Being a frequent user of TikTok, as I’m sure many of you are, I’ve recently come across my fair share of videos about the food waste app Too Good To Go.
If you don’t already know, Too Good To Go is a service that allows people to buy leftover or ready-to-expire food products to combat food waste. This means that businesses have begun registering for the app so that consumers can buy their “Surprise Bags” — or more curated grocery, produce, meal, or baked goods bags — at a lower cost than normal.
Like any other social media user who is privy to ads upon ads — most of which are scams or just generally untrustworthy — I was pretty skeptical at first. Of course, I want to help reduce carbon emissions and the amount of food waste in landfills, but I wasn’t too confident in businesses not taking advantage of the service.
That is, until I tried it out myself.
Over the past week, I’ve picked up a total of four different bags from businesses in my area to help you (and honestly myself) decide whether Too Good To Go is actually worth it.
Here was my experience:
fIRST oRDER: mABEL’S “baked Goods” Bag for $5.64
Located at 323 Roncesvalles Avenue, this bag was probably the best out of all the ones I purchased.
After a busy day, I picked this bag up only ten minutes before the allotted time ended, so I wasn’t really expecting much, but boy, was I wrong.
In this bag, I received two blueberry muffins, two triple chocolate brownies, two butter tarts: one pecan and one original, one cinnamon bun, one chocolate croissant, and finally, one almond croissant.
If that itself isn’t enough to sell you on the app, I don’t know what is.
Having shopped at Mabel’s before and knowing the prices of some of the items, this bag was probably about $25 in savings; however, the app only estimated it to be about $15 worth.
Quality plays a role in price, but if you had told me these brownies were about to go bad, I would’ve 100% called you a liar. No, seriously, everything was super fresh.
With enough baked goods to fuel me for a week, this bag is literally perfect for those moments when all you want is a sweet little treat.
Overall, my first order was a five out of five-star purchase!
Second Order: Lebanon Express’ “Prepared Meal” Bag for $6.77
Located at 327 Roncesvalles Avenue, this meal was incredibly filling for the price.
I had seen a few reviews online for Lebanon Express before reserving the bag, and they all looked super promising. Even though I didn’t get any meat like a lot of other customers had, I still got some yummy items.
For this meal, I got a small serving of kale salad with apple, cucumber, pepper, and brussel sprouts. I also got a good amount of rice, lentils, and mosaga — oven-baked eggplant with chickpeas, tomatoes, and pepper.
Everything I received was hot (aside from the salad, obviously) and super fresh, even though it was the end of the day! The only downside to this bag was that pickup was around 10 p.m., so I was waiting a while. Luckily, I watched them pack the container, and they spared no room, which I was super thankful for since I was really hungry.
The best part about this experience is that they asked if I wanted sauces or not — hummus, garlic, and hot sauce — which is important because not everyone likes condiments (but if you know me you know the answer was definitely).
Overall, I would get this again, but I’d probably have a snack before — five out of five stars!
Third Order: Fresh Picked Fruit Market’s “Groceries” Bag for $7.90
Located at 1576 Bloor Street West, this bag wasn’t the best, but it was a little bit expected.
When you order a produce bag, chances are the food will be of less quality than baked goods or prepared food. Fruit and vegetables often bruise easier or go bad faster than processed food does, which was very clear from this order.
In this bag, I received 13 apples, two very overripe plantains, a bag of string beans, a bag of peas, blueberry and rose stuffed biscuits (past expiry), light cream cheese (past expiry), and a loaf of white bread (past expiry).
Where the whole point of the app is to buy and receive food that is about to reach the best-before date, I wasn’t shocked by the expired items. However, due to some mold, out of everything I got, only 5 apples, the peas, the beans, the bread, and half of the cream cheese were edible.
I would have liked to utilize the plantains, but unfortunately, most recipes using overripe plantains called for extra ingredients that I didn’t have, and seeing how the point of the app for consumers is to save money, this wasn’t ideal.
With this bag, I was able to make toast with cream cheese, steamed veggies, and some baked apples.
Overall, although I had some good meals, I was let down by the loss of some of the items, especially since it was the most pricey bag out of all four.
In total, this was a three-out-of-five-star bag.
Final Order: Master Supermarket’s “Produce” Bag for $5.99
Located at 329 Roncesvalles Avenue, I ordered from Master’s supermarket because I wanted something to compare to the previous grocery bag I received.
Just because produce goes bad easily doesn’t mean that every time you order it you will receive bad quality items, and this order proved just that.
In this bag, I received two heads of fennel, five peppers, one head of iceberg lettuce, one head of romaine lettuce, two eggplants, one zucchini, and a bag of button mushrooms.
Aside from some wilting, wrinkling, and bruising, most of the produce in this bag was of great quality. With the ingredients, I made a fennel salad, roasted eggplant, peppers, and zucchini, and a nice mushroom gravy to go with it.
Not only was it all delicious (thank you to my mediocre cooking skills), but it was really fun to see everything come together. For such a filling meal at such a cheap price, it was definitely worth it.
Overall, this was a much more positive and fulfilling grocery experience and a five out of five-star bag.
My Thoughts
Based on my experience, the app’s two million users, and the 12 thousand businesses registered, it’s safe to say that Too Good To Go is somewhat worth the hype.
Like online shopping, the quality of what you get is dependent on the business, but luckily for most, many reviews are already available online to give you an idea of what’s in store when you place an order. And, even if you can’t find anything about what you’re planning to buy, with most options ranging from $4.99 to $7.99 it won’t cost much to just go for it.
Although bags are released daily, most will need to be reserved the night before. Depending on the business and the quantity, some of the bags go pretty quickly, so each company will typically have restock times listed.
My suggestion? Set an alarm for five minutes before the bags go up for grabs and constantly refresh the page — Taylor Swift Era’s Tour tickets, who?
Once you’ve paid, you’ll be given a time frame for pickup, but as a general rule of thumb, know that most will probably be in the evening. Can’t make it? Cancellations and refunds can be completed up to two hours before designated pickup.
If you’re still not confident about navigating the service, no stress! You can find extra tips and tricks in our previous article here.
So, if you haven’t already, download the app!
From saving money to helping the environment, using this service has tons of benefits — not only will your wallet and the planet thank you, but your cooking skills and taste buds will too!