I’ve had around 10 to 15 ‘magic bags’ from the Too Good To Go app now, but my mystery purchase from Millie’s Cookies might just be the best one yet.
At Morrisons, I managed to get around £18 worth of groceries for £3.09 , while at Toby Carvery, my tea cost just £3.29.
The idea behind Too Good To Go is to help prevent food waste in the community. The app is free to download, and uses your location services to find venues near you who are partnered with it.
READ MORE: I got £8 worth of Greggs pasties and bakes for £2.59 with free food waste app
Retailers upload a limited number of ‘magic bags’ each day, which are available at a hugely discounted price - with shoppers saving up to 70 per cent on their purchases.
Typically, the food is short of date, but is more often than not, perfectly fine to eat, so long as you’re not particularly fussy.
The boxes and bags do tend to sell out quickly, so I often find myself refreshing the app throughout the day to see what's available nearby. But some of the partnered retailers include Starbucks, Costa, Toby Carvery, Greene King and various independents, too.
Last week, I snagged more than £8 worth of Greggs doughnuts, sandwiches and bakes for £2.59 - but this week, I headed to Millie’s Cookies.
Famed for their giant cookies that are perfect for celebrating occasions and milestones, their counters also serve a selection of hot drinks, milkshakes and boxes of cookies to enjoy at home.
I reserved my Millie’s Cookies magic bag for £3.99 while being promised approximately £12 worth of goodies. The app said: “Take home a delicious Magic Bag from Millie’s. Rescue treats from our delicious range of freshly baked cookies.”
I was given a collection time of 5.15pm to 5.45pm, which is 15 minutes before store closing, which meant I had ample time to go and pick them up straight after work.
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When I arrived, phone in hand ready to click ‘tap to collect’, there was a couple ahead of me also collecting a box of would-be-binned bakes.
I picked up my order and was itching to see what was inside, but instead of ransacking the takeaway box in the middle of the shopping centre, I waited until I got to my partner’s house to take a peek.
The pessimist in me expected a box of broken biscuits, or cookies that had sat so long on the counter they’d gone hard. But as I opened the cardboard box, I found 16 freshly baked cookies - each one perfectly intact and still soft.
There was one salted caramel cookie, alongside three milk chocolate, three jaffa flavoured cookies, and seven double chocolate cookies. The box did contain around two broken cookies which were quickly cleaned up by myself, my boyfriend, and his six-year-old little brother.
On the Millie's Cookies menu, 12 cookies cost £8.99, and four cost £4.39, so a total of £13.38. Or you can get 24 cookies for £13.99. Either way, I seem to have saved 16 cookies from going to waste, and saved just under a tenner in the process.
I felt as though I’d hit the jackpot with this Millie’s Cookies magic bag, and enjoyed one (okay, two) with a cup of tea, and then took the rest to the local dog groomers for the staff to share out the next day.
Not only did the mystery food waste-saving bag bring me joy, but I was also able to make a few other people smile - for the small price of £3.99.
