TooGoodToGo

Food, Nutrition and Agriculture
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

TooGoodToGo

Post by jennyjj01 »

Earlier today, I mentioned this app TooGoodToGo in a post. It was suggested I post here about my experience of it.

I first heard about this app about the time we all heard of covid.

In a nutshell, it is an app for your phone that allows you to order what your local store is just about to throw away as expired: Stuff which has already been reduced (Yellow stickered). You pay around 1/4 of original price. You don't get to choose what you get.

I'll let the website describe it further. This is my experience of it.

When I first installed it, I googled it and read about it on various facebook pages. I soon read that it has mixed reviews. Some users are disappointed when their 'Magic Bag' is full of manky fruit and veg that they cannot use, or one woman that got pigs trotters!!! While other users rave over their bargains. I saw one lady complain that she got a massive trolly full of onions, for instance. I'd had loved that.

I just approached it as an amusing experiment to see if I could get some produce to dehydrate and to have the challenge of making meals from what I received.

It's worth mentioning the participating businesses that are selling through this app.
Locally, there's Morrisons, Greggs, Assorted carvery restaurants and most recently, my local Spar corner shop. Areas have different businesses participating.

Each day, your local participating stores will forecast how many bags or boxes they anticipate having. You view the app, early in the day and might reserve a 'magic box' (usually a carrier bag) for about £3 - £4 In the case of carvery restaurants you get a doggie bag carvery for about £3,50

Therein lies the first issue. These things sell out quickly. You need to figure out the best time to check the app and it varies by store. Typically, my local Spar lists about 3 to 5 bags as available, at about 8am and they show as sold out by noon or much earlier. If you manage to reserve a 'box', you pay through the app and you have a limited window of opportunity to collect it: Maybe between 7pm and store closing time. If you fail to collect it, it gets binned and you don't get a refund.

So far, I've tried about half a dozen times to reserve a Morrisons box and they have always been sold out. Morrisons is not very local to me, so I don't bother now/

My very local carvery restaurant seems easy enough to reserve with, but collection is after 8pm. So that doesn't appeal to me.

When the pubs had to close for Covid, many local pubs were desperate to get rid of stock: I and a friend nabbed Draught beer at about £5 for 5 Litres. Just book it, and turn up at 3pm with clean 2l pop bottles.

For me, the jewel in the crown is my local Spar. about a mile away. Out of about 8 days of earnestly trying to reserve a 'box' I've had...
Two, where I reserved and paid around 1pm, but got a 'cancelled by store' message at 7pm collection time
One, where I forgot to collect. Early the next day, I rang and they had discarded it. My bad!
Three, where I reserved and paid and successfully collected my 'Bag' at 7pm, costing £3.09 each

Two days where they were sold out very early.

So what did I get? I wish I'd kept a list. But from memory...

Each time, the 'magic box' was actually a heavy disposable carrier bag full. Each bag had a selection of about 6 to 8 items all of which had the yellow half price sticker. No bag was something daft like, say a load of onions. So far, ALL items have been AT the BBE date. None of the food was anywhere near spoiled.
Each time there was something that was a standalone meal of a pie, a pizza, or a chilled TV dinner. In fact two of the bags had two such meals. These meals alone justified the cost. Everything beyond that was a bonus.
In two of the bags, I had a regular loaf of bread. I used one and froze one. There were also assorted bread rolls and muffins.
In two of the bags, I had a substantial premium brand gatteaux of some sort. One bag had no gateau but had trifles.
In two of the bags, I had a pack of some sort of sausage roll or vegan roll
In two of the bags, I had a couple of fruit or veg items. IIRC, One had tomatoes and carrots, the other had spring onions and apples.
Only one of the bags had no fruit or veg.
Only one of the bags had meat, in the form of a tray of two quarter pounder burgers. One had a tub of margarine. Not been lucky enough to get cheese or dairy stuff yet.
There were assorted things that I would not normally buy, like the marg and vegan rolls. But I didn't waste them.
From the bags, I had those apples tomatoes and carrots to dehydrate.

I totted up the full price for each bag and it was in the region of £11 to £14 each
.
Would I recommend it: Well, what's the worst that can happen? You waste a bit of time and end up with a bag of pigs trotters and some manky fruit that cost you four quid. So yes. I recommend it.

