To not fully understand Too Good To Go app?

[2TheLighthouse]

‘Too good to go’ is the app where you can reserve cut-price bags of food that would otherwise be thrown away at the end of the day, in case anyone didn’t know.

I thought I’d give it a go as I’m trying to economise. But there are rarely any bags available, ever. It always says things like ‘such and such place sold out at 4:40am’ or something equally random, but the bags are for collection the following evening.

I imagined it was going to be a much more last-minute thing - eg they’d start rounding things up during the run-up to closing to get an idea of how many bags of stuff they’d have. I guess it also makes sense to estimate, based on experience, how many bags they will have and advertise in advance - but there seems to be no pattern to it. If it’s all done in advance, surely there should be a set time every day when they ‘release’ them?? It’s just really bugging me!

Thanks for introducing me to the app! I just picked this up for £4 from an independent cafe in East London.

DS and his GF seem to be obsessed by them and regularly collect bags from local takeaways and bakers. They are very good value but the food often ends up sitting in my fridge until I throw it away

We get them regularly from our local co-op. We tend to get vegetables, meat, ready meals, bread and cakes or cookies. We freeze what we don't eat that day or the next, it saves us money and we eat a more varied diet.

Weve got loads of BP garages round by us with M&S food courts. We've had some great finds 😂

I got a bag from Costa a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t too bad - a chicken sandwich, croissant and a meat free ‘bacon’ sandwich.

For those who have got a Toby Carvery or Harvester rotisserie chicken and salad, what are they like? E.g. quality, portion size

My FIL introduced me to this. He regularly gets £5 boxes of cheese from a local cheese shop - last time I was there it included a wedge of grana padano, halloumi, mozzarella and a little cheddar/cranberry thing. He loves it - worth looking out for local farmers markets etc.

i had tried to get a morrisons box but never could, i asked my local morrisons store and they said they only do one a day, i have heard that the lidl boxes are good if you have one near you.

Why would you want to pay good money for junk food though, just because it's cheaper. It's just encouraging people to buy fatty sugary rubbish, which can't be good for the nation's health.

It’s just food - a huge variety. Not necessarily junk food. Judging by this thread, it’s just the luck of the draw…

Yeah I don't see it as any form of money saving.

It's just a way to get sone cakes/sarnies for a reasonable price. What I'd pay reduced in Costa for 3.50 I could probably get full price in Asda (and puck my exact faves)

But it's a nice surprise what we get. But I only do cafes really. Been scared by Morrisons and getting tons of green leafy stuff in that box! Far too focused on one thing in my local store.

You get to know times your favourites usually go on sale. Near us it’s usually night before and maybe one in day.
It’s obviously hit & miss. We have a Starbucks, Subway and Greggs at top of street so do use it sometimes.

It's not all 'junk food' though. Some fruit and veg shops do it, we get ours from the co-op and supermarkets etc. we choose not to get the Costa and Greggs ones often but we done occasionally.

Well, yeah. It's like walking into a shop, buying a nightie, wearing it as a dress and complaining that it's a bit flimsy. You could wear a nightgown as a dress if you really wanted, but it's not what the people selling it ever intended.

A lot of people use TG2G to try to save money and - like you - are disappointed that with some shops, they get some cheap, random crap no one else wanted to buy. That's kinda the point.

Btw, if you have a look in your area, there are some retailers that specifically look to offload fruit and veg (read the description carefully), so there may be some that are better suited to what you need. But it's all pot luck, and what you pay for is a bag that could be a bargain or it could be a pile of crap. The point is, if you use TG2G, you can't be fussy, and you're more focussed on reducing food waste and helping the environment.

There's no indication or promise on the app that it's ingredients only (unless you get a specific fruit and veg bag, or whatever) so that's on you.

If you'd ordered a veg bag, or a store cupboard essentials bag (a shop near me does one like this, it's always tins and packets) and got that, then you'd be right to be disappointed. As it is, it's kind of your own fault (sorry!).

Pick your stores and the type of bag more carefully and you'll be onto a winner - the kind of stuff an M&S or a bakery will have left over will be very different to a a Spar, for example.

The Toby ones are a standard delivery-sized box, the quality's fine.

Are you able to filter the bags - e.g. if you're vegan?

Well, yeah. It's like walking into a shop, buying a nightie, wearing it as a dress and complaining that it's a bit flimsy. You could wear a nightgown as a dress if you really wanted, but it's not what the people selling it ever intended.

Umm. It’s not quite like that, in my opinion. It’s perfectly possible to save food from landfill and economise at the same time, whereas you can’t really wear a dress as a nightie and a dress simultaneously. My point being, it’s possible to save food from landfill and economise (which clearly must be the idea too). But it relies on the food being viable food items.

Just saying really that the one and only bag I’ve tried was absolute crap. Much worse than any people have described on here. It’s all very well saying you need to choose better, but there is so little choose from. It’s the first time anything has been available at anything like a convenient place and time! I’m very envious of all these people saying they get gourmet cheese or delicious pastries. I got tofu. 😬

I would be willing to accept that I was being unreasonable if I was actually doing it wrong something (as opposed to ‘thinking about it wrong’). But here, in a (small, admittedly) city, it’s slim pickings. There’s very little available and my one successful try was a bag of crap. Them’s the breaks, I guess.

I love TG2G, I regularly get a bag from a nearby bakery that usually has a dozen bagels, family-sized loaf of bread, and often a few biscuits for £3. I freeze most of it and it’ll last us a couple of weeks.

Never pick places where you wouldn’t buy the food at full price, and think carefully about what they’re likely to have unsold at the end of the day. It’s great it if you choose carefully!

I love TG2G, I regularly get a bag from a nearby bakery that usually has a dozen bagels, family-sized loaf of bread, and often a few biscuits for £3. I freeze most of it and it’ll last us a couple of weeks.

Really rubbing salt in the wound there, @MotherWol !

We use the app a few times a month.

Greggs bags are always good here- we once ended up with a tray of 12 doughnuts along with a sausage roll, a sandwich, a baguette, and pack of cookies.

Costa can be hit and miss. Nero often cancel as they have nothing left.

There's a few local independent shops and pubs that use it and they're always pretty good. We've had roast dinners, boxes of broken brownies, loaves of bread, chocolates, fudge.

Morrisons supermarkets are very good value, we've had some great bags- but we find the small fuel station ones are terrible so don't bother anymore.

I've had them from Costa a Nero's. I love them. Especially now Costa is selling M&S food. It's also encouraged me to try new things.

Ours is just greggs. Waste of time and money really.

@2TheLighthouse I know, I keep expecting that they’ll put the price up or reduce the amount of bread in them, but so far they’ve been great! OTOH the deli that gave me five blocks of nearly out of date feta, not so much…

I've tried using it a few times and don't really like it. Far too much bread or leftover dried up chicken from a restaurant. I use Olio where I can pick the product and collection time.

It's fine if you can regard it as a fun extra, but I'd never recommend it to anyone who hasn't got much room on their food budget as it could be a disaster for them.

I tend to get pret and Starbucks ones if I'm coming through the train station when they're up, as a treat of 'bought sandwiches' or croissants for the kids. The carvery walking distance from us offers them and I'm definitely planning a jaunt round there soon when I'm on my own one night.

For me they're about saving food, and having a bit of fun, sometimes I save money but not always. Olio is much better for that.