Saving the planet, and money, with pioneering food scheme
With the cost of living crisis worsening and concerns over waste increasing, reporter Megan Carr tried the world’s largest surplus food app, Too Good To Go...
Rather than throwing food away, more and more supermarkets, cafés, restaurants and takeaways are turning to a new phone app to help clear their shelves and kitchens at the end of the day.
Too Good To Go is being trialled in Kent, London and Surrey, with retailers offering cut-price “Magic Bags” with mystery food and drink products, either close to their expiry date or leftovers from service.
We ordered some to find out if they really are worth all the hype...
The Isle of Sheppey
Signing up to the app and logging on is very easy. If you have an iPhone you just link up to your Apple ID, no fuss. It asks for your location so it can tell you straight away what is available.
When I looked for deals at 10am I was disheartened that nothing was around on the Island. I could see all the bags had sold out at around 3pm the day before.
But the app does make it clear you need to keep checking throughout the day, as the stores will update the app if they have bags available as trading draws to a close.
So when I checked again at about 1.30pm, I was thrilled to see Starbucks at Neats Court, Queenborough, had two bags available for £4.
It promised £15 of products and could be collected between 5pm and 5.30pm – a good time if you’re commuting from work.
Once I’d got the goods home, I was excited to see what I’d got. The first two items I
pulled out were two vegan Beyond Meat Breakfast sandwiches with a slice of coconut oil-based alternative cheese.
I wasn’t thrilled, especially at the fact I’d got a double, but as a leftover bag of course you get what you get. At least it was the next day’s lunch sorted.
On Deliveroo, the sandwiches are £5.65, so I’d got an incredible deal.
There were three more items in the bag: a gorgeously soft strawberry and cream muffin, an iced raspberry swirl, that was a tad dry, and a birthday cake cookie.
As someone with a massive sweet tooth I was chuffed, they were all items I would have bought myself.
Sittingbourne
Wanting to try something that wasn’t a chain, I was happy to
see The Italian Shop, which opened last month in Sittingbourne High Street, was offering Magic Bags.
The store is unapologetically expensive and the owners defended their prices with the fact all their produce if freshly made and imported from Italy.
Their bag cost £5 but with the promise of £15 of goodies inside.
At this store, you could collect your Too Good To Go order between 4.30pm and 5.30pm, perfect if you’re passing on the way home.
Upon opening my bag I was quite surprised. I didn’t really know what to expect but inside were two halves of stuffed courgettes covered in tomatoes and cheese, a large roasted pepper and toasted bruschetta topped with roasted tomatoes.
It was clearly fresh from that
What you got for your money differed vastly from store to store
day’s cooking but I felt a bit underwhelmed compared to what I had got from Starbucks. I had to reminded myself this was from an independent business with premium Italian ingredients.
The food was delicious and so full of flavour but I can’t really imagine paying more than £5 for it.
However, it did enable me to taste the shop’s produce and I would definitely go back to see what is fresh.
Maidstone
Pret a Manger was the destination of choice for our breakfast pick up in Maidstone, although I had to be quick on the button to reserve it the day before. I managed to get the very last one.
My £3 breakfast bag (worth £17) from Fremlin Walk was available to pick up between 10am and 10.30am – although you are advised to get there earlier for the best picks.
The most pleasant surprise of the whole thing came when I got back and unpacked the goods – a bacon and egg roll, two tomato mozzarella croissants (one veggie and one meat), and porridge – was how hot it managed to stay.
The two breakfast croissants tasted as if they were just cooked.
This Magic Bag could provide a hot breakfast for a whole family for just £3.
Other options
Saving money and the environment, what’s not to like?
The app was easy to use, although there’s clearly a knack to finding that window of opportunity for each retailer.
Supermarkets such as Morrisons, the Co-op, Nisa Local, Budgens and Costcutter are also part of the scheme, and perhaps this is where the real benefits will lie for those facing harder times.
Morrisons was offering £10 of groceries reduced to £3.29 when we tried to procure one.
But these Magic Bags were the most challenging to come by, and were gone almost as soon as they were advertised
There are also restaurants on the app, for my area these included Toby Carvery – which also provides breakfast and carvery bags as well as vegetarian options – and Harvester.
Overall I was impressed with Too Good To Go.
By buying two Magic Bags I saved the same amount of CO2 as would be used to charge 885 smart phones, apparently.
The app says by the time I’ve bought five I would have saved the equivalent produced by driving 31 miles – although that doesn’t take into account how far you might have driven to get to the vendor.
The downsides are of course that you don’t know what you’re getting, and the bags – while offering separate vegetarian and meat options – do not always guarantee allergen information when ordering.
What you got for your money differed vastly from store to store.
But I’ll definitely be using the app again, as well as recommending it to others. n Download Too Good To Go from the Apple app store or Google Play