Have you used a 'leftover food' app?

goldfinches

I tried the Too Good To Go and paid £5 for what was billed as a Magic bag from a branch of Paul bakery to be collected between 5:30 and 6:00 pm.
From what TGTG said on the app I thought that I would be getting items that the bakery had not sold that day and that could not be kept overnight to be sold the following day.
I envisaged receiving a bag of stale loaves of bread and pastries such as croissants and would have been happy with that. I was planning to turn stale bread into crumbs in my food processor which could be frozen for later use and to freeze some loaves and croissants/pain au chocolat sliced for bread puddings when the weather gets colder.
When I arrived at the bakery I was asked about any dietary restrictions and then the two members of staff selected a baguette, a salad, a loaf, a croissant and a pastry from the counter display and bagged them up for me to take away. 
All the food I was given was very fresh and did not appear to be leftovers at all.

It seems to me that some outlets have been pushed into joining the TGTG app and are being exploited to make TGTG look good whereas what is really happening is that the businesses are selling items at cost or a loss simply to be able to say they are joining in the reducing food waste movement. 

pelirocco

Used to good to go at Morrisons and 4 and a half red cabbage a few other things well past their best by date
Had to throw it

grace68

I use To good to go. Its hit and miss. But last night i managed to bag to magic bags from a big morrisons (rather than one of the local ones which tend to be ready meals), i was so happy, to big vegetable boxes full of lovely fresh veg/herbs/and  fruit. I am spending the day prepping and freezing everything, so that's christmas veg sorted and many more days inbetween!

vmartire

I have been using Too Good to Go.  So far, I've been very lucky.  I've collected bags with great organic bread from local bakeries, cakes, salad fruit and sandwiches from Nero and Greggs, focaccias, ciabattas and cheese from a local Italian deli. For a fraction of the actual price. The shops have been  so generous I had to freeze some items. I have to try a grocery now. 

vodkawitch11

I have used TGTG app for a local baker Wenzels - Always had things like a large filled baguette, couple of cakes and maybe a small loaf. 

dreamyd

I use TGTO regularly, especially now that I'm back in my work office for at least part of the week. The best ones have been from internet grocery delivery firms (we have Gorillas and Dija near us) which I would not ordinarily use, but from whom we've have had some very good Magic Bags. I priced up one of the £4 Gorillas bags in the summer  and it would have come to over £30 because of the meat  that was in there - ( two steaks and some chicken pieces from a local craft butcher). All fresh and extremely good quality.
Closer to me is a local 24 hour BP garage which has a very well-stocked grocery shop attached. For £3.29 I got a small chicken ,a some quarter pounders, beef sausages, a pack of mince , some single cream and some raspberries.
I accept that nothing is guaranteed, and that some bags are better than others, but my DH and I are using this as our top up shop/ weekend treat. We're saving money and eating a lot better.

Poppy1984

I've used too good to go a few times but find it a bit hit and miss obviously it's just whatever's left at the end of the day so can be a bit of a risk. Fine if you can spare the £3-4 but I'm on a very tight budget and the few times I got lots of things like bagged salad sandwhices sausage rolls etc was great but the last time I got one from Greggs and it was a bag of cookies so I basically paid £3 for a bag of cookies which I really wouldn't usually do, they were lovely don't get me wrong and I shared them but felt like a waste of money, so I do think they're a bit of a gamble and that last one put me off a bit. 

I have only just started using olio and i LOVE it!!!! There are a couple of fwh's who live within a mile of me and I have requested bits from them and picked them up and it's been a really positive experience they were both really friendly and I've had some really fab food, all had use by or bb dates of that day but still looked really fresh and perfectly edible. I freeze as much as I can and make sure I use up everything I collect as the purpose of the app is to reduce food waste. 

Would highly recommend olio! 

Sallygirl

I have tried the Olio app a few times now and have had some very useful items. However there has only been one item offered within walking distance of my house. Most of the things that I have received have been collected when I have already been making a journey in the car and passing near the house of the person offering the item. I find that it is usually cheaper to go and buy the item in the supermarket than to pay the petrol to drive to collect something unless it fits in with another journey. I like the concept of Olio but there are just not enough people in my area that are part of the Olio community.

chirpycheap

I use Olio and have picked up lots of fruit and veg and bakery items. I live in a city so there is always lots going up on the site. 

I looked into TooGoodToGo but as a vegan it's impossible to find anything that we could use.

timehastoldme

Our local Caribbean take away does TGTG, for £5 we've had really decent portions of curried goat, oxtail stew, rice and festivals which we reheated for dinner the next day. Really pleased.