It’s certainly no secret that Too Good To Go’s food waste-fighting ‘magic bags’ are a culinary lottery. It all depends on availability, meaning some days you’ll receive a sad looking salad, and others you’ll find yourself with half a weekly shop.
While you can never guarantee what’s in your magic bag, you can certainly increase your chances of enjoying what will be inside, by carefully choosing where to collect your bags from.
For example, you can’t go far wrong with Greggs, who rotate their stock daily, which is a good chance you’ll get some warm bakes and maybe a sweet treat. However, some places are a lot more unpredictable, like Morrisons and Aldi, where you could get some packet chicken and some tomatoes and not really know what to do with them.
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For those who aren’t familiar with Too Good To Go, the free money-saving app allows you to reserve bags of food at a heavily discounted rate from local partnered brands - often shops and cafes - which are set to go out of date. Shoppers can collect them during an allocated time slot, and enjoy goodies that would have otherwise been thrown away.
While it’s a great way to save some food from being wasted, as well as save a bit of cash, it’s not ideal for those on a very tight budget amid the cost of living crisis because you really can’t be certain what you’re going to get. But if you have got a bit of spare cash, or aren’t fussy about what you eat for your lunch, it’s all a bit of fun and can sometimes go quite a long way.
This week, I finally got my hands on a mystery box from Tim Hortons and it felt like I’d won the lottery.
Up until recently, Tim Hortons Too Good To Go bags were only available for collection at their Market Street store between 10pm and 10.30pm - a little late for most people. I'm usually tucked up in bed by then. However, over the last few weeks they’ve launched an afternoon collection which means anyone who is in the city centre between 1pm and 2pm could secure one of their limited bags.
There are always a select number of mystery boxes that brands give away for the discounted price, and it’s usually somewhere between five and 10.
At Tim Hortons, the afternoon baked goods boxes cost £3.99, promising £12 worth of products inside. The app suggests it could include ‘some of our favourite baked goods such as freshly baked donuts, Timbits and from time to time, our delicious retail items to enjoy at home.’
I was able to reserve my Tim Hortons magic bag from home the day before, and headed into the store at 1pm the next day to collect. Shoppers can head straight to the counter with the app and make a member of staff aware, before swiping the screen to confirm the collection.
The server disappeared into the kitchen for a couple of minutes, and emerged with a red and white Tim Hortons box that fans of the fast food chain would immediately recognise. Timbits - 'the bite-sized morsels' of Tim Horton's donuts.
An assorted box of 10 Timbits usually costs £4.29, while 20 will set you back £7.49 and a huge box of 50 costing £15.99. When I lifted the lid, I was delighted to see 50 of the delicious fried dessert bites, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and smelling like Christmas.
I had paid less than £4 for the box, meaning I’d saved around £12 on this order, and they certainly weren’t going to go to waste.
Like miniature cinnamon rolls, the Timbits were enjoyed by basically everyone I spoke to that day, from Kenny, our lovely photographer, and Ethan - our reporter - as well as staff members in Piccadilly Train Station and shoppers I stopped for Steal Their Style.
They were universally loved and spread a bit of extra cheer on the streets of Manchester, with plenty to take home for my family to enjoy, too.
It’s definitely one of the best value treats I’ve received on the app, alongside the Millie’s Cookies boxes, making for the ideal cut-price luxury to enjoy and share with friends. Would be a shame to see them go to waste, wouldn’t it?
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