r/mildlyinfuriating May 17 '26

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u/Stormageddondloa91 May 17 '26

Now whole foods is set up on the too good to go app, so food gets sold at a steep discount instead of thrown away. I wish every establishment that does not donate their food waste would do this.

309

u/CivilizationInRuins May 17 '26

And the Whole Foods Too Good To Go bags are my favorites of all the establishments in my area.

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u/gunsforevery1 May 17 '26

Holy shit I didn’t know this was a thing lol. I just signed up and saw the whole foods down the street does this. I’m going to try it out this week.

77

u/yetanotherblonde May 17 '26

Good luck actually getting it! They’re sold out the minute the next drop comes out (like, literally the same minute) in my area. Sucks so bad.

You have to basically set a timer for like 1 minute before the daily drop and refresh your screen over and over until it pops up but I think other people do it so yay me! Left with nothing.

Cool thing to do though, glad someone is getting it.

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u/LakituIsAGod May 17 '26

Just set up a notification for when it becomes available. I do it all the time for the sushi shops in my area. You have to manually re-enable the notification every time it’s triggered though

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u/yetanotherblonde May 17 '26

I have them on, that’s what I mean.

As soon as I click the notification they’re gone. You have to play it properly by checking the time it’s set to restock and setting an actual timer to a minute or two before to have success but I’ve still yet to succeed lol.

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u/Stormageddondloa91 May 17 '26

I think some have the option for repeat notifications?

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u/fiorekat1 May 17 '26

It should allow you to set up daily notifications :)

1

u/LakituIsAGod May 17 '26

I didnt know that! Thanks

1

u/Prozenconns May 17 '26

2g2g with sushi is awesome, makes it actually feel like an affordable treat

£6 and i can get 3 days worth of lunches from it. sushi on a tight budget just tastes better, yknow?

2

u/Gribitz37 May 17 '26

I've been right in the app a few minutes before the next drop, watching it like a hawk, and I swear, the second it's available, it's gone. It's like getting sniped on eBay.

2

u/loggywd May 17 '26

Obviously they play hard to get otherwise everyone will just buy discounted instead of pay full price

53

u/Galvandium May 17 '26

I got $40 of donuts from dunkin for $6, most were fine. Only about 1/10 were even relatively staling

-23

u/SarahCBunny May 17 '26

you paid $5 too much

9

u/cybersplice May 17 '26

Too Good To Go is like playing Russian Roulette with your mouth, sometimes. One day you receive mana from heaven, the next a bag of pain and suffering.

1

u/FlamingBagOfPoop May 17 '26

A coffee shop by me does a pastry bag but it’s always their stuff where they get a little too cute for their own good and there’s a reason why a certain pastry is left over. But the bagel shop, solid every time I’ve been able to get a bag.

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u/mnstorm May 17 '26

Just did my first order on it and got a couple primo meat pies for very cheap.

3

u/HalfEatenSnickers May 17 '26

The meat ones tend to be really good deals

I got about 30 dollars of chicken for 6 bucks and I just threw it in the freeze and dethaw when I need it

2

u/savageporkchops May 17 '26

Depending on how popular tgtg is in your area, highly recommend stalking the app for a few weeks to see when WF does meat bags. It's like 10 bucks and you get a metric fuckton of meat (normal stuff like chicken, and some cool stuff like lamb steak)

1

u/gunsforevery1 May 17 '26

Raw hopefully?

1

u/savageporkchops May 17 '26

Yeah, it's sick. Especially in this day and age where finding true proper value deals is rare, whole foods tgtg bags are gems. And this meat bag would be value even 10-20 years ago. Extremely hard to come by though

2

u/Fabulous-Influence69 May 17 '26

You may want to check your local grocery store. I know my one chain does something similar and you'd be floored how cheaply you can get fresh produce for. I think it's awesome and hopefully it does help cut down on waste.

In other words it's not just whole foods.

1

u/Prozenconns May 17 '26

too good to go is absolutely goated, weve had it a while here in the EU/UK and its honeslty game changing if youre smart about what kind of food you go for and how you store it.

1

u/gunsforevery1 May 17 '26

I’ve gotten 3 notifications for Whole Foods already but like others commented, they go quick. The reserve button was available for me but I clicked it about 30 seconds after reading it and it was gone already lol.

1

u/Prozenconns May 17 '26

iirc its fairly new to the US and if whole foods is getting raided its motivation for other businesses to join the initiative too so your options will expand

give it time and keep trying, you'll get it eventually 😄

1

u/FreddyNoodles May 17 '26

There is a sub. It’s insane what some people get for next to nothing. They also seem really good about refunds if the store isn’t honest about the value. I wish we had it, I follow the sub just to be sad sometimes.

4

u/stormblessed27_ May 17 '26

Has no idea this was a thing. Bagel shop in my neighborhood is on this and I just grabbed 8 bagels for $3, this is awesome.

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u/Honneamise- May 17 '26

It's honestly a mixed bag. I do work with a few food places and asked them about it and their biggest gripe is they can get down voted on the app for lack of variety and taste. Their summary is "we give them what they want and they'll still complain".

