Week 110: Too Good To Go

Week 110: February 2nd-8th, 2025

If you hate food waste and keep up to date on new, trendy apps, or are interested in saving money, or if you've spoken to my parents any time in the past few months, I'm sure you've heard of the Too Good To Go app.

I was raised to think of unnecessary waste, especially food waste, as a cardinal sin, and in a world where both food surplus and starvation exist, it honestly is one. I always hear about how much usable food from restaurants and stores gets thrown away every day, so when my parents first told me about their new obsession, my first thoughts were "I wish I'd thought of that!" and "Where can I sign up?".

Too Good To Go is a "social impact company on a mission to inspire and empower everyone to fight food waste together." It offers consumers the opportunity to get great value for money by rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste from stores, cafes, and restaurants. I accompanied my mom on a few Too Good To Go pickup runs when I was visiting the Bay and remember getting a variety of entrees, baked goods, and produce. The Bay Area seems to have more participation and variety through the app, but San Diego does have a couple participants, and things sell out fast. The San Diego Hillcrest Whole Foods prepared foods bag and the produce bag is constantly sold out.

So, it has taken me a while, but after sifting through the Circle K stores and the numerous donut shops, I finally scored a promising bag for pickup in San Diego. This bag was a "surprise bag" from San Diego Chicken Pie Shop. The description for the bag was "Rescue a surprise bag filled with soup and handmade rolls from that day! If available, bags may include dessert items in addition to your food!" and cost me only $5.38 after taxes and such. My pickup window was from 7:30pm to 7:50pm, so I left at 7:30pm and got there in about ten minutes.

The cute exterior of the diner-like Chicken Pie Shop

There were two entrances, one for dine-in and one for take-out. I went up to the take-out counter and said I was here for a bag from Too Good To Go. The young woman at the counter handed me a big bag and thanked me for using the app. Excited, I rushed home to see what I'd gotten.

The BIG bag of takeout!

TONS of food for only $5

I opened each container and was thrilled to find a quart-sized container of mashed potatoes, a quart of split pea soup, a pint of corn, four massive bread rolls, a huge slice of blueberry pie, and some gravy and butter packets.

The split pea soup was delicious, and the mashed potatoes were super creamy and comforting. The gravy was weird and pale, and I didn't like it. The corn was good, probably because it was made with a bunch of butter. The rolls were eerily familiar to some not homemade ones I've seen at the grocery store, but who cares? It was a ton of food for only $5, and on top of that, I got a massive piece of pie! The pie and the soup were my favorite items. I didn't even finish it all, because it was all very rich, and way more food than I expected.

I think the concept of a surplus food marketplace is a great idea. The Too Good To Go app is incredibly easy to use. You can sort by distance or price, and pickup times. Reserving bags ahead of time takes the stress away from showing up and being disappointed. I also think apps like this are a great way to try new restaurants with low stakes, because the bags are usually a variety of their offerings in small amounts (or, in Chicken Pie Shop's case, large amounts!). Even in the month or so that I've had the app, I've seen at least two new restaurants join from my area in San Diego. I think it was great value for my money, and I would definitely buy from the Chicken Pie Shop, if it doesn't sell out before I can reserve one!

I still have some leftovers in my fridge and look forward to enjoying them later. I hope I can get lucky with one of the coveted Whole Foods produce bags or farmer's market bags.

See you next week.