A Budget Challenge Using the Too Good To Go App
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 มิ.ย. 2024
- Time for another limited budget challenge - this time attempting to use the Too Good To Go App for the majority of the shopping, with a small top-up budget - how will that work out?
The reason I do this is as an exercise to try to provoke myself to respond creatively; to nurture or develop transferrable skills of creativity and adaptability; to think more about what it means to 'try'; to embed a habit of thinking about and focusing upon solutions, not problems and also to experience personal failure in a safe setting. This type of exercise - in this, and in other contexts - has served me very well in life. Those skills, such as they are, have always been the driving force of what I do, on this channel, and everywhere else.
It's important to note what this video is NOT:
This is NOT a tutorial for cooking or budgeting. No guarantee is made that anyone else will be able to replicate any part of this video (supposing you even wanted to).
This is NOT an attempt to 'play at being poor', although it always does make me appreciate things that I normally take for granted.
This is NOT an attempt to 'prove that people on benefits could get by with less' - if anything, it proves the complete opposite - because this was a difficult thing to do - that's why it's called a 'challenge'.
This is NOT a diet - it would not be a good idea to cook or eat exactly this food every day - or budget like this every day.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:26 Rules & parameters
01:22 Shopping
09:58 The 'haul'
11:40 Change of scope
13:36 Breakfast
14:42 Lunch (prep)
18:31 Lunch (serve)
19:38 Dinner (prep)
23:52 Dinner (serve)
25:02 The Toast Tax
25:13 Thoughts
26:09 Analysis
Part 2(ish) of this mini series is here: • A Budget Challenge At ...
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The stress you had at the store finding things in your budget triggered me. I remember having to do that but not in a challenge way but because when someone would give me money that was all I had. I know no one was paying any attention to me but I always felt like all eyes were on me and judging me. I am glad I am in a much better place in life thankfully.
Yes, I know the feeling. But I don´t think you should feel ashamed when you are so poor you have trouble buying food.. Others should be ashamed for that.
I've had that same feeling..
Luckily I'm having a bit more space now.
You actually should feel really proud,you survived!.pleased things are easier.
There is no shame there. ❤
My first year as an apprentice, living in a shared house, I cleared $30 a week.
I bought 'less-than-fresh' vegetables from the market. I stole, unmercifully, from the fridge. I cooked meals for the 5 of us, even though, mostly, only 4 of us ate them.
No shame in living on a budge lt and making do with the resources you have. That was my childhood. I'm thankfully also in a better place now, thanks to my mom's efforts to keep us in a good school and make sure we worked hard and made a more comfortable life, but growing up was a struggle and we ate a lot of poverty meals.
The food ended up so wonderfully silly, it made me smile even though the challenge was a struggle
exactly!
The silliness made this episode one of my favourites in this series.
Also kind of depicted how you might eat one one of those days when the only food left in your house is the weird stuff in the freezer and you try to make meals out of it
Yep, doesnt matter how it turns out i just enjoy watching these vids from Shrimp.
Totally. Loved the 3 men in a boat named dish with toast sails also.
The app is kind of fun to use because of that. Bakerys give out the best stuff but my international food marked is also fun because sometimes you get stuff i never seen in my life. I sometimes googled vegtables after that. ( I also get a lot moldy stuff i need to thow out thats not fun ! But the result is mostly Vegtable soup for 3 days for 4€)
This is not a fail. This is a damn good illustration of what happens when people ends up with very random foodbags (it be from charity or toogoodtoogo), and have to rush to the only store they can get to before or after work, trying to get SOMETHING to eat.
And when you? With your level of knowledge, a full belly and clear mind? Still ends up getting this stressed, and end up with this kind of mess to eat? It terrifies me to think of what students, parents, front line workers, and so on are relying on to fill their and their families bellies these days.
I have said it before, and I'll keep repeating it, what you are doing is valuable. It uses poverty as entertainment, in a dignified way, that makes it real for people that are not living in the thick of it themselves. It is damn rare to see, and you are pulling it off brilliantly.
True. I've had amazing bags, and complete fails. You gotta deal with what you get.
there's UK poverty then there is actual poverty
I am not going to insist on a suffering Olympics when there are people that are unable to keep themselves reasonably warm, fed, and medicated. For someone that ends up with sepsis due to a cold induced UTI from having their flat unheated for weeks or months? Or losing toes due to not affording shoes to keep them from frostbites? It does not matter that others are even worse off.
But you do you.
Do u help someone else? 4:24
Mike, that was NOT a failure. The items in the bag were beyond your control as was the limited choice in Morrisons. The fact you made anything is impressive. The sweet potato boat with 3 sausage sailors was quite innovative😂
"even if it was just laughing and watching me fail" I only laughed at the names of the dishes. When you came back from shopping and showed the haul, I saw your love for Jenny in not inflicting it on her - and your love for your viewers by inflicting it on yourself to give us a video. All through the cooking/eating I was in sympathy with you. I have a lot of respect for you Mr Shrimp. Looking forward to the next budget challenge vid. They are my favourite.