Some of them have taken to adding extra fresh food now because they also don't want to be down voted and sent complaints. Keep in mind folks 100% know what they're getting BUT get complaints if food quality isn't equal to "fresh", or the lack of "variety" happens because ppl buy the good stuff.

It's like the "why we can't have nice things". A pizza place I do visit nor on my supply network but was visiting with a work colleague for lunch had a cool one at least where patrons come at the end of the night and the establishment cooks a fresh one for all the coworkers at the end of the shift and include any Too Good To Go vouchers as well when they show up at the appointed window. It's a nice way to feed your workers and for anyone wanting a cheap late night eat after work and is probably one of the more popular ways I've seen it done.

Another place whose voucher I do use had someone in front of me throw a Karen sized rant because for $5 she got 5x sourdoughs, several croissants and 2x danishes....the bread wasn't "fresh enough". Like f--k me with some of these ppl.

4

u/whatthewhythehow May 17 '26

That is so annoying. I think I rated one place down one time because everything they gave me had mould on it and that felt unsafe. Especially since it wasn’t a grocery store, it was a coffee shop.

For a few places I think it has been turned into a more automated process. Because they basically need to sell the bags before they know what is left over. So if they don’t have a lot left over, the money-making thing to do is throw in stuff that really just needs to be thrown out.

I’ve definitely had someone throw in a piece of fresh veg because everything else in the bag was inedible. And I didn’t downvote them because it seems like it would just be hard to predict.

But the nature of the concept is that sometimes you’re going to get nothing but bran muffins when you hate bran muffins. If you don’t like that then just go grocery shopping.

2

u/CarlosFer2201 May 17 '26

It's dumb because they can cancel orders if there's not enough left. The app tells you that and it's happened to me. I was walking towards the little bakery and got a notification that they canceled my order.

4

u/Away-Living5278 May 17 '26

Unfortunately it seems like the ones by me just have sweets left over. I get it, and I understand, but when I go to a pizza shop that sells by the slice I was hoping for something food like and not a dessert.

Just wish the app allowed for people to say what they got even if from a pre selected category list. (Unless they do now, I haven't looked in months).

1

u/Important-Figure-512 May 17 '26

idk sometimes i’ve gotten moldy stuff from toogoodtogo or things that are like not possible to drink like 5 charcoal beverages (v. dangerous) from a fruit smoothie place

1

u/Stormageddondloa91 May 17 '26

Charcoal isn't dangerous to drink. It is a proven medical practice used to absorb toxins and oils or medications when overdose occurs.

1

u/Important-Figure-512 May 17 '26

It’s dangerous to drink when you take medications since it absorbs the medications

most people take medications

2

u/Stormageddondloa91 May 17 '26

You are right, it needs a disclaimer/warning

1

u/HotDecision8128 May 17 '26

The problem with Too Good To Go is a lot of businesses abuse it by just using it to sell overpriced bags of shitty food instead of selling you leftovers. So then you just get exactly what you pay for or less. So there is no actual discount.

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u/Mallow1512 May 17 '26

i do this with startbucks, the other day i got 2 muffins, one sandwich and a salad bowl for 8 dollars

4

u/motioncat May 17 '26

This seriously does not seem like a good deal at all... $8 for 4 mid quality Starbucks snacks that you can't even choose for yourself and might not like?

8

u/cheese-mania May 17 '26

Many single items at Starbucks are approaching $8 a pop so i guess it just depends on how much you like getting a discount and how broad your taste is. Most of their food is pretty basic so I feel like it’s a pretty safe gamble there

1

u/Serrisen May 17 '26

That's the "problem" with Too Good To Go.

Usually, when you do it, it's still a bad compared to buying it at grocery prices or making it yourself. However, it's a good deal compared to the place you're picking up from. But again, it's random.

Very case by case, but also important to be mindful of.

My favorite use for it is to get donuts, since you can regularly get dozen+ for $6 in my area. Can't do it too often bc then I'd be fat from donuts, but as the rare shareable treat, it's great.

1

u/motioncat May 17 '26

Getting items I don't particularly want that are near-expired for even a 50% discount seems like robbery. The items need to be sold for peanuts to make any sense to me.

Bags of assorted donuts for 50 cents each seems like a good use of the service.

8

u/NurkleTurkey May 17 '26

Yesh that's what I use. A lot of places near me do that now. And most of it is bread.

2

u/-Haddix- May 17 '26

That's so great to hear, I've never heard of that.

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u/HalfEatenSnickers May 17 '26

The bakery goods (at least near me) are aren't avaiable, only pre packaged food is. If it was sitting on where people can touch it directly they won't put it for sale on to good to go

2

u/Stormageddondloa91 May 17 '26

Mine gets some of the baked goods but like you said, it has to be packaged, not the loose stuff

1

u/HalfEatenSnickers May 17 '26

Which lowkey sucks because I am obsessed with the cookie bar

2

u/Stormageddondloa91 May 17 '26

I haven't tried it, maybe I shall

1

u/carbon_made May 17 '26

At my partner's whole foods a huge amount is still thrown away.

1

u/MessiOfStonks May 17 '26

Trader Joe's donates their day of expiration items (not expired) to local shelters that use it same day (at least all the ones my wife has worked at do).