Don't use the app to chase the ridiculous. Remember that you could just visit the local supermarket yellow sticker fridge and actually CHOOSE your bargain, That will still be cheap, but the bit of mystery comes double cheap.

Fit it around your location and schedule. It is NO issue for me to pop to the local Spar at 7pm, but I'm damned if I'm driving out of my way for these things.

Embrace to concept. All the stuff in these bags or boxes was destined for the bin. Not because they were rubbish , but because they were unloved until BBE. You might get to try something new (or old) like margarine.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
jansman
Posts: 13623
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:16 pm

Re: TooGoodToGo

Post by jansman »

Thanks for sharing that jennyjj01. I am now intrigued! This is a brilliant example of what I mentioned in my climate change post; staying as local as possible.I would be interested to hear what further treasures you snag. :D
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

Robert Frost.

Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

Me.
ForgeCorvus
Posts: 3035
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:32 pm

Re: TooGoodToGo

Post by ForgeCorvus »

Thanks for sharing Jenny

The 'bran-tub' aspect keeps things interesting, but the knuckle of it is you pay roughly a third to a quarter of the full price and have to pick it up at a time that suits them.

I'll have to see whos doing it round here

Keep us posted on your other TGTG experiences mate.
jennyjj01 wrote:"I'm not in the least bit worried because I'm prepared: Are you?"
Londonpreppy wrote: At its core all prepping is, is making sure you're not down to your last sheet of loo roll when you really need a poo.
"All Things Strive" Gd Tak 'Gar
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: TooGoodToGo

Post by jennyjj01 »

ForgeCorvus wrote: Sun Aug 15, 2021 6:05 pm
Keep us posted on your other TGTG experiences mate.
Update:
Reserved my Magic Bag at about 3pm for collection at 7pm.
Tonight's was disappointing in that some of it will get wasted.

There was meat :) A tray of 4 quarter pound burgers.
A loaf of white sliced bread.
Some pancakes.
Some Dips.

But then the disappointment.
6 bags of washed salad leaves.

Still acceptable value, but they must have known so much short dated salad would disappoint.
Now I need a rabbit if they are going to do that.

Total original full price. £12.34 , £6 of which was the salad. Cost £3.09
IMG_20210815_191526.jpg
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: TooGoodToGo

Post by jennyjj01 »

jennyjj01 wrote: Sun Aug 15, 2021 7:30 pm But then the disappointment.
6 bags of washed salad leaves.
Footnote: Follow up.

The 6 Pancakes were brunch for three of us with a bit of jam and honey.

One of the Hummus dips used with some crackers for a snack. I reckon the other will be good for a couple of days.

One of the burgers with some of the bread (and a bit of added onion) was my evening meal.

The other three burgers would not have lasted long, so they were smashed up and cooked up with an onion, 2 tomatoes from last week's bag :) and a bit of stockpile soya mince and some beer and oxo to create 4 generous portions of beef mince in gravy. Now cooked, they went to the freezer.

I think that will be the theme with any BBE meat. Just cook it to extend its life a bit longer.

And the salad leaves..... They needed lateral thinking..... I've had my first stab at making smoothies. I'm not raving about it, but waste not want not.

https://www.farmdrop.com/blog/hacks-to- ... ad-leaves/

The TGTG experience is going to be restricted by how much room I have in the freezers for the inevitable bread. Bread has been struck off the regular shopping list on the assumption that TGTG will come up with the goods.

I'd say that with creativity, these £3.09 bags will pretty much sustain one person for two days.

I might soon experiment to see if I can eat well JUST from these bags (plus a few store cupboard flavourings). Say 3 bags per week.

The other half thinks I'm nuts :tinfoil :lol: :lol: :lol:
Last edited by jennyjj01 on Mon Aug 16, 2021 7:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
Arzosah
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:20 pm

Re: TooGoodToGo

Post by Arzosah »

I love this analysis, Jenny, I'm so glad you went for it when jansman suggested it :)
jansman
Posts: 13623
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:16 pm

Re: TooGoodToGo

Post by jansman »

Arzosah wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 7:00 pm I love this analysis, Jenny, I'm so glad you went for it when jansman suggested it :)
My lovely wife bought 2 bags of washed salad today. On offer as use by is today. Why? I have a poly tunnel full of salad. She said it was too much trouble! I DO have to appreciate her medical condition at the moment,so I fed the bagged salad to the hens. Them there eggs is getting expensive!

