The app that lets you raid a bakery for 5 bucks at closing time

Too Good To Go offers affordable takeout in ‘surprise bags’

(SavorNation) – What if I told you my dinner plan is often, “I don’t know exactly what’s in this bag, but it was six bucks”? That’s the basic thrill of Too Good To Go, an app that lets restaurants, bakeries, cafes and grocery stores sell surplus food at a steep discount instead of throwing it away. You don’t order a specific meal — you reserve a “Surprise Bag,” show up during a designated pickup window and accept whatever delicious mystery the universe (and the closing shift) has in store. Too Good To Go isn’t new, but it still may be the best-kept secret out there.

The best deals on Ninja’s frozen treat and drink makers

These days, delivery apps can make a sandwich feel like it requires a loan to afford. So it feels almost too good to be true to be able to get a bag, often overflowing with pastries, pasta or groceries, for the price of a latte. The trade-off is you have to go pick it up, you’re limited to a time within the window on the app, and what you get is, by design, a surprise. But that’s part of the fun.

How to use Too Good To Go

Here’s how it works:

1. Download the Too Good To Go app
2. Set your location and browse nearby listings. Each bag will show you the business, the timing window in which you can pick it up, the price and the estimated original value of what’s inside.
3. Choose a bag, reserve it and pay in the app.
4. Go to the restaurant or store during the pickup window, swipe in the app when you arrive and show an employee your confirmation screen to pick up your order.

Too Good To Go is built around helping restaurants and stores avoid throwing out their surplus food, so availability changes constantly. A bakery may have a mountain of croissants one night and nothing the next. A grocery store may have prepared foods, produce, bread or refrigerated items that are still usable, but close to their sell-by dates. Too Good To Go says the point is to help people rescue food that would otherwise go to waste.

In Chicago, where I live, using the app can sometimes feel like a high-pressure scavenger hunt. The best bags tend to sell out within minutes of being listed — and snagging a bag from a coveted spot like Eataly or Lost Larson is worthy of bragging rights. Recently, I paid $5.99 for a bag of 14 filled buns from La Patisserie P, a Chinese bakery in my neighborhood (the estimated value was $48), and $2.99 for five huge, fancy doughnuts from Stan’s Donuts.

My advice to new users:

• Check a restaurant’s ratings before placing an order. Past shoppers will tell you what they thought about the variety and value of the orders they received.
• Since you never know what you’ll get, Too Good To Go is probably not the best app for those with allergies, restrictive diets or very picky palates.
• Be creative! When I get large orders of items I can’t eat all at once, I offer to split them with friends, repurpose them into new meals, or freeze them to eat later.
• Be flexible. This isn’t the app to order dinner from, because you might end up with a bag full of ingredients or desserts. It’s best to go in with an open mind and a sense of adventure.

SavorNation is reader-supported and may earn an affiliate commission.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com.