Well said!
Great take!
Please DO NOT think that because you feel the challenge didn't go so well, it's not fun to watch. It was a very enjoyable video, as always!
Still Atomic Shrimp was rather foolish all the same. We’re currently in the grip of inflation epidemic and he rocks up at Sainsbury’s equivalent supermarket with a pound to spend… Of course he’s going to be going home with nought!
@@Zabzim The issue was the too good to go bag, not the 1£.
@@vaalalves both I would say. Too good to go is mostly high end junk food items, like the stuff he was given. Not to say this isn’t entertaining stuff but it’s not the sort of down to earth nosh our man Atomic Shrimp ever envisioned being given.
@@Zabzim specially because he bought from a gas station convenience store.
@@carlost856 to good to go is almost exclusively ultra processed food items. Be it what he got or breads and cakes from a parsons bakery or cakes and sandwiches from a coffee shop. Actually receiving a pack of onions was the special treat as that’s not you would normally receive in your to good bag. Even if you get one from a supermarket, those onions would have gone in the fruit and veg box not a to good to go bag.
My favorite part was when you added the sliced toast to the 3 Men in a Boat - they looked liked sails!! 3 Men in a Barque 😄
I've found that M&S TGTG bags are normally more of a 'fun' thing, rather than a budgetting thing. Once, I got a £3 Budgens TGTG bag and the bag was stuffed with all sorts, from parsnips, to smoked kippers to a whole chocolate cake! Petrol station shops, typically have a lot of junk food (crisps, chocolates, pastries, cans of drink).
Yes an M&S garage couldn't be a worse combination for value from TGTG unfortunately. Bakeries, in my experience, are where the extraordinary value is found
@@MegaLarriot Yes my local bakery does the TGTG back and I could not be more pleased with what I get from them. High quality loaf of bread (very filling compared to the supermarket sliced stuff), donuts, pastries and slices of cake, and once even gave me some coffee beans.
The local co-op is almost always a good shout too for grocery items. They get a lot of stuff that has a relatviely short shelf life but not enough of a market for them. I have gotten multiples of their fancy pizzas and a bunch of staples like bread loafs for 4 quid from there
It seems like Olio is the better place to go for real food rather than convenience foods.
@@MegaLarriotYeah TGTG is best at places that need to constantly get rid of/cycle their stock: bakeries, sushi shops/fishmongers, buffet-type restaurants, etc.
Most TH-camrs would have just started again the next day and hope for better ingredients, we’d have never know. It’s a thing I love about this channel that you don’t do that. Failures and successes get equal billing because you know they both teach things.
What if this is better from before? Daat daat daha
most youtubers would do a video like:
"I'm spending $100 on a massive crazy breakfast. Let's be stupid and waste money"
Because they know they'll make $300 in ad revenue on the video. it gets really old because it means random viewers just want to see people being stupid with money, and then the people who are stupid with money get more money in ad revenue, which they didn't need, because they had enough money to act stupid with it in the first place. And it just becomes a lot of one-upmanship and wasting of money and resources. Like the guy who made a video (when the PS5 was released) of throwing a playstation 5 down the stairs, because he knew he'd make more than the MSRP through ad revenue from idiots who want to watch other idiots being wasteful. It's a vicious cycle of jack-assery.
Personally, I make a point of subscribing to TH-camrs who show their mistakes and go over why they were mistakes, and what they’re going to do about it.
I do this for many reasons. One, I like to get inspiration from others on how to deal with all sorts of mistakes. I mean, I’m 70 and am definitely not done making mistakes, so the more help I can get, the better.
Two, I believe that everyone deserves to feel like an idiot at least once a day, to stay humble. (I’m about a thousand years ahead on that so far)
@@Boogie_the_cat Ugh, I hate those gratuitous food waste things. That said, I do enjoy watching Ordinary Sausage, and I appreciate the work Ann Reardon does "debunking" viral videos, but she could just explain how it wouldn't work rather than wasting a load of eggs and wrecking her microwave.
@@igotes i'd imagine she does it because otherwise the .01% of people wondering what would actually happen would do it instead
My gut reaction to that "too good to go" app was that it reduces grocery shopping to gambling. I'm sure it's fun if you're just doing it to save a little money and be surprised, but If you're the kind in the position of *needing* to live like that, I imagine it could become soul crushing.
It's fine if you live in a big city. Lots of seasonal fruit and veggies, tons of bread from bakeries, and meat from buffet after the close. Once you know what you usually get at each spot, it's like grocery shopping with a little twist.
But the bag he got would have ruined my day. Maybe worth 1-1,5£ at most.
I think it's mostly location issue, TGTG is definitely fine in my area but that's because I live in tourist hot spot and biggest city in country, so a lot of places with a lot of varied food that goes unsold and ends up on TGTG or in the shop's own program.
