A mum has been branded 'shameful' after sharing the contents of her Too Good To Go box from Morrisons.
Like many supermarkets, the retailer offers discounts on products that are close to their sell by and use by dates, allowing shoppers to collect a box of the stuff through the popular app.
Jo Meola was so impressed with what she picked up for just £3.09 that she decided to share it with like-minded savvy shoppers in the 'Scrimping on a budget' Facebook page.
"Collected my ‘too good to go’ Morrisons grocery magic box tonight and this is what was included," she said. "I do this once a week and it sorts out snacks/lunch bits for my 5 yo at school, lunches for others in house and items towards our dinners all week - cost me £3.09."
While most people were impressed with her haul, one woman criticised her for buying what she described as 'out of date food'.
"I wouldn’t dream of sending children to school with bad food, that’s asking for trouble," said the shopper. "I’d rather go without myself than give that to children.
"There’s a difference between bad food and budget rubbish," she said. "I buy our food from M&S but wouldn’t buy going out of date food, that’s totally not acceptable, never heard anything so shameful in my life."
Followers of the page quickly jumped to Jo's defence.
"How rude and judgemental," said one. "If you can’t say anything nice then simply say nothing."
"Wow!" said another. "You know those dates are usually recommended dates only, it does not mean that the food is bad, just that the supermarkets HAVE to sell by that date or throw it away, have you ever seen the figures?
"The sheer amount of good edible food thrown away everyday? Esp in our so called 1st world country, I am soooo glad you have the money to buy all yours from M&S, but many out there don't, esp single working parents that get very little government help, or carers like myself, being able to buy so much fresh veg and fruit at such a low price enables people to feed their kids good healthy food, rather than only processed stuff, which by the way means they get trolled for not feeding their kids properly! The only shame here is this comment!"
Jo, who also has three stepchildren, told the Manchester Evening News she was surprised by the negative comment.
"It’s unacceptable in this current climate to shame people," said the 42-year-old, who lives in Bedfordshire. "We are in a situation where, no matter which walk of life we come from, we could all do with help and support and this is what my post aimed to do."
The full contents of Jo's box included
- Punnet of strawberries
- Pineapple fingers
- 4 pack ready to eat peaches
- Winter fruit bowl
- Punnet of Red grapes
- 2 x broccoli
- Bag of beansprouts
- 2 x passion fruits
- Bag of oranges
- Punnet of closed cup mushrooms
- Pack of trimmed mangetout
- Small bag of shredded iceberg lettuce
- Bag of 1kg onions
- Bag of leek and potato soup mix
- 150g punnet of blackberries
- 2 bags of fresh thyme
- Bag of Chantenay carrots
- Bag of normal carrots
- Bag of salad
- 2 x bags of 4 Jacket potatoes
It was in October 2019 when Morrisons became the first supermarket to use the Too Good To Go app, which is designed to prevent edible food being thrown away.
Since then it has prevented 1,000 tonnes of food waste and 2,500 tonnes of CO2e being emitted.
Using the app, customers can get a Magic Bag containing at least £10 worth of unsold fruit, veg, deli and bakery products for £3.09. You can also now get them from Morrisons' cafes and Market Kitchens after the scheme was extended last year.
Aldi recently joined the app too, offering a £10 bag of food for £3.30, with the scheme being rolled out to every store.
Simply download the Too Good To Go app and add your location to find out what is available near you.
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