Writer tests an app that promises to … Take a bite out of your food bill

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Sushi, artisan bread, fresh soup and more donuts, pastries and sandwiches than I can count. I haven’t cooked even once in the last week – all the meals came from shops, bakeries and restaurants. Because of this, I can’t button up my jeans anymore.

But instead of being in some extravagant waste, I actually saved myself a small fortune.

How, you may ask? All this thanks to an app that aims to reduce the 9.5 million tons of food we throw away annually.

Too Good To Go allows users to purchase and collect bags of unused food from more than 15,000 companies at an extremely discounted price.

Claudia Connell (pictured) rules on the Too Good To Go app, which allows users to purchase and collect bags of unused food at an extremely discounted price

The catch is that you don’t know what you’re getting until you take a so-called ‘magic bag’ out of the socket. You could be lucky and you will receive an impressive offer of delicious food. In the end, you can also get a selection of goods that you wouldn’t even dream of buying. In other words, it’s a lucky dive.

With the option to bag goodies at discounted prices from companies like M&S, Waitrose, Pret a Manger and Leon, it’s no wonder Too Good To Go has become some of the bragging of the middle class.

Introduced in the UK in 2016, it sells 500,000 bags of food per month.

But was it too good to be true, I wondered?

FIRST DAY

BREAKFAST: Pret, £ 9 food for £ 3.

DINNER LUNCH: Greggs, food worth £ 10 for £ 2.59.

I download the app and enter my location and debit card information.

Since I live in Brighton, I’m spoiled for choice of outlets and I’m excited about my first magic bag when I join seven million other users in the UK.

The app works by showing you what is available: now, later or tomorrow. The number of bags of food is limited, so the question of who comes first is the first to grind.

I start by booking breakfast at Preto’s and a lunch bag from Greggs.

Users have a very limited window to pick up the bag and since I’m a newbie, I didn’t think about logistics.

I can pick up Pret’s breakfast from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and I can’t pick up Greggs ’bag until 2:30 p.m., even though they’re next to each other – I’ll have to go home and then come back.

At Preto I get a box of porridge, a vegetarian breakfast wrap and a croissant with cheese and tomatoes. A fairytale-filled start, all said.

Later, I join three women waiting for their magic bags in Greggs. “I’ve been doing this for three months now and Greggs gives the bags the best value,” one of them tells me, adding, “Don’t bother with M&S – they’re as tight as anything else.”

Claudia said she was spoiled for choice with food outlets and began testing the app by booking breakfast at Preto and a lunch bag at Gregs.  Pictured: Gregs food

Claudia said she was spoiled for choice with food outlets and began testing the app by booking breakfast at Preto and a lunch bag at Gregs. Pictured: Gregs food

I take the bag home and pull out: six white baguettes, two yum yum donuts, two ice raspberry donuts, a baguette with chicken and bacon, and two large jam sandwich cookies.

I freeze the baguettes and make fun of the rest because I feel too full to book a discounted dinner.

The problem with evening meals is that because the food is unsold, it is only available at 9.30pm.

As much as I adore my local chips, do I really want to eat cod and chips so late?

OTHER DAY

BREAKFAST: Flour Pot Bakery, food worth £ 14 for £ 3.50.

LUNCH: Costa Coffee, food worth £ 10 for £ 3.

DINNER: Third Avenue Bakery, food worth £ 13.50 for £ 3.50.

Flour Pot Bakery is a small chain of artisanal bakers where I was happy to pay £ 4 for one loaf. This morning I pay £ 3.50 and collect a bag containing a wholemeal baguette, a sunflower rye loaf, two Danish pastries, two pains au chocolat and two croissants. This is truly a magic bag.

I’m still in a pastry coma when it’s time to pick up lunch with Costa.

Claudia said Starbucks is popular with app users because it offers generous bags, and she agrees after receiving £ 10 of food for £ 4.

Claudia said Starbucks is popular with app users because it offers generous bags, and she agrees after receiving £ 10 of food for £ 4.

Compared to Flour Pot, my big ground pie, two Bakewell slices, a bun of iced cinnamon and (unusually) lollipop, and a packet of fizzy candy are stunning. I hate Bakewell’s slices and I’m afraid I’ll end up throwing away the food I had to save.