Still, since those are products one step away from being thrown out, the only guarantee is that you will get some calories, but over long term unless you know the shops/restaurants/cafes and rotate them accordingly you will end up with horribly unbalanced diet.
That's exactly the feeling I got when looking at it as well. It's comes off as a loot box, "You could get Doritos!", it feels like a scam.
It's decent to supplement your groceries after already buying. It can also be good to mix up your food if you've been buying the same things over and over and can't think of any other recipes. I have used these services alongside buying the essentials, then anything in the box/bag just feels like a treat on top of that. If I get veg in there, I can make my meal a bit nicer or go for a slightly fancier preparation.
The point of the boxes was never to make it something someone lives off of, and (at least where I live) they are not and were never advertised in that way. It is to reduce food waste, which it does. To act like it's a scam because it doesn't work for a purpose it was never intended to fulfill is ridiculous. It's like calling a ruler a scam because you can't use it to write your English essays. That wasn't the point of the product, and that doesn't take away from the fact that rulers are successful and efficient at completing the task they were intended for.
@@madeleine61509 This is my first time hearing about the app. My first concern wasn't it seems like a scam; I was wondering what the effectiveness is. As long as someone uses what is given to them, that reduces waste. If someone ends up throwing away the food anyway, it's still waste. That's not a knock against the app/program. It seems you use all or most what you get from the app and as long as most people do, it's incredibly effective.
It seems the people it would benefit the most are those who need a cheaper way of getting groceries. But, as you said, that's not the purpose of it. So they people still end up in a bad place. It would be great to have a solution that was optimal for both problems.
Greggs and Costa gave us the most food when we used too good to go. Costa actually said to take anything we wanted 😂 I ate banana and pecan loaf cake for many days and had no regrets
The cafes and bakeries are the best for TGTG in my opinion. I once got two toasties, two paninis, and a whole loaf of bread from Paul for a fiver.
We fed a family of 7 for 2 days with Costa toasties, sandwiches and cakes 😂
On a more positive note, I recently moved out into my own apartment and never really got taught a lot of cooking. I have been watching you for a few years now and you really managed to ignite something in me that made me very passionate about cooking. You tackling these challenges in very clever ways and your various other cooking videos have taught me so many good skills that I got an excellent head start and tons of motivation for cooking myself. There is a very unique thing about how methodical you go about cooking that always stood out to me. You know very well what components any given dish needs and how you can improvise if you don't have the right ingredients at hand. I learned to think about certain ingredients in recipes more like a suggestion for what specific *type* or category of ingredient is needed, instead of being too fixated on it being that exact ingredient. It sounds like something so basic but I think that this mindset of seeing ingredients for what they bring or add to the dish is fantastic and I love how you incorporate this way of thinking into your videos. I certainly could learn a ton from you and I love watching every new video. Thank you!
Great to hear how Mr Shrimp's videos have helped you. I would always recommend going to get a few spices and things from a world supermarket if there is one near you. Cumin, smoked paprika, all purpose seasoning, garlic powder, tomato puree and chilli flakes are a great place to start. With some those and an onion you can turn a bland tin of beans into something you'd enjoy a lot more and the spices etc can be used in so many dishes. All purpose seasoning helps bring the flavour out in so much.
Same here!! Never liked cooking, thought it's not all that interesting since all I knew about cooking was following recipes. Now I'm really adventurous and I like to experiment a lot. It's super fun. Without those videos I'd have never thought you can use ingredients like that
All it takes is practice. 😊
A suggestion for a couple of books you might like, both by Niki Segnit:
- The Flavour Thesaurus
- Lateral Cooking
They both really helped me with learning about the logic behind cooking and figuring out substitutions or alterations if I don't have the exact right ingredients. The Flavour Thesaurus is about figuring out what ingredients will work well together, e.g. "this recipe asks for a parsnip but I don't have one; what could I use instead that will still be tasty?" Lateral Cooking is about what happens if you alter ratios/ingredients in standard recipes, e.g. "the recipe calls for 300g flour but I only have 250g; will I still get roughly the same result or do I need to reduce other ingredients?"
I actually cannot believe you did a £1 a day challenge not so long ago. It really does show the struggle we as a country are all going through! Thank you atomic for another brilliant and informative video
Prices are not really comparable though. Gas station food prices were always really high, so even with those reductions, it’s still overpriced.
It's certainly a good reality check on the last few years. To basically go from having a decent shot with £1 or £2 of making something creative to practically being stuck with extremely bare minimums while stuff we were used to being reasonable is now priced higher than Snoop Dogg. I saw a sleeve of Thomas Bagels the other day and I don't know what grade of crack they were smoking to be demanding $8.50 for it. It was just a normal sleeve of bagels, not a bulk box.
