Ray Bonsall, a shopping writer for the Liverpool ECHO, tried a £3.59 Morrisons Too Good To Go bag and reported mixed feelings about the contents. The bag, which contained over £18 worth of shopping, was packed with noodles and vegetables, but some of the items proved difficult to use before they spoiled.
What Was in the Bag
The Too Good To Go app allows shoppers to buy surplus food from grocery stores and restaurants at a reduced price, preventing waste. Bonsall, who is a fan of the app and has previously enjoyed restaurant-quality takeout for £5 or less, decided to try a Morrisons bag last week.
The bag contained two large paper bags of shopping, including Blue Dragon Family Stir Fry Veg (£2.15), Morrisons Classic Crunch Salad (£3), Morrisons Mixed Vegetable Medley (£1.50 x2), Morrisons Shredded Iceberg Lettuce (60p x2), Blue Dragon Beansprouts (95p), Morrisons Sliced Mushrooms (£1.50 x2), Blue Dragon Wok Ready Egg Noodles (£1.35 x2), Blue Dragon Wok Ready Rice Noodles (£1.35), and Morrisons Baby Corn and Mangetout (£2.10). The total original value was £18.65.
Challenges With the Haul
While the quantity of food was definitely worth the money, Bonsall noted that he had no idea how to use all of it in the next couple of days. The items included salad, mushrooms, sprouts, and semi-cooked noodles, which were not suitable for freezing or long-term storage. Even with a relaxed attitude to expiry dates, the food would not stay fresh in the fridge for long.
Bonsall made what he could, using the corn, mangetout, and noodles in a Thai curry for dinner and leftovers for lunch, and making a creamy pasta sauce with the mushrooms. He put the vegetable medleys in the freezer. However, he offered the rest to his housemate, who managed to use a few bits, but lettuce, noodles, and a few half-used packs of veg were ultimately tossed.
Overall Verdict
Bonsall concluded that the Morrisons Too Good To Go bag might have been better for a family or group of friends living together, as many of the ingredients, such as noodles and stir fry veg, could be combined into one large meal. He noted that other Too Good To Go boxes, like Aldi's, which he tried last year, contained doughnuts, microwave meals, mozzarella, potatoes, and tomatoes, which were in some ways more useful but arguably harder to plan a meal from and use all in one go.
He said he definitely got a few good-value meals out of it and appreciated that it took some of the decision-making out of meal prep, but he wouldn't be racing to order another.
