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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Nice and really cheap food!

32 replies

Atomiccat · 03/04/2022 16:18

I’m not in the UK, but I think you also have Too Good To Go? An app where you can buy unsold food from restaurants at the end of service, to prevent it from being thrown away? We use it quite a lot and iyou can get really good restaurant food, and a LOT of it, for just a couple of pounds. Our local bakery also use this app, and today we picked up a huge bag of lovely fresh bread for something like £2.50. And 6 takeaway boxes with thai food for £3. I know it’s been around a while but I only recently discovered it.. 😅

Anyone else use the app and if so what do you get?

OP posts:

Wouldntitbenicetobeinyourshoes · 03/04/2022 16:56

Limited places signed up in our are but I occasionally get a TGTG from Greggs bakery.
It’s hit and miss tbh. Sometimes we end up throwing a couple of things out. It generally has 3 savoury items and 3 sweet items.
We once hit the jackpot with a box of 6 doughnuts, a couple of cookies, a 4 pack of sausage rolls, a baguette and a pasty which was perfect for teen and his friends for just £2.95. I wish more places in our area did it.

dottymac · 03/04/2022 17:00

I've tried it a few times and both crap. Both coffee places - one bag for £5 which I guess was ok but nothing amazing. The other place was really rubbish - 3 vegan toasties! 🤮 Certainly not worth the petrol/time. That put me off but maybe I'd have better luck with the restaurant type places like the carvery ones.

Original poster

Atomiccat · 03/04/2022 17:04

We have teens, they eat quite a lot.. 😅 I’ve only tried 4 local places, and they were all really nice. Then again, they are places we would normally eat at anyway so I knew beforehand what the food was like.

OP posts:

ComtesseDeSpair · 03/04/2022 17:06

My dad got a Greggs TGTG bag last week - and ate the entire contents (a cheese salad baguette, a chicken bake, two sausage rolls and four jam doughnuts) for one meal, so now my mum has forbidden him from ever buying another one!

Chopped tinned tomatoes are my delicious (lazy) cheap food - I add dried herbs, chilli flakes, salt and pepper, a handful of frozen sliced peppers, poach a couple of eggs into the pan and have a quick and easy shakshouka.

GoodSoup · 03/04/2022 17:10

I downloaded it and deleted it after a while as there was nothing within 20 miles.

Original poster

Atomiccat · 03/04/2022 17:12

Haha, I’m with your mum..4 doughnuts?! 😅

OP posts:

multivac · 03/04/2022 17:32

We use Olio. It's free, and you ask for what you want, so no surprises. We mostly get bread, gluten free goods, veg, fruit and salad. All otherwise thrown out by Tesco. It's great!

Svara · 03/04/2022 17:37

I use TGTG and get enough bakery bread for £5 to freeze and last for a month. OLIO has nothing near me, all 5 miles away.

multivac · 03/04/2022 17:43

Ah that's a shame - we are blessed with two local collectors!

Original poster

Atomiccat · 03/04/2022 17:47

@multivac

We use Olio. It's free, and you ask for what you want, so no surprises. We mostly get bread, gluten free goods, veg, fruit and salad. All otherwise thrown out by Tesco. It's great!

That sounds really good asking for what you want, don’t think we have it here unfortunately..

OP posts:

Belledan1 · 03/04/2022 18:07

I had had good and bad. Once got a,massive pie with big of veg and fruit. Another time 3 loaves of bread and 2 x 4 pints milk that I did not have room to freeze.

leccybill · 03/04/2022 18:14

Eggs. Cheap, filling, healthy, interesting.

KittyBurrito · 03/04/2022 18:26

Boston Bean casserole and baked potatoes

KittyBurrito · 03/04/2022 18:32

This - it's great www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/slow_cooked_boston_baked_beans/.
Also porridge - so much cheaper than breakfast cereal, more filling and nice with honey/chopped apple

Chouetted · 03/04/2022 18:40

I'd like to try it, but it only seems to have an app version, no website option...

Original poster

Atomiccat · 03/04/2022 18:50

@Chouetted

I'd like to try it, but it only seems to have an app version, no website option...

Yeah, you order and pay on your phone and need to bring your phone and swipe when you pick up your food. The app is free though, so can you not download it?

OP posts:

Chouetted · 04/04/2022 00:30

@Atomicat Not onto my PC, no - I have tried.

If it relies on me having to faff around finding my phone to check if there's anything I want to order, it's a non starter really. It would be much easier if I could just check it while working.

AHungryCaterpillar · 04/04/2022 00:49

Not much in my area, although I’m in London most things listed are a few miles away and I don’t drive so not worth me getting multiple buses to collect something as I wouldn’t be saving anything!

Gingerkittykat · 04/04/2022 01:32

I got a bag from an M and S inside a petrol station and was impressed. I got a pasta ready meal, a 4 pack of chocolate hot cross buns, a pack of organic bananas, one of their best ever prawn sandwiches and some courgette and feta bites.

My DD got one from Tim Hortons and got a massive box of timbits and 2 premium doughnuts. I wouldn't have chosen all of that sugary stuff but she liked it.

I've just had a look on the app and almost everything for tomorrow has already sold out.

LikeACatInTheDark · 04/04/2022 01:46

One of the regular places on my local TGTG is the Toby carvery up the road

DockOTheBay · 04/04/2022 04:47

I looked at the app a few months ago but there are very few places signed up near me, and the ones which were, weren't that cheap.

No nice local bakery or independent Thai takeaway. Just costa (random stake cake? Not a bargain if I want going to buy cake anyway) and spar/budgens (sell everything so not much chance the bag will be something I would choose)

BritWifeInUSA · 04/04/2022 04:48

Downloaded it. Nearest place that is on it is 150 miles away. So no use to me. Good idea though.

Svara · 04/04/2022 07:13

Costa were crap. Technically cost what they said but that included two toasties, that you would only buy out for the convenience of having them toasted for you to eat there and then. So not worth the price as take home food.

BarbaraofSeville · 04/04/2022 07:18

I tried TGTG but unless you see something within minutes of it being posted, it sells out so never actually picked anything up. I haven't looked at it for months.

Plus it's obviously no good if you get a massive bag of unhealthy rubbish that you just binge on instead of it feeding the whole family for a meal or doing lunches for a few days. But then not everything will keep/freeze, eg sandwiches with salad in will need to be eaten the next day at the latest.

Boring to many I know, but my top tip for 'nice and really cheap food' would be to learn to cook if you don't already. Because that really is the gateway to feeding yourself well on a budget. You can make a massive pan of dhal for pennies and have with rice. And no, the spices aren't expensive. Get the Asian branded ones and big packs of frozen prepared garlic and ginger and you could set yourself up for months for the price of one of these TGTG bags.

Discountclaimed · 04/04/2022 07:18

I downloaded a few of these apps and randomly they had a LOT of handmade banana bread and not much else. I am allergic to bananas and wouldn’t take hand made food for hygiene reasons so I ended up deleting them.

Also, where I am, going two miles to get two croissants isn’t cost effective

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