We've been feeling this in the US for a long time. 1or 2 GBP a day would never feed you for a day even when his old videos were filmed. Now, when I enter a store, im shocked to see a price that starts with a 2, much less a 1 or 0
For example, those 90p mushrooms would likely be $2 or more at my local nonprofit low cost grocery store, and $3 at the regular grocery store.
@@byeFofiko1There's a wide difference of prices in the US from what I understand. From living in big cities like NYC or LA to living in rural areas and being able to stack coupons. It mostly depends on how an average salary compares to average living costs that you can really compare.
I love how thoughtful you are of Jenny (I mean, of course!). You're like, this is my thing, I'm not going to punish my wife for clicks. Refreshing honestly, some of these "family" channels seem to encourage torturing your own family members for the enjoyment of others. I'm glad you aren't about that!
I really love how you always take a "failure" as an opportunity to learn. This is something I think would make the world a better place if everyone learned that.
Thank you for being kind to Jenny. I know you would’ve regardless, but I think it’s very healthy to show on video the consideration for your partner. I’m very excited for part 2!
Having to switch to service station for the TGTG bag was definitely a killer. Not only do they have very limited stock, especially of things likely to be reduced, but if your are anything like ours they start out at around double the price of a supermarket, maybe even more. Thanks for trying though, and not just giving up right at the start.
I feel like reduced items are so rarely reduced enough to be worth it in the last couple years. 20p off a £3 item that won't last more than a couple days isnt exactly appealing! I feel for you on this one, that was a tough deal! Thanks for still making some cracking content anyway
They used to reduce things a great deal more, but I guess post-COVID profiteering has taken over. If you time it right you can sometimes get a decent reduction, but you'll be fighting off likeminded folk for the chance. The other week I managed to snag "£25 worth" of lamb for £3 because my wife and I were in Waitrose about 20 minutes before closing. Pure chance though.
You can always try and find a store person and ask if they can reduce things even more. Sometimes it works.
Still around 50% here in Poland, depending on how far away from the eat by date. It does sound extremely annoying that they don't reduce it much where you live!
Wonderful aspect of our late stage capitalism. They'd rather you look at the "reduced" prices and opt to pay full price for something that'll last a few days longer rather than you picking up something a little cheaper.
Depends in Tescos the sandwhiches will be like 95p sometimes and theyre worth it have seen the big breakrast ones. Just gotta be lucky. Millions of people xx
Used to live near a Morrisons that did fantastic reduced stuff from the meat and fish counters. Joints of beef for 50p, massive tuna steaks for a pound etc.
I'm glad you did publish this video! Even though the meals were somewhat depressing, you still managed to put your own charm into them. Three men in a boat put a smile on my face!
He knew EXACTLY what he was doing with that 😂
You may think "I've just made boring food" but I think these challenge videos are incredibly useful and informative no matter the outcome. It's a real insight into cooking on a budget. Actually you show that even with the slimmest of ingredients you can make something. It might be basic but when you're at the bottom it could mean the difference between eating and not eating. Ideas never to be dismissed as "too basic"
Very well said!
I would happily watch a 2 hour video of a budget challenge
Not a failure! I was actually quite impressed with what you managed to concoct from difficult ingredients! Well done! I look forward to Part 2!
I literally laughed out loud at the assembly of that last dish! Mike, you are heroic, and I am in awe that you didn’t just give up. Well done!
I have to say that this channel and especially these challenges are an absolute inspiration for me and my partner. We were also talking about how these challenges have perfectly documented the absolute mess of food prices rising in the UK and hopefully one day you are able to return to actually being able to do the £1 challenges of old.
Damn good channel and an absolute inspiration to us all.
It looks a bit funny entering a supermarket with a big shopping cart knowing that you can only spent 1 £. I think the Marmite was the star of the dish for lunch . ❤️
It feels like carrying a camera in one hand
@@AtomicShrimp😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡 make budget vido more!!!!!!!!
@@Gunnart 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 mak bugit viedo mor
I think I like it❤😂
@Gunnart calm down mate 😂
I think you should revisit this but buy multiple bags from 4 different places and pick the best bag out of the 4 but you don’t get extra money, you get to pick 1 item out of each of the remaining bags so an extra 3 items. I think this would be great to see the difference in bags from different places and give us the chance to see if they are worth it. I do get that it would be difficult to collect 4 different bags all near closing time but that’s all part of the challenge
You may be on to something there...
I like this idea! Only problem might be eating through everything fast enough (depending on the contents).
@@amara560 from watching his videos over time I’m fairly confident nothing would be wasted as he has the ability to freeze and dehydrate. I think what we need to remember here is with these bags as soon as the store is closed the food ends up in the bin anyway (it does in the store my sister works in)
@@liamwoz1861 Freezing and dehydrating works well for produce, but is a little tougher with ready made meals for example. Any saving is better than not ofc, even done imperfectly, but there might be other people that would be able to use it up since 4 bags for one person is a lot. If atomic shrimp can make it work great. I just think it's something to consider.
