Stop & Shop Food Near 'Best-By' Date Now Available Via App In MA

QUINCY, MA — If you like getting deals on almost-expired food from the discount rack, Stop & Shop has an app for you.

The grocery chain this week rolled out the Flashfood service at 34 new stores across Massachusetts. Using the app, shoppers can buy food from the discount rack at up to half off — and prevent enormous food waste, according to the company.

The app allows shoppers to buy items like meats, dairy, seafood, fresh produce and baked goods, by browsing and buying through a phone app. Shoppers can then pick up their order from a special holding area inside their local store.

"We know that value and variety are important to our customers, and like Stop & Shop, many of our Massachusetts shoppers are focused on helping to reduce our carbon footprint," Stop & Shop Regional Vice President of Operations Holland Ricker said in a news release. "We’re proud of this recent expansion of Flashfood to our Massachusetts customers, and hope that shopping the Flashfood marketplace at Stop & Shop will help offer them sustainable shopping options with ways to also save significantly on groceries."

A Stop & Shop in Worcester was the first to offer Flashfood in 2021. The app has since been expanded to about 70 of the chain's stores across Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, according to the news release. In total, the program has diverted nearly 170,000 pounds of food from landfills, preventing 319,200 pounds of CO2 — equivalent to the emissions of driving over 350,000 miles in the average car — from being released into the atmosphere.

The grocer plans to expand further in 2023 into Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, the grocer wrote. Find locations with the app on the Stop & Shop website.