Jenny; thanks for the share. I still think you got a deal there. :D Keep sharing please.
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

Robert Frost.

Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

Me.
ForgeCorvus
Posts: 3035
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:32 pm

Re: TooGoodToGo

Post by ForgeCorvus »

Herself got into the habit of doing the supermarket shop at Ungodly o'clock, as a result we ended up with quite a few yellow labels (not that we've ever been shy of buying them).

"Suitable for home freezing" gets frozen.
Anything that doesn't say "Unsuitable for home freezing" gets frozen
Large packs of meat get turned into small packs of meat, and then frozen
Some things get cooked and then frozen
Anything else gets eaten nowish

You might of noticed a theme to the above, this is why we have more freezers then people here :oops:
jennyjj01 wrote:"I'm not in the least bit worried because I'm prepared: Are you?"
Londonpreppy wrote: At its core all prepping is, is making sure you're not down to your last sheet of loo roll when you really need a poo.
"All Things Strive" Gd Tak 'Gar
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: TooGoodToGo

Post by jennyjj01 »

ForgeCorvus wrote: Tue Aug 17, 2021 7:06 pm Herself got into the habit of doing the supermarket shop at Ungodly o'clock, as a result we ended up with quite a few yellow labels (not that we've ever been shy of buying them).

"Suitable for home freezing" gets frozen.
Anything that doesn't say "Unsuitable for home freezing" gets frozen
Large packs of meat get turned into small packs of meat, and then frozen
Some things get cooked and then frozen
Anything else gets eaten nowish

You might of noticed a theme to the above, this is why we have more freezers then people here :oops:
"Anything that doesn't say "Unsuitable for home freezing" gets frozen"
I laughed at that. :lol:
I didn't realise, but some of these salad leaves could be frozen.

I only have the 4 freezers and I begrudge filling them with bread.
One of my loaves of bread got dehydrated and turned into a big jar of breadcrumbs. Bless the dehydrator!

I do the big asda order tomorrow and will not have to bother putting bread and bread rolls on it.

I have decided that next week, I'm going for it, big time. I intend to really try surviving a whole week on 3 of these £3.09 bags. I will permit myself to add modest store cupboard flavourings and beverages, but in exchange for that privilege, I'll expect to 'trade' some of the contents back to the OH or to the stockpile.

I will be scouting the shop in the daytime to try to get a preview of what I'll get, and that will determine the start day to my week.

Updates and photos to follow.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
jansman
Posts: 13623
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:16 pm

Re: TooGoodToGo

Post by jansman »

jennyjj01 wrote: Tue Aug 17, 2021 9:50 pm
ForgeCorvus wrote: Tue Aug 17, 2021 7:06 pm Herself got into the habit of doing the supermarket shop at Ungodly o'clock, as a result we ended up with quite a few yellow labels (not that we've ever been shy of buying them).

"Suitable for home freezing" gets frozen.
Anything that doesn't say "Unsuitable for home freezing" gets frozen
Large packs of meat get turned into small packs of meat, and then frozen
Some things get cooked and then frozen
Anything else gets eaten nowish

You might of noticed a theme to the above, this is why we have more freezers then people here :oops:
"Anything that doesn't say "Unsuitable for home freezing" gets frozen"
I laughed at that. :lol:
I didn't realise, but some of these salad leaves could be frozen.

I only have the 4 freezers and I begrudge filling them with bread.
One of my loaves of bread got dehydrated and turned into a big jar of breadcrumbs. Bless the dehydrator!

I do the big asda order tomorrow and will not have to bother putting bread and bread rolls on it.

I have decided that next week, I'm going for it, big time. I intend to really try surviving a whole week on 3 of these £3.09 bags. I will permit myself to add modest store cupboard flavourings and beverages, but in exchange for that privilege, I'll expect to 'trade' some of the contents back to the OH or to the stockpile.

I will be scouting the shop in the daytime to try to get a preview of what I'll get, and that will determine the start day to my week.

Updates and photos to follow.
Salad bags ! Try this! https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2020/01 ... to-recipe/
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

Robert Frost.

Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

Me.