@@amara560 ok then he can buy one bag a night note down what he’s had and when he goes to make the video he can go in and buy the exact same items at full price
There's definite potential for a sub-series of "Atomic Shrimp gets politely, disappointedly angry with weak reductions in supermarkets".
Really was some impressively terrible reductions there, a lot of crappy ready meals seemingly ended up in the bin at the end of the day there.
He was just there at the wrong time. Morrisons tend to have the best reductions around 4.30-5pm in my one. That stuff he saw would have been for the next day, not today.
Supermarkets are definitely gorging their prices at the moment - thanks for persevering with the project, I’m glad it’s not just me who struggles to fathom the price of everyday staples! Look forward to seeing what Lidl had to offer!
as a german looking at these prices this sounds utterly ridiculous...
even unreduces most of the staple items we saw in this video cost less than half of what they cost in here
is staple food in britain subsidised? because even if i assume its vat free this wouldnt make up the difference
@@TheScarvigfood is subsidised in the UK, yes. To what extent, i dont know, since im a Finn
Unfortunately no, food in the UK is not subsidised, supermarkets are allowed to govern their own prices to the consumer and the local produce providers. No one appears to benefit greater than the large supermarkets these days which is an unfortunate state of affairs.
@@TheScarvig Yup, same in Sweden. The cheapest equivalence of bread I could find at my discount store is £1.45, and it's not whole wheat. At discount I recon it would go down to £0.76, almost exactly the same as that bread was at full price.
I really love the idea of the Three Men in a Boat dish. I think another good name for it would be Boatato.
I commend you for going ahead with publishing the video despite how tricky the challenge was. These videos are always good for teaching people not to be afraid of failure since it is as much of a learning experience as, if not more than, success. There's also "If despite limitations, you produce a good end result, then great, but that's not always going to happen, and that's okay."
I guess I'm the only immature guy here
Boatato is GENIUS!! 😂😂😂
@@fishinmountaindew543 I promise you, you are not. >.
I legitimately want to see a "recipe redemption" video on it; not because it's bad (because it's not), but because I wanna see how it'd be without the budget constraints
You've always approached these challenges with kindness and a great deal of empathy, but this is the first time I've felt as if you've really *felt* how it can be when you have a severely limited budget. It can be gutting when you just want to eat and try something new and it turns out that all your money just goes nowhere because you got it wrong (like you tried a new food or a cheaper brand and it tastes really bad.)
Yeah, there's some truth in that. I mean, I don't suppose I felt the true depth of it, because I had the safety net of knowing I could just stop recording and have a normal day instead, but I did get a little taste of despair at the realisation that nothing was going to work properly.
@@AtomicShrimpthere’s a lot of value in being able to feel even a bit of that weight. I’m glad you decided to post this, because even though you could have just quit, you didn’t. You did the best you could with what you had, mistakes and all, and made it work. And that’s what we’re all trying to do at the end of the day, I think.
I'd like to watch a second attempt on the TGTG thing if you change the store, to a major supermarket. I'll stay tuned for the next Lidl challenge
I don't think you failed at all, you did a wonderful job putting theses meals together. They were very creative and actually looked appetizing. You can't go wrong with spaghetti hoops anyway. I used to eat a lot those , they are called Spaghetti Os in the US. "Three men in a boat" was very cute.
I think it's wonderful that Jenny was willing to be such a good sport, and that you protected her from the experience. Presentation was lovely; although I bet Jenny was super happy she didn't have to eat any of it, well, except for the danish. Looking forward to the second part.
Theres a real desparation and frustration showing in mr. Shrimp's voice during this shop. Ive noticed also the cheapest items at the store are the ones whove increased the most here in Belgium. Items that were solidly below a euro now like 1.20, 1.50. Crazy.
This started a bit depressing but what you managed was extremely impressive for me, a person that's mostly learning how to cook and work with ingredients by watching you.
Thank you for not giving up while recording this, felt really good that even when you were dissapointed and didn't know what to make of your situation, you still didn't give up.
Finally someone else who makes a ‘toast tent’ to aid pre-buttering cooling! ⛺️
My personal experience with TGTG is that if you're choosing grocery stores, aim for a store that has a rating of at least a 4.1-4.2. There's one store in particular that has a 4.6 rating average from nearly a thousand people, and for 6 CAD (converted I estimate about a little more than the amount you spent on the app) I always get a MASSIVE amount of groceries, including lots of fruit and veggies, leftover bread, pantry staples, snacks, etc. I even got lucky once and got a dozen eggs that are very good quality that normally cost about $10 CAD.
My point is that I think the app is still worth it. It just takes some researching and risk taking to find a consistent option on TGTG.
It also depends on the market too. At least in Houston, you better enjoy bread, donuts and cookies because that's pretty much been the early adopters here at this point unless you get really lucky.
