SAUSAGE roll fans know there’s only one place on the high street for a bargain baked treat – yet you’ve been ordering from Greggs all wrong.
The budget bakery already has low prices, but we’ve come up with ways to further slash your spends on doughnuts, cakes, coffees and more.
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And you’d do well to equip yourself with the tips and tricks, especially as Greggs has introduced a number of price hikes on products over the past few months.
Pastry fans were left disappointed when the firm upped the price of its sausage rolls by 5p in January.
Last month Greggs said further increases are “necessary” due to higher staff, energy and material costs.
But it did also say it will “be protective of Greggs reputation for outstanding value for money”.
Fans want to know how to make the most of that value for money though.
From rewards and freebies for being loyal, to discount hauls you can pick up just before their sell-by date, there’s plenty of ways to bag a bargain at Greggs.
Here’s five secrets to save money at the nation’s favourite bakery chain:
Grab and go
It actually pays to take your Greggs away.
Most read in Money
Most Greggs fans will have spotted the duel pricing that’s displayed in some of the chain’s stores.
And that’s because Greggs charges two different fees depending on whether you eat-in or take-away.
There’s a VAT charge on eat-in products and the store has confessed to a “little extra” charge in its café shops to cover “additional services”.
You could take your sausage roll away in a bag though, and find a nice comfy park bench nearby and find yourself saving 10p-20p.
‘Appy days
You can get freebies from Greggs throughout the year by taking full advantage of the bakery’s own app.
Sometimes they’ll pop up, and sometimes you have to work a little harder for them.
If you’re new to the app you can get a complimentary hot drink after the first time you download it.
It’s free to do, so that’s one way to easily bag a freebie for your next visit.
And once you’re up and running, and a real app regular, you can collect stamps to build up rewards – and earn more freebies.
It might take a bit of grafting and eating a lot of sausage rolls first though.
On the app you get six different stamp cards for each product category, from sandwiches to sweet treats, hot drinks and bakes.
Each time you buy a product, you’ll get a stamp.
If you collect nine stamps in a category, you earn a tenth item free.
Also if you pop your birthday date into the app you’ll get voucher on the day that you can show in-store for one free cupcake, cream cake or doughnut worth up to £2.
You don’t have to just use it on your birthday either as it’s still valid for one month afterwards.
But you can claim only one sweet treat, so once it’s gone, you’ll have to wait until next year for another similar freebie.
Waste not
Ever wondered what happens to all the treats that don’t get eaten at the end of the day?
Shoppers can buy the leftovers from the shop which would have only been chucked out otherwise.
And because they were on their way to bin anyway, it means these goodies are charged at rock bottom prices.
The Too Good To Go app lets you buy “magic bags” of the discounted food that Greggs, along with plenty other shops and cafes, haven’t managed to sell.
Greggs offers them for around £2.59.
It’s pot luck as to what’s inside, but some shoppers have managed to chance upon impressive hauls in the past.
One shopper managed to bag £14 worth of Greggs goodies for just £2 with the app – and even the shop worker was grateful and thanked her for “saving” the food.
Another savvy shopper nabbed an even more impressive £23 worth of Greggs grub including a steak bake AND four doughnuts for just £2.95 too.
Find a freebie
Every now and then Greggs will offer out freebies and limited time rewards for customers – particularly if its got new products that customers need to taste.
At Christmas Greggs gave away 50,000 free festive bakes and vegan festive bakes, for example, to get fans in the spirit.
But there may be a ‘hack’ to bagging freebies in store at any time too.
An ex-employee revealed how staff are allowed to offer customers a freebie if they’re genuinely disappointed with the food available.
They claimed: “If ever there are no sausage rolls or if there are cold products, Greggs can offer the customer something free of charge.”
Usually a Greggs sausage roll costs £1.75, and it is the most popular item on the store’s menu.
Employees can only offer customers a freebie if the store doesn’t have any fresh pastries available though, or if the hot product you pay for turns out to be cold.
But keep in mind that you can’t just expect the free food as it’s given out at the discretion of the staff, and only if you’ve genuinely had a bad batch of food.
Shop around
It’s not just at Greggs that you can buy all your favourite pastries.
Iceland sells Greggs products you can heat at home.
Okay, it might not taste exactly the same, but you’ll save the most money by picking up your favourite dish from your local supermarket.
You can grab a box of eight sausage rolls for £3.75 – which works out to be 47p a roll.
If you bought a sausage roll every day for a week, maybe treating yourself to two at some point over the weekend too, you’d be spending £3.93 more than that buying them straight from the store.
You can get other Greggs favourites at Iceland as well, such as the popular chicken bakes and cookies.
If you don’t mind heating them in your own oven at home then there’s a massive saving to be had.
Thought about taking up a job at the bakery to score more freebies on your lunch break? We explain how much Greggs pays its employees and if they get free food.
The store has even teamed up with high street favourite, Primark, and has promised another 150 branches are on the way to give customers more chances to bag their favourite treats.
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