Too Good To Go – application review

I am not really fond of installing and using applications in my smartphone. As I count, I use more or less frequently around a dozen of them, 40% of an average for a typical smartphone user in Poland. But from time to time out of curiosity I install a new one, usually prompted by a recommendation from another person.

The application mentioned in the post title was praised by one of my workmates during a business trip in September. Soon after hearing of it, I forgot about its existence and, truth be told, do not recall what refreshed my memory and made me try it out.

The idea behind the app is simple and commendable – it is meant to reduce food waste in shops and eateries. Produces saved from landing in a rubbish bin are sold for one-third of their regular price. Stuff from shops are near their expiry dates while restaurant food is not super-fresh and perfectly-looking to meet standards of an eatery, but surely edible.

If using the application was to be environment-friendly and cost-effective, if I lack a travelcard, I set the circle of 3 kilometres from home (i.e. a walking distance) to find places which wanted to get rid of some food. Each day I would find packages to be grabbed from Auchan Ursynów (PLN 8.49 – PLN 9.99), nearby BP stations (PLN 11.49), local Vegesushi restaurant (PLN 14.69), Costa Cofees (PLN 14.99). Some would wait hours for a buyer, other, such as packages from Blikle confectioneries (PLN 9.99) would be snatched within minutes or second.

The drawback of the application is that you reserve (and right away pay for) a pig in a poke. Some leftovers are guaranteed, but it is unpredictable what is left at the end of the day.

My first adventure was the regular food package from Auchan for PLN 9.99 on 10 February. I picked up a bag of food easily, but cannot say I was satisfied with its content. Inside I found a decent premium dry sausage (expiry date in 4 days), a cottage cheese (expiry date on the next day) and processed herring (expiry date on the same day) and this was the part which I ate. The remaining part of it (list on the receipt to the right) – too much of a whipped cream, yoghurt and other fat dairy products and a fat-made smoked beckon (all with expiry date on the pick-up day) sadly ended in the rubbish bin.

Admittedly, I have not saved the food properly, moreover I did not save money neither. What I consumed was worth PLN 10.29 at market prices, yet I while doing shopping would probably not buy all these products – fish I buy tinned or unprocessed to cook myself, cottage cheese would I buy, but less far, instead of a big premium sausage, I buy small packages of sliced meats. And look at the receipt from the application – the VAT receipt from Auchan contains 0% VAT for food, while the receipt from Too Good To Go included 23% VAT. Puzzling.

The second adventure was ordering a popular package from a nearby Blikle confectionery for PLN 9.99. I orderly picked it up on Friday (18 February) evening, brought it home, opened up and found a meringue cake. Again, it did not take my fancy, meringue is too sweet for me. Fortunately, I found a workmate who is fond of such sweets, bought a public transport 75-minute ticket for PLN 4.40 and took an underground train and a tram to drop it off to her place instead of committing it to the rubbish bin. All in all – PLN 14.39 spent, utility negative.

After the second experience, I do not feel like having a third attempt. The food is bought up anyway and does not go to waste. For somebody who, like me, plans shopping and strives not to waste food, the application is useless utility-wise and money-wise, but surely there might be people, especially large households, who might find the 67% discount attractive, provided they are luckier in terms of what the pig in a poke turns out to be.

I will not discourage you from using the app. It simply does not suit my needs, but someone else might find it a perfect tool for cutting their food shopping budget or saving the planet.