Same. My strategy besides the reviews is go every place once (within reason). Chat with the people to see if its average what they give you, go home and check it out. After a bit (and admittedly some money wasted) you'll know the top spots around.
Depends on the country. In the Netherlands, it's not worth it. Produce that they wouldn't sell in the store anymore they think is full price value.
TGTG is a nice concept thats worked out great in other countries (such as Denmark where supermarkets will mostly give you vegetables and baked goods, and there's a restaurant around every corner that'll give you a meal for close to nothing) but frankly unless you have some standout store managers in your locale it'll probably be disappointing in the UK. Best UK TGTG experience I've had has been through the local food bank, except now I just visit them regularly and make a good donation for food instead.
Absolutely, we've gotten it a couple of times from our local supermarkets and gas stations here in a small town in Denmark, usually we'll get a paper bag almost the size he got, usually it's a mix of items that the store can't sell the next day, like baked goods and some pre-mixed salads, Last time we got 4 loaves of bread (2 Rye and 2 soft white breads) around 12 smaller buns for a small sandwich, 4-5 "danish pastries" some milk and juice and a couple of salads. When we get it from 7/11 it'll be more heavy on the quick snack food items as mini hotdogs or protein salads, but getting 4 identical salads with salmon that has to be eaten that night was a bit much for us since we're only 2 people and had already had dinner.
But we've also had them from two or three stores that was the last time we ordered from them since they were very small bags with more or less nothing worth eating (from our perspective) so we usually go for TGTG from places we know will be "bread" heavy since we can freeze the bread and not waste it
There's a few carvery pubs here which towards the end of the day will give you a really large container, a few slices of meat, couple of pigs in blankets and then you help yourself to the stuffing and vegetables. Pretty good
As you say it all depends on te manager of the shop/supermarket. I've struck luck each time I've used TGTG in Netto or Lidl or such, it's been moldy, 5 days past best before. Mushy veggies/fruits and the list goes on. So for me, I believe that in my area, we've got bad managers..
I tried it here in the UK for a few months. Very rarely was it worth it.
There's nothing managers can do beyond ensuring the bags are a minimum of £12 (at least for my shop) and somewhat diverse. We have to make up the bags AFTER all the reductions have been done and sat unsold all day and with times being what they are, reduced food usually flies of the shelves now. Most of the times we can't even make the bags because we simply have nothing left to make them with.
This challenge really reminded me of when I had to cook for myself during summers growing up. Emboldened by my love for Iron Chef, I would combine pre-made foods and ingredients together with no real plan aside from knowing I wanted it took look fancy in the end. The results were almost never any tastier than their constituent parts, but making them definitely helped me learn and grow in the kitchen from a young age. I'm glad you ended up publishing this video as it gave me quite a lot of joy to watch.
seeing the presentation of "three men in a boat" and seeing the name pop up made me really really happy and honestly my entire day, just extraordinarily cute in every way! thank you :)
You really gotta appreciate the subtle comedy of "three men in a boat". Good stuff!
For me (in the Netherlands) TGTG works out quite well, and I get solid quantities of food with surprise bags. I think this went wrong because of the BP surprise bag. I assume that groceries from a gasstation will already be more expensive then at a supermarket, and like you said readymade items also tend to be more expensive. In my experience I get the items in the bag at an average of a 50% reduction, so a surprise bag from a cheaper supermarket will get me €8 of groceries for around €4, which is usually decent value. I think you will have better luck if you try this with a surprisebag from a supermarket.
Same country, never managed to get a TGTG bag because they're sold out within seconds. Not to mention every other supermarket is now switching to an equally unavailable but more expensive/less good version :(
@@ShaCaroIt's been so sad. I always got the Lidl bag when I could and on an incredibly tight budget that was a way to survive. But now they left TGTG and they decided to do their own thing, but I haven't seen any of those bags around. I wish there was a way to get the bags to the poorest people that need them most.
@@amara560 I'm not up to speed on that subject but I really hope shops arent now monetising food that otherwise would have gone to initiatives like the voedselbank
I tried many TGTG in the Netherlands and it almost always was disappointing. TGTG isn't worth your money in NL. Maybe the Lidl or Macro.. but they are sold out within a minute and you have to hunt them, wait 10 minutes at the time they usually place it online refresh and hope you get one. But even then the Lidl bag I got wasn't worth the money.
I love the optimism with bringing in a whole cart to spend 1 pound!
Another great video!
(SEE EDIT) Those reductions at the Morrisons were pretty appalling really - you can tell that it was all going to go in the bin at the end of the day. I do most of my shopping at a combination of Tesco and Waitrose, and both of them have much better final discounts (usually ~75% off, with occasional extra discounts if they have loads of a particular item, my best find was a 800g pack of chicken wings from Waitrose for 45p) and there's almost nothing left on the discount shelf even half an hour after they apply the final discounts, let alone by the end of the day. Such waste...