Later, at the independent Third Avenue bakery in Hove, I get my £ 3.50: a loaf of sourdough, a Danish apple, a cheesecake, a raisin cake, a cinnamon bun and an almond croissant. It’s delicious, but it’s not really ‘dinner’.

THIRD DAY

LUNCH: Pret, £ 14 food for £ 4.

AFTERNOON T-SHIRT: Starbucks, food worth £ 10 for £ 4.

DINNER: Little Waitrose, food worth £ 15 (reduced to £ 7.79) for £ 5.

My first bag is lunch from Pret – three hot chicken katsu curry soups and a roll of meatballs.

Starbucks is popular with app users because it offers generous bags, and I agree: I get muffins, cookies, and a spinach and falafel wrap.

In the evening, I book my first bag at the supermarket at Little Waitrose, which is six miles away in the Shell garage. At 10pm I pick up my bag – an avocado and feta salad, a packet of onion bhaji, a salad with chicken and tabbouleh, a ready-made chicken meal in satay sauce and a packet of Quorn cocktail sausages.

Claudia said the bags she got from Morrisons were filled with cheese, ham, meat pie, vegetables, milk, yogurt, bread, baked beans, cream, noodles and fresh vegetables for £ 3.

Claudia said the bags she got from Morrisons were filled with cheese, ham, meat pie, vegetables, milk, yogurt, bread, baked beans, cream, noodles and fresh vegetables for £ 3.

But what is it? The food is all ‘yellow labeled’, which means it is already heavily reduced.

“You have to remember that although we want to provide good service and value for money, our main goal is not to put food in the bin. So yes, you’ll get food with yellow stickers in supermarkets, ”says CEO Paschalis Loucaides, informing me that Too Good To Go earns £ 1.09 for every magic bag sold.

THE FOURTH DAY

LUNCH: Greggs, food worth £ 10 for £ 2.59.

AFTERNOON T-SHIRT: Caffe Nero, food worth £ 15 for £ 3.09.

DINNER: Morrisons, food worth £ 11.50 for £ 3.

Another difficult but very generous Gregs bag is followed by a race across the city to Caffe Nero. The sales assistant is obviously generous and offers toast, sandwiches, paninis and two chocolate chip cookies. He is supposed to give me food worth £ 10, but it is closer to £ 15.

I then head to Morrisons before 6.30pm. The assistant hands me two bags, so heavy I can barely lift them. At home, I get excited about my catch: cheese, ham, meat pie, vegetables, milk, yogurt, bread, baked beans, cream, noodles and fresh vegetables – all for £ 3.

Such a bag would be a godsend to a family in trouble.

Claudia admits that by the last day, she had become strangely addicted to the app, despite being disappointed with items with yellow stickers from M&S

Claudia admits that by the last day, she had become strangely addicted to the app, despite being disappointed with items with yellow stickers from M&S

FIFTH DAY

BREAKFAST: FCB coffee, food worth £ 12 for £ 3.99.

DINNER: Yo Sushi, food worth £ 10 for £ 3.50.

MIDNIGHT HOLIDAY: M&S, food worth £ 12 (but prices with yellow labels add up to £ 5.18) for £ 4.

My last day of using the app, from which I am getting strangely addicted. I head to the FCB cafe at Brighton Station, where I pick up a cheddar plughman’s, a roll of sausages and two croissants with cheese and ham and Danish pastries.

And then to Yo! Sushi, where I meet Grace, a student who tells me she’s Too Good To Go, is saved for her.

When I see that dinner is Leon and that a bag of Marks & Spencer is available, I put it in a tray of sushi with salmon and tuna. Which to choose?

Who doesn’t like M&S food? I booked a bag for £ 4 and hope to get some tasty favorites in the end – but unfortunately that’s just another disappointment with the yellow stickers. My roast chicken sandwich has been lowered to 64p and the box of ground pies I have to eat that day isn’t exactly good for me.

Here are a Victoria biscuit, a potato salad, a croissant and three donuts with jam.

I add up the prices of the yellow stickers and find that I haven’t saved a single cent. You should listen to that lady in Greggs.

TOTAL: £ 166 FOOD FOR £ 48.76

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