Too good to go is a service that started in Denmark in 2015, and has since spread to more countries. Its concept is to reduce food waste from unsold surplus in the stores, and instead help the stores sell the produce to frugal/thrifty people at a heavy discount, pretty much in “surprise” bags.

According to Wikipedia it is available in mainly Europe and North America:

As of July 2023 the company Web site covered Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

I’ve seen this around in Sweden from the last year, but there are other similar services here as well, so I haven’t used Too good to go yet (but I intend to do soon). I’ve used Matsmart a couple of times which allows me to pick the products I want, and sometimes bought Lidl’s discounted fruit-and-veg bags (“Ta vara på”) in the store.

I think the concept is really good on a consumer level, even though I can’t say for sure just how much impact it has on reducing surplus or if it’s just another green washing method for the affiliated companies.

  • @CoffeeTailsEnglish
    4•1 year ago

    I’ve tried the too good to go bags a couple of times, it will be the third today. So far I like it!
    For me this is better than Karma (where you got meals) as I don’t eat out a lot and prefer homecooked food.

    I hope to try matsmart sometime but I’ve never managed to find more than a couple of things I want to buy

    • RegnaOPMEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      Nice to hear good things about the service. It makes me want to try them even more.

      I was going to look up Karma and other alternatives, good of you for reminding me.

      I’ve used Matsmart when I knew that I would be having more guests over (like during the summer and ahead of christmas), and also stocked up on staple canned or dry goods. But they have a lot of weird stuff on offer like non-brand protein bars, sugar free energy drinks etc, which is why I kind of guess the stores have an unsold surplus of them.