Edit: on closer inspection of the use by dates in the video for those from Morrisons as opposed to those from M&S, those items do appear to have been dated for the next day or two, and probably hadn't had their final reduction. I rescind my soapbox!
Ok, i live 5 min away from a Morrisons supermarket, the items reduced less go bad the following day. The ones going in the bin at the end of the day are probably reduced by 50% around lunchtime, and they get reduced by around 75% at/ after 7 pm. And people fight over thrm like hawks, it's disgusting how much the prices went up!
@@AlissaSss23 I work at a Morrisons and i basically get swarmed the moment I walk onto the shop floor with my reductions, honestly quite a bad show of manners really. But yeah we tend to reduce the day before by a small amount, and then the following day we do a final reduction in the evening.
Thinking about the timing of your visit to Morrisons, I think it is highly likely that the reductions which were due to expire on that day had already gone into their own good to go bags to reduce wastage.
Ive never heard you sound more defeated than when you picked up those spaghetti hoops. Id love to see more TGTG content though
This was no doubt your hardest challenge. I'm glad you decided to stick with it and actually show us the struggle instead of just scrapping the idea and trying again until you could get it perfect. I love seeing your creativity and adaptiveness when things don't go to plan
One of my favourite moments of this has to be the slow and gradual fade into the 'supermarket montage' music, such that it sounded like Morrisons was playing the selfsame tune. Lovely.
Just wanted to let you know your videos have been really inspiring and have made a massive impact on my life. You've taught me so much about creativity and resourcefulness with food and in life in general. I wish I could take away the price increases, negative comments, and pressure from the algorthm to make this a better platform for you. Please hold onto what makes you happy!
I absolutely loved the names of the meals. "Three Men in a Boat" caught me really off-guard.
Keep being amazing, Shrimp.
What is very surprising to me is actually how cheap some good in England really is. For example you mentioned the carrots 30 pents being the normal price before inflation.
Here in Germany he would pay 1.50€ which is 1.29 pound for the same amount of carrots.
This is insanely cheap to me.
Loved your video!
About the same price in the U.S. too. crazy seeing brits complain about food costs when ours are 2-3x as much!
I know. Even now, those prices are cheap, from my point of view! I used to not pay much attention to the prices of basic food stuff, but that has changed recently 🫤
There's something so real about these (videos) that it always makes me reaaally hungry! Thank You!
Gotta be honest what I love the most about these videos is not the end result itself, but the thought process and how you explain why you are doing what you are doing. It it turns out good, great! If turns out barely ok no problem, it´s still edible! I always hated cooking and following recipes but since I started watching your videos a few years ago I started to enjoy going to my parents house just to see whatever they got left in the fridge and cook something without going to the supermarket. Roughly 70% of the dishes I prepare they say it tasted really nice lol, I´ll call that a win.
I'd love to see some more TGTG "reviews". A bad fluke, a lesson not to get them from a service station, or just a dud app, it would be cool to find out more.
I'm in Belgium in a dense urban setting, and I quite like the app.
You do have to pick your bag with care (service stations are truly one of the worst options), and even then you might just get unlucky once in a while, but over all I think it's worth it in my area at least.
There are reviews in the app, bakeries and grocery stores are usually the best places. Convenience or gas station stores are not worth it, since they have super high prices to start with. But after a few tries you learn which shops around you give the best deals.
I really think you're better off finding out the best time for reductions and just going to the supermarket :/
Making the best of a bad situation seems to me to be largely the point of this series. Continuing on when the haul was light on useful things, making do, and coming up with something is inspiring (even if it's only a little bit so) still counts.
"Seriously loaf of bread £2.10." Welcome to my world, that's Gluten Free bread, normally £3.50 for a small-medium loaf, I would have been excited by £2.10. I rarely buy bread unless it's on reduced or special price. Having dietary restrictions is hard on a budget.
Yes I 100% agree with you. I live with a coeliac who has been vegetarian since he was 4. (34 years and a coeliac diagnosis he's not changing his mind).
Sometimes our meals are super cheap, veggies and rice/potatoes go a long way.
But if he wants the "luxury" of eating bread one day its suddenly three times the price And they rub salt in the wound when you see how small the slices are in comparison!
I have c.o.p.d. gout & diabetes.gout really messes with budget
I would like to see a challenge where you would go into the store with dishes in mind, but have to purchase the cheapest item on the shelf. I just love seeing how you work the items into the dish and would like to see what you could do with unlimited limited possibilities.
I don't see it as a Fail. Just a reality of things and "offers".
These challenges are always worth it. Entertaining and creative.
Thank You Atomic Shrimp
My heart sank when you said you had switched to getting your bag from BP... I knew exactly kind of "food" you'd be getting.
Seriously, though... the 'three men in a boat' was a clever concept and looked like it should have been quite a nice combination.
