Save 70% On Your Food Expenses While Saving The Planet

A prime example of how technology and software can make a real impact

Twenty million people already agree with me. So, this is not for them, this is for everyone else. This one’s for those who don’t only want to save a bit or a ton of their hard-earned cash while inflation is getting out of control, but those who also want to do so in an environmentally friendly way while having a ton of fun.

I am a software engineer, and ever since I started my career, I always felt that all software engineers should strive to create solutions that make the world a better place in some way or another.

The Too Good To Go app is a prime example of what can be achieved with a bit of human and planet-centric technology and software development.

When it comes to technology, Too Good To Go’s mission goes way beyond Google’s famous initial “Don’t be evil”. While Google quietly removed that tagline, these folks are doing the sharp opposite of it, and do only good. Don’t for a second think this is an affiliate post. This is coming from sheer excitement having tried the app the other day, and since that day, every day thanks to my good friend Raluca LICĂU who kept telling me to use it, and I kept ignoring her advice… because stupidity and laziness.

The obvious benefits

But looking inward, the pragmatic person that I am, it started to make less and less sense not trying out what could essentially change my shopping habits, save money, and get me out the door every day for at least a short — and now also purposeful — walk. On an average week, I would spend around 40 bucks on takeout food. More often than not I’d resort to Deliveroo, which is a popular food delivery service, so a meal would rarely if ever cost less than 20 bucks. In light of these numbers I decided to turn it all into a small experiment, just like I did with my career, my writing side-gig, dating, Lego, etc. Life is a collection of experiments after all…

What if my takeout budget suddenly became my Too Good To Go budget? No more than 40 bucks a week. Will it be worth it, or will it not?

Looking at the large majority of offers on the app, a goodie-bag is between 3 and 5 bucks, occasionally 6 — In Dublin, Ireland that is. You can also get more than one if you wish, but because I wanted variety, and I’m single, I decided to stick to just one. Even if I end up going for the 5 bucks offers, that’s 8 bags in a single week! Each bag’s value varies, but it seems like it’s generally 3 times what you pay, so a 4.99 bag is worth 15 bucks. So, for 40 bucks a week, I could get somewhere around 120 bucks’ worth of food! That’s a lot of bucks in a paragraph, but also a lot of bucks saved!

So, in a month, I am looking at 480 bucks worth of food for the price of 160 bucks. Look, I am terrible at maths, that’s why I became a software engineer, but even I know that 160 is a lot less than 480. According to Siri that’s a yearly savings of 3840 euros in my case, if I didn’t reduce my takeout budget, just reallocated it.

So, maybe let’s look at that scenario too. What if my weekly two takeouts suddenly became Too Good To Go surprise bags? Well, let’s say I decided to go for two 5 euro offers. I double-checked with Siri, and 5+5=10. Yay! Finally putting to good use my primary-school education. So, now instead of 40 bucks a week, I’m looking at a mere 10, and at around 40/month. That’s a 75% reduction in takeout expenses, leaving me with 120 euros freed up for whatever else I fancy. Like Lego, paying the bills, or even slapping it onto the mortgage, so I can pay it off faster. The possibilities are endless.

Saving 1440 bucks a year may not seem much, but having that as disposable cash can make the difference between personal bankruptcy and a comfortable future.

The unexpected benefits

But as you’ll quickly find out, Too Good To Go is much more than just a clever money-saving solution. It has a global and personal impact on one’s life in ways that’s maybe not so obvious at first. After my first two purchases I received an email, that actually made me think, and appreciate even more, just how clever this app’s mission is. Here’s the message they sent me:

It’s official: you’re a hero

You’re making a serious impact

Hi Waste Warrior,

We’ve got something cool to tell you.

By rescuing 2 Surprise Bags, you’ve saved the CO2e equivalent of charging 885 smartphones. 885!

Who knew making an environmental impact could be so simple?

And the best bit: the more delicious food you continue to eat, the bigger the impact you’ll make.

By the time you’ve saved 5 Surprise Bags you’ll have saved the equivalent CO2e produced by driving 31 miles.

By the time you’ve saved 10 Surprise Bags, your CO2e equivalent saved will equal the carbon dioxide absorbed over an entire YEAR by an area of forest the size of nine parking spaces.

And it’s all by eating delicious food!

Feels good, right?

Well, it certainly does, thank you very much! Being called a hero while alive can only be good. 🦸 Now, hopefully, I’ll rescue enough food over the course of my life that I’m also going to be called a legend when I’m gone. One can only hope…

What’s really cool about this, though, is how not letting food go to waste, I’m doing more than just feeding myself on the cheap. I’m saving energy, and those who follow me and know me, have seen me speak out against wasteful energy-consumption in the past. If you’d like to read more about CO2e calculations, there’s some good documentation on epa.gov. I would also highly recommend checking out the 39 page Too Good To Go 2021 impact report. It’s a lot more interesting than you imagine!

But there’s more…

And these are maybe even less obvious, but if you do install the app, and start grabbing some of these offers, you’ll soon agree. You see, Too Good To Go is a bit of a paradigm-shift in getting food on the table, but if you allow yourself to see beyond just having great food on your table for cheaper, you’ll also realise inadvertently you’re reaping other benefits. Let me list a few that I noticed within the space of just one week.

• I started walking more. Because none of these surprise bags are getting delivered to me, I’ll have to go pick them up. While in the app I set my interest radius to the minimum, which is 3 km max, that’s just one-way. On average, if I do this every day, I’ll be looking at an extra 2.5–3 km/day walked. That’s a good few extra steps that my cardiologist will be happy to hear about. My monthly average is already higher than last month, and while I am ashamed to admit, picking up these surprise bags has greatly contributed to that higher average. Summa summarum, Too Good To Go, gets me out of the house and gives my walks an extra purpose.
• I discovered more cuisines. I am a foodie, and I love trying out new foods and restaurants, but I am not always adventurous enough when I go out or even when I order takeout. Surprise bags from restaurants are essentially meals, and so far 2/2 were from places I have never tried before and meals I never had before. I am not a picky person, so that might help, but honestly, these were really great meals and the quantity was beyond satisfactory.
• It’s a conversation starter. At work, I mentioned my recent discovery, and turned out there are loads of people out there who at the very least like to talk about food waste, a greener planet and ways to improve our everyday lives in small ways that make a huge difference in the grander scheme of things.

I have now saved four bags of food. All very delicious and fresh. To some the idea of food being thrown away sounds like cost of doing business, but when that food is still a perfectly good meal, grocery, pastry, cake or salad, why should it not find a home instead at a much lower price?

You never quite know what you’re going to get in the bag, but that makes it even more fun, and possibly addictive. But if my one addiction will involve saving the planet, then I’ll happily stay addicted. Too Good To Go for life!

Some of the food I saved…

Pastries from two separate cafes, some Lebanese food and some other food I am not sure how to identify, but tasty nevertheless. Total cost: 19 euro. Total value 57 euro.

Attila Vago — Software Engineer improving the world one line of code at a time. Cool nerd since forever, writer of codes and blogs. Web accessibility advocate, Lego fan, vinyl record collector. Loves craft beer!