TOO GOOD TO GO APP

Giving the Too Good To Go app a go.

I've heard of  the wonky veg boxes some supermarkets are selling, which always sell out immediately.

I hadn't heard of Too Good To Go until I saw someone on Instagram picking a surprise bag up and it had 32 full size cheeses in it!  I'd take that any day, love cheese. Though obviously I am aware that couldn't be the norm.

It's available in most countries and works by a supermarket or shop gathers up food that should have been sold that day, over stock or maybe damaged packaging and sell a surprise bag on the app for at least 1/3 of the price.

Called surprise bags as you never know what you are going to get.

The app is really simple.

Download it for free,  put in your area and the distance you are willing to travel, and through the day it shows which shops have surprise bags and what time you can collect them.  Click on any you want and pay to reserve it, I used PayPal.

It cuts down on food waste and should save money.

I usually shop in Aldi and go for the as unprocessed as possible so fruit, veg, meat, dairy, but that's the fresh non concentrate orange juice, free range chicken and eggs, the full fat dairy, so I'm used to food shopping being dirt cheap but not absolute 15p spaghetti hoop cheapness.

So to try it I have reserved two bags, I'll show you what was in them, I'm UK based.  

First up a Booths (the Waitrose of the north).

They divide their surprise bags into genres (which I don't think most do) groceries, bakery or meat and fish surprise bags all £5 each.

Those bags went seconds after they flashed up. Pick up time is between 8pm and 9pm.

It was very organised and easy to do and the staff were lovely and nice to chat to a couple of people who were also there to collect surprise bags.

Two small pieces of salmon, a pack of smoked salmon and a piece of cod with todays use by dates.

My opinion, you would be very happy to pick this up on the yellow sticker shelf for £5 but would I come out for this at night specially? I don't know?

It's obviously a saving, full price with full date would have been £14 and the same in Aldi would have cost £11, good quality fresh fish (but at the very end of it's fresh credentials) that will make three single meals, for £5.

It being described as a meat and fish bag, I had thought there would be meat in it.

Any way all the fish has been frozen, the piece of cod can be used for one meal and the salmon pieces for another, the smoked salmon will be made into fish cakes.

Second an Aldi surprise grocery bag £3.30, pick up between 9.25pm and 10pm.

This was more what I was expecting.

A loaf of splendid seeds bread, 1 chicken stir fry kit serves two, 1 chicken Indian ready meal, 1 veggie Indian ready meal, 1 microwave burger, 5 chocolate cake bars, 4 packs of  pork lunch tongue, all with todays use by dates, but there is very little you can't freeze.

Well worth £3.30!

It looked like someone had taken care to divide it up so everyone got a good deal and a good variety, if you were on a really tight budget this surprise bag would be a massive help.

If your good at budget cooking, it would be very easy to stretch this for a week with just a few basics.

Aldi also re-used the long low boxes they have fruit delivered in to put the surprise bag contents in which saved again on unnecessary waste. 

I expected to find something random in the bags and I have never come across pork lunch tongue, I'm sure it's delicious but my dog has been delighted to have a couple of slices a night, loves the stuff.

So my opinion of  Too Good To Go after just two lucky bags is,

 it's genius and must be saving so much needless waste.

If you are struggling financially, the  Aldi surprise bag is a definite go to.

I think the quality of the contents may vary by who is packing them.

Would I use it again... if Aldi was a bit nearer to me or I was passing at a pick up time, yes I probably would.

Booths, I don't think so. I think checking the yellow sticker shelves directly might dig out better results.

Credit to both these stores, they are both on board with another local food waste project in the area so they are doubling up on avoiding unnecessary waste.

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