To think Too Good To Go is doing little to help food waste?

[Sapphirejane]

I could be unlucky but it seems to me that all the Too Good to Go app is doing is shifting the food being thrown away from the shops to being thrown away by the customer, whilst at the same time boosting the shop’s profits and letting them say they are cutting food waste.

For those who don’t know, it’s an app where shops sell mystery bags of food that should be edible but would otherwise be thrown away due to sell by dates, at a very reduced price. I’ve tried the app a few times and each time I’ve had bags of mostly inedible/stale food with lots of repeats (a bag with 4 limp/mouldy lettuces for example) which end up being thrown away by me rather than by the shop. My friend has had a similar experience. Are we just unlucky?

YABU - it’s a great system and you’ve just been unlucky with your bags.

YANBU - you are just paying to do the shops dirty work for them.

You need to look at pickup times. A burger place near me used to have pickup starting from opening. I used it once before I cottoned on and it was a really small basic burger - not the usual. So now anything that has a time that isn't the end of a logical
opening day I steer clear of.

I've had a real mixed bag. Some really good ones, including breakfast from Leon for three of us for £3, a Japanese one which was a takeaway treat for three of us for £10, Toby Carvery for £3.29 that did three meals and the Co-op ones have been good. Had some dire ones though. One filled with several boxes of dried dill and dill seeds and a bag of rice, all of which were in date, and I drove to pick one up last week from One Stop to be told it had been cancelled, total waste of time and fuel. I have a free bag from TGTG after I complained but it has put me off.
I'm still very much on the fence.

Any of the national chains on there are quite rubbish I have found (Starbucks, Costa, pumpkin, miss millies, supermarkets etc) and the food isn't even worth the £3 paid and its not very nice, independents are hit and miss, but there are some good ones on there with good value and food

I think it’s probably down to the ethical standpoint of the shop.
“we genuinely want to help with food waste” = good bags

“we don’t really care about food waste but we can make £4 by getting rid of these lettuces and tomatoes on the turn” = shit bag

Our local (v expensive) deli does them and they’re great. £4.99 for 2 hambletons bakery massive loaves, not stale, 2 cheese straws, 2 sausage rolls, 2 brownies, 2 cherry bakewell cakes, a pot of mint chutney and 2 massive samosas. Had 4 bags now and it’s a similar amount. I got a bottle of gin in one as it was overstock 😂 all the rest pale in comparison now through 🙈

I often grab a "bread bag" from our local cafe/deli and feel that I get good value.
At another coffee shop I had a bag of danish pastries, much nicer than the supermarket ones.

I've not bothered with the convenience store ones.

I tried Oddbox for a while (rescue fruit and veg), but ended up throwing lots away because of the random quantities (e.g 20 kiwi fruit arrived one week. Other times the fruit is tiny and over ripe).

All the bags I've had have been great. Costa, Sayers, Greggs, Spar, WH Smith. We don't eat meat so I just pass what we won't eat on to family, friends and neighbours. The best ones have been when I've had the child with me and they weren't ready at the time so I was able to ask for all vegetarian.

Have found Too Good To Go is best with independent bakeries. The chain backs are so stingy and contents just yuck. At my local bakery I get a couple of massive sourdoughs and usually a cinnamon bun or two. We have dinners on toast and then panzanella salad, it's so great.

@Madcats - we tried Oddbox for a while but had the same issue, I ended up handing out fruit and veg to the neighbours which is nice and all but expensive for me. They would also put some really odd things in which could be great but not always easy to plan a meal around when you are working full time with children to feed quickly etc.

They’re a bit hit and miss. The M and S garage at the end of the road occasionally does amazing ones (4 pastries, bread rolls, pizza, salad) and sometimes shit ones (three bags of salad, a loaf of bread and apple pie). But We have chickens so no fresh stuff goes to waste as they just eat it. Best one near me is an independent bakery that does the most amazing ENORMOUS breakfast pastries for about £3.50 each. Yesterday afternoon I collected a magic bag which had 5 of them in for £4. Heated them up in the oven this morning for breakfast. Am intrigued by the Toby carvery ones, very tempted to drive over there one evening at 9pm just to see if it’s a giant parcel of roast potatoes as that would be the best thing ever 🤣

I did this once and there is a fancy health food shop nearby. I got (on this sell by date) yoghurt, home made soup (so in a tub with no ingredients listed), coffee pods (very long sell by, I don’t have a machine) and some rice cakes (at sell by). Oh and some fruity yoghurt (also in sell by date).

