Sainsbury’s has recently announced the launch of £2 fruit and vegetable boxes — ‘Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me’ — available to customers to purchase from this week. The boxes will include a variety of surplus fresh fruit and vegetables sold at a lower price than usual as the cost of living crisis continues to rise.

The boxes will be available in over 200 seleced stores across the country, following a successful trial in January.

The initiative is part of the retailer’s pledge to halve food waste across its value chain by 2030. Last year, Sainsbury’s also began removing ‘best before’ dates from over 100 product lines, including pears, onions, tomatoes and citrus fruits, with over 130 lines to follow, to help customers reduce food waste at home.

Richard Crampton, Director of Fresh Food, at Sainsbury’s said: “It’s great to see that shoppers have been enjoying the ‘Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me’ boxes, which is why we’re really pleased to roll out the trial to over 200 supermarkets, helping even more people across the country.”

The launch is the latest of Sainsbury’s programmes to help customers access affordable fruit and vegetables. Currently, Sainsbury’s is offering £2 top-up coupons as part of the Government-funded NHS Healthy Start scheme, to help low-income families in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to purchase fresh, frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables.

“We believe that everyone deserves to eat well at an affordable price, and we hope this additional support will ensure that good quality food doesn’t go to waste,” added Crampton.