack for opening a tub of Heroes without breaking the seal – meaning chocolate lovers could pinch sweets before their family members without them even knowing.
Last year, Maneet went viral when she showed chocolate lovers how they could open a tub of Cadbury heros without breaking its seal (pictured)