It wasn’t cheap - and I know the thing is to ‘save’ food - but since they have a kitchen they’d just use it there anyway wouldn’t they?

I was hoping for some fruit or veggies!

I've just done my first one today, picking up from Costa later. Anyone know what happens if you don't get there in the 45min time window they've provided?

With ones like Costa the value doesn't feel amazing as they are high prices

So a £5 Costa sandwich, we pay 1/3 so £1.66.

But I can also get a Tesco meal deal sandwich OF MY OWN CHOSING for around that same price (as part of the £3 meal deal).

So I like it for a surprise but they don't really save much.

It's hit and miss, but they are only allowed to give you what is still in date, so still sellable and it won't have gone off or gone stale. I find the Greggs bags are usually quite good and there you are definitely saving fresh sandwiches and cakes that would otherwise be binned. Whereas I found the CO-OP ones bizarre because they just went round the store picking up the reduced section items to come to £3 worth, which I could have done myself as they did it when I got there, so it didn't feel like value for money at all as they were already heavily discounted. I would try them all in your local area and see which ones work for you. In the end, none work for me as I eat too many Greggs doughnuts and get fat :D

We only use too good to go for greggs and a local bakery.
We have tried supermarkets, costa and starbucks and they were not very good bags. Most of the food was thrown away as it was stale or un edible.

then you don't get it because it's usually right at the end before closing time. Cancel your bag if you can't get there and someone else can have it!

At the end of the day it is worth what you pay for it. People do not realise this. It was £15 worth of food when it was fresh etc but it now isnt. If it was worth more they would sell it for more.

I think restaurants and cafes are a better option as they have to overstock slightly to ensure there are a range of customers, which means there will be some palatable stuff left from time to time, but supermarkets these days stock so carefully that if something is left over & they are willing to flog it cheap it means its unsellable/crap.

It's the same with yellow sticker items - 10p off a £1.50 item going off today, the only things with significant reductions are basically already mouldy.

I get the occasional cinabon bag as a treat for the kids. The contents would normally cost me around £14 but on too good to go only £3.80.
Try different stores if you can.

After too many disasters ive got rid of the app.
Waste of time.

I signed up but never used it because I'm veggie, and I don't want to be given meat sandwiches or whatever. It's a good idea in theory.

I think you must have been unlucky OP. We have used it a few times now and always had great value bags. As PP have mentioned, I think it's worth focusing on the places with a high rating, and only going to places in walking distance or on your usual route home etc.

There's one local restaurant that sells out within seconds so I have taken to checking my app ten times a day. We're tickled pink when we manage to grab a bag from there and it's enough for four delicious meals for just £4.

@InChocolateWeTrust - I disagree that it’s worth what you pay. Some of the bags people have described definitely sound worth it, but even if it was once worth £15, if it’s now inedible or it’s not possible to eat it all (lots of repeats of things at the limit of their life) then it doesn’t matter that it was once worth, it still isn’t worth £5 to me now. I would also say just because something was priced at £15 once doesn’t mean it was worth it even then. I definitely don’t think many of M&S’ high prices are justified for what is often mediocre food.

I am going to take on board all the tips from here though and try again.

Thanks for this thread OP. I’d never heard of this or Olio (I thought Olio was an olive oil… was last in England 5 years ago so lots of changes). YANBU to expect to get something edible and worth more than what you’ve paid due to the short date, 4 bad lettuces sounds grim. I’ve downloaded and am going to investigate what my local shops are chucking out. Will report back later. ;)

@TrashPandas I don't eat meat, but I think I was able to specify veggie IIRC.

@TrashPandas - I’ve just had another look on mine, no independents sadly but they do have a veggie specific section.

Was going to say the same.