In a bid to reduce waste, magic bags and Too Good To Go offerings have been cropping up at more and more of our favourite takeaways and supermarkets - and even hotels have started offering them too. For a fixed price, customers are given leftover products that otherwise would have been destined for the bin and wasted.
Birmingham Live reporter Danya Farrington recently gave the scheme a go, ordering a £4 bag from Asda, which contained items worth £12. She shared her experience online with the publication and it's fair to say she was left feeling rather disappointed by the whole thing.
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Danya told how she'd recently noticed Asda pop up on the Too Good To Go app at a Euro Garages near her home.
She was "intrigued" by the idea and clicked to reserve.
Her initial order ended up being cancelled as there was not enough surplus food left in the store by the end of the day - and this happened again another seven times. This included one instance where they cancelled five minutes before the collection was due to start - and she recalls being in her car ready to go.
But on Wednesday she was finally able to pick up a bag at 8pm and described it as being a "complete mystery".
She was given the choice of two different bags when she arrived at the store.
"They told me there was a lamb shank in one of the bags," the writer explained. "I don't particularly like lamb for one, and when I looked in the bags, the one with the lamb shank had fewer items in. So I opted for the other - which actually had six items inside.
"I investigated further when I got back into the car. A loaf of bread, pineapple fingers, a shepherd's pie ready meal, three onions, coleslaw and millionaire's desserts.
"When I got home I did check Asda's website to see how much these items would cost £11.54 - so slightly less than the £12 price tag on the website. I did only pay £4, however, I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed.
"The Warburtons toastie loaf should be £1.25; the Asda Extra Special two Belgian chocolate millionaire's desserts were £2.50; the three brown onions 79p; the Extra Special shepherd's pie £4; pineapple fingers £1; and extra special mature cheddar cheese coleslaw would be £2.
"All of the items either went out of date that day, or the following day. But we managed to find a use for them all."
Danya popped the bread in the freezer to use for toast for breakfast and added the ready meal there as well to save for a later date.
She continued: "I snacked on the pineapple sticks the following day for a mid-morning work break snack. While the millionaire's desserts lasted seconds when we walked through the door. They were delicious.
"I used some coleslaw with my lunches over the next few days - and the onions we used with our planned meals over the coming days as they lasted longer than their expiry dates."
She added that even though it wasn't the most expensive Too Good To Go bag she's ever bought (she had a £5 one from Starbucks previously) she didn't feel it was worth the £12.
"I did feel somewhat disappointed. I picked up a similar one from Morrisons (£3.09) and received so much more food.
"But then again, you really can't deny the appeal of the Too Good To Go app at all. It is a great idea and makes a lot of sense - especially as people are trying to save money."
Have you tried magic bags before? Let us know in the comments below.
