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I tried the unique service that keeps the fridge stocked cheaply and diverts food waste from landfills.
If you want fresh, hot takeout without the high cost of traditional delivery apps, you’re in luck. Too good to go is a delivery app destroyer that allows restaurantsdelicatessens, bakeries and markets prepared foods which may otherwise be intended for garbage and for consumers with a huge discount. Surprise meals are available for pick-up right before the restaurant closes and are typically priced between $4 and $7, or roughly 50% to 75% off the regular price.
It’s a mixed bag – literally, as you have no say in what you get unless you happen upon the handful of vegan and vegetarian options – but for your gamble you usually get a good amount of food and the double satisfaction of knowing you’ve saved some money , as well as having saved several servings of quality food from the trash.
With user ratings and reviews built into the app, it’s easy to get an idea of which surprise bags offer the most bang for your buck. I tried Too Good to Go for a week and found the service easy to use. It turned out to be a cheap way to eat well at night I don’t want to cook and save money compared to conventional takeoutespecially if you are strategic in your approach.
Read more: No, you cannot recycle black plastic takeout boxes. Here’s what you can recycle
I try too well to go for a week
The application includes restaurants and supermarkets that want to offload food at a fraction of the normal price that could otherwise be consumed.
I wanted to explore the service, not necessarily in terms of its breadth of interesting food options, but more about the potential money savings built into its concept, so I saved five surprise bags over the course of a week to see if it was a legitimate way to eat on a budget. I was mainly looking for options that looked like they could provide multiple meals and would have the capacity to freeze well for later consumption.
The more concentrated your population is, the more options you’ll have available through Too Good to Go. In my outer New York City neighborhood, there are over a dozen options available regularly within a mile radius of where I live. (Looking at the app regularly, I discovered that not every business has bags to give away every day.) Since I approached this from saving money and from a routine dining perspective, I didn’t want to scour the entire city for the most appealing options, but rather find close to home or sometimes in other neighborhoods when meetings or engagements have already brought me to those areas.
Too Good to Go has dozens of grab-and-go food options, all for around $6 each.
One inherent challenge of using Too Good to Go is that probably half of the participating eateries are bakeries whose products have no resale value after that day. It’s a good use of the app from a retailer perspective, but as a consumer… Although a bag full of baguettes and pastries is a fun treat every now and then (or useful if you have a big family or a brunch party coming up) , for a one-person household, this is probably not one of the most recommended ways to take advantage of the service.
Read more: Grinder Bin Review: Turn Coarse Food Scraps into Dirt in 6 Hours (Just Don’t Call It Compost)
Too Good to Go Takeout Diary: What I Ate for a Week
Focusing mostly on non-bakery, here’s a breakdown of the five bags I received from Too Good to Go during the week, taking into account what I paid for the bag, what the original value of the items would have been if purchased outright, how many meals I provided and what the final cost of a meal was broken down into.
Bag 1: Chicken and Broccoli and Fried Rice from AB Fish Market
This portion of Chinese food only cost me $6 plus tax.
My first attempt at Too Good to Go was a win, which set a good tone for the rest of the week. Since I had an engagement on the Upper East Side, this was something to pick up on the way home, with an early evening pickup window. The food was extremely fresh, especially compared to similar buffet meals served on steam tables in delis around town.
- Total cost from Too Good to Go: $6 plus tax
- Total initial cost: $16 plus tax
- Savings: About $10
- Total number of meals: 3
- Total meal cost: $2.17
Bag 2: Assortment of Bagels from Murray’s Bagels
That’s a whole bunch of pretzels to freeze and eat all month long for $6.
Regularly sourcing from bakeries isn’t always a great idea, but bagel shops are the notable exception, as bagels freeze extremely well and qualify more as a good food choice (for me, anyway) than a pastry. What’s more, there were a lot of people picking up Too Good to Go bags at the same time as me, and the whole thing had a festive feel to it, as Murray’s gift bags were really hand-loaded.
- Total cost from Too Good to Go: $6 plus tax
- Total initial cost: $28 plus tax
- Savings: About $22
- Total number of meals: 16 (15 bagels plus muffin)
- Total meal cost: $.41
Bag 3: Mixed Plate from Alnour
This Lebanese pasta dish was more like two courses.
Many of the eateries featured in Too Good to Go are those whose kitchens rely on long-cooked roasts or stews, where the food is prepared in advance and ready to serve, rather than those that cook primarily to order. My neighborhood has a solid presence in the Middle East, with several options available on the app, so I picked up this bag on the way home one night from a Lebanese restaurant. I was happy with the pasta component even though it wasn’t part of their listed menu as it freezes well and I was able to save some for later.
- Total cost from Too Good to Go: $6 plus tax
- Total initial cost: $15 plus tax
- Savings: About $9
- Total number of meals: four (I’m not picky – this platter was hearty.)
- Total meal cost: $1.63
Bag 4: Miscellaneous Groceries from Horton’s Market
The turkey bacon was worth the $6 I paid for this grocery package.
Several grocery stores or markets feature on Too Good to Go, usually offering items whose “sell by” date is fast approaching but still has life. I handed a grocery bag to a store employee who went to fill it with the stockpiled items that had already been pulled from the shelves. It’s hard to qualify this in terms of food, but in terms of savings it was a great grab. I estimate I got about $35 to $40 worth of goods, all of which were useful in my household, for about $5. Dump = spared. Refrigerator = loaded.
- Total cost from Too Good to Go: $5
- Total initial cost: $35 to $40
- Savings: About $30 to $35
Bag 5: Astoria Pizza Factory Slices
Three large slices of a specialty pie usually cost upwards of $10 or $12.
Pizza is another good score at Too Good to Go, especially in markets like New York, where pizzerias sell by the slice and potentially have leftovers at closing time. There are a few 99-cent piece stores in NYC, but A) none of them are in my neighborhood, and B) none have pieces this big or this flavorful. (For 99 cents, you get cheese. Period.) The photo doesn’t reflect the size, but each slice here is equivalent to about two and a half slices of regular pizza and one entree.
- Total cost from Too Good to Go: $5 plus tax
- Total original cost: $13.80 plus tax
- Savings: About $8
- Total number of meals: 3
- Total meal cost: $1.81
The verdict? With Too Good to Go, I saved $80 and ate well all week
All in all, I think I saved about $80 over the course of the week compared to if I would have bought these items outright. More specifically, though, for a total of about $30, I scored 10 lunches or dinners and two weeks worth of snacks for that price—plus an assortment of groceries, many of which I could use for snacks or desserts.
It’s not an ideal system for regular dining, as the offerings can get stale if you’re regularly sourcing from close proximity. At about $2 or less per meal, it’s about equal to what you might spend to cook for yourself. However, if you’re lured in by conventional takeout or delivery by the promise of a big discount (even once in a while), that’s a saving that will still add up for you in a year’s time. With Earth Day on our minds, saving food destined for the trash also leaves a good taste behind.
Where is Too Good to Go available?
The app is currently available in over a dozen countries and 17 US cities, including Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York (and the New York metro area), Philadelphia, Portland (both Maine and Oregon), Providence, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC
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