Poundland moves into fresh meat and fish

The new range of 11 items – branded cookit – is being rolled into hundreds of stores over the next three weeks.

Cookit also complements Walsall-based Poundland’s recent expansion into chilled and frozen foods which will be in around 350 stores by the autumn and fresh fruit and vegetables with the full range now in over 60 stores.

The discount retailer’s initial cookit range includes ribs, steaks, bacon, sausages, mince, salmon and cod fillets.

The new range has been selected to offer shoppers a blend of quality meat and fish.

To make sure the food is as fresh as possible, Poundland will be working with cookit owner DTS Food to use its ChillerFiller app which enables orders to be placed by and delivered direct to individual or multiple stores, reducing food waste, improving product shelf life and cutting carbon emissions.

Poundland’s commercial director Tim Bettley said: “Whether clothing, frozen food or homewares, over the past few years we’ve been significantly extending up what we offer our customers so they can find much more of their weekly shop in their local Poundland.

“At the heart of that transformation is great products and we know customers are going to love our new cookit range - it gives them quality meat and fish at the amazing value we’re famous for.

“We’re proud to be the first retailer to carry the range.”

Nick Preston, chief executive of Nottingham-based DTS Food, the power behind cookit said: “We’ve worked with Poundland for the last six months to understand what they are looking for from a supplier point of view and importantly what they want to offer their customers in terms of quality.

“As a business we have significant experience in the food industry. We understand the importance, more so than ever given the current economic climate, of giving consumers good quality products at the right price. Cookit will offer them just that.

“We’re already looking at extending the cookit range beyond this initial range of meats and seafood.”