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When you're picking up fruit and veg from the supermarket, you're looking to get your money's worth and make sure it's as fresh as possible, right?
Well you may have noticed that, in certain supermarkets, figuring out the best before date on certain foods can be a little tricky. But there's a simple way to decode it.
You can find out how below, along with some other supermarket hacks:
TikTok creator @financegirlbargains pointed out the supermarket code while standing in the fruit and veg aisle of her local Tesco.
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She zoomed in on a packet of mangetout that had no obvious best before date, but instead a code that simply read 'A3', then another packet that had the code 'A6'.
And these simple little codes are the key to fresher veg.
"Tesco staff training taught me the higher the number the fresher the produce," the TikTok creator wrote.
Some viewers were mind-blown by this info and rushed to the comments to thank @financegirlbargains for the tip.
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"I had no idea!! Thank you for sharing," commented one
"Omg thank you for this," wrote a second.
Others were more familiar with the system and explained it further for those who were still scratching their heads.
One user wrote in the comments: "The letter stands for the month and the number is the date. So A = January and 6 is obviously the 6th."
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So the higher the code, the later the best before date and the longer the produce stays fresh.
Letters A through L represent each month of the year (B is February, C is March, and so on), and the numbers represent that date of the month.
Makes sense, right?
Tesco is one of many UK supermarkets that uses this system on some of their products.
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And customers think they know why.
"The aim is to reduce food waste by changing the month to letters," explained one viewer.
"Lots of UK supermarkets are removing best by dates for fruits and vegetables to avoid food wastage," agreed another.
Every day is a school day, eh?
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And if you're looking for more supermarket hacks, you've come to the right place.
Back in November, we told you about one genius customer's trick to unlock a shopping trolley with no £1 coin necessary.
When TikToker Tasha needed a shopping trolley but didn't have the much-needed £1 coin among her change, she thought she'd be stuck without a trolley.
But after stacking two 20p coins on top of each other, Tasha realised you can simply slot them both into the slot which is usually reserved for £1 coins.
Once she pushed them into the slot, out came the lock, prompting a slew of commenters to commend her for trying the hack.
My next shopping trip just got a whole lot less complicated.
Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@financegirlbargainsTopics: Food and Drink, Tesco, TikTok, Hacks