I honestly thought that what you named 'Three men in a boat' was going to be called 'The Titanic'. You're obviously the more cultured one here! Thank you so much for the video, it really did make me smile through your cooking process. Your imagination and skills are something to behold.
Much respect to you that was definitely a difficult challenge... I'm sure Jenny was happy that she didn't have to go through that.
I SO want to be able to avoid waste by using ‘too good to go’ but the random ‘ready made’ contents available locally put me off as I’m not sure how to use them…I think you did BRILLIANTLY with what you. Kudos to you and look forward to the next instalment - I imagine you and Jenny will eat VERY well in comparison! Thankyou for posting 😊
It's sad that they'd rather bin all that stuff than reduce it to a reasonable price so it sells.
Every day is a budget meal day for me, so these videos interest me greatly.
I tend to buy enough food for around 4-6 weeks at a time, that way the average cost per day is extremely low.
I batch cook, supplement from the garden and preserve. Only buying ingredients, nothing pre prepared.
Thanks for the video, Mike.
I work as a delivery driver at
For one of the large supermarkets. Our warehouse has a daily collection from a local charity, who pick up a considerable amount of products (including lots of meat, vegetables and fruit), which is about to become unsellable. I may be wrong, but I think all of the big supermarket companies have similar arrangements. Of course this doesn't help individuals on limited budgets, but I guess has more impact across the communities the charitys are located in.
@@ganainm5113 That is nice to know. Thank you.
I do know an awful lot still gets thrown though. I can see the bins behind, stuffed full.
One of my friends used to go and grab what they could u till they improved security 😅 hehe.
It looks like those reductions are in preparation for the following day, so the items have to be sold by the end of the day after. That means they'll be reduced to a reasonable price by around 5pm the next day, when the store is busier and the items all get snapped up.
Actually the poachette ring isn't completely pointless! I've seen PlanD, a korean youtuber make several donut-shaped vegetable pancakes to get more crispy edges, so more of the best part :)
Thank you for the video and for telling us about this app. My husband and I downloaded the app this afternoon and got a bag with butter and cheese croissants, cinnamon raisin bagels, vegan pound cake, and apple fritters from a grocery store here in Canada.
:)
I've definitely had a mixed experience with TGTG. A surprise box from a proper supermarket was far more useful than the one I had from a Spar equivalent as it had more raw ingredients rather than things such as reduced pastry slices which, whilst they make up the 'value', are not things I would ordinarily get. Certainly an interesting project this time around!
Love these budget challenge videos! Interesting concept, never heard of Too Good To Go before this.
Editing some thoughts after watching: I think it was the inclusion of highly processed, pre-prepared food items in the bag that really upped the difficulty here - what can you really do with a Danish pastry? Perhaps scoop the custard out for use in something, use the pastry as a sort of crouton-analogue for a soup? I suppose at that point, one has to consider the value of spending time and energy deconstructing an already complete food item vs just eating it. Definitely pushes the challenge close to falling outside of the "stretch-achievable" sweet spot.
I've been using too good to go on an off for years, with great results , except for a few instances. I watched the video last night so I got a tgtg bag from my Morrison's and for 3.09 I got enough food for a few days. Kale, lettuce, cucumber, half a cabbage, raspberries, parsnips,2 packs of mushrooms, lemons and 2.5kg of potatoes. I'm now having a lovely a lovely meal, thanks Shrimp!
I appreciate that you still went through and recorded the challenge even if it didn't go as well as you'd hoped. You could've given it another go with a better surprise bag (you still could) and only uploaded the success, but I think it's also important to show the failures.
I do TGTG regularly, and it can really be cost effective, but you do have to choose wisely which bag you get (I generally don't do any place that have ratings below 4 stars) and not every one is a win.
I do enjoy the challenge of having to work around the ingredients you get. It forces me to be creative and figure out what to do with something I wouldn't normally have bought.
You’re always 10/10 for creativity in these food challenges
I really appreciate that you upload these failures, because it shows that, as long as you learn from it, some good has still come.
I love this app. Had to use it because it was even cheaper and more diverse than budgeting. Now I have some hidden gems I use now and then but I don't have to rely in it thank god. In fact I'm getting a family size sushi bag (for portions) for 20€ tomorrow that would set us back 100+ in a Restaurant
Hope you take another shot with the TGTG app at a typical supermarket. Decent exercise either way.
I think this video is actually up there for me. You've done an absolutely fantastic job of dealing with failure to the best of your ability and making do regardless, a truly commendable effort!
I'm genuinely always so impressed by the meals you come up with in these challenges
So am I.
Thank you for uploading this, as it somewhat categorises the struggle of current day problems with supermarkets and these apps that seem promising but aren't really - they are good for reducing waste, but not for getting a good deal in my opinion. I appreciate that it could have been easy to give in to resignation at the poor haul, but I'm glad that you continued and came up with some cracking ideas, so thank you!
I know you thought it was a fail, but the onion soup looked nice and I wouldn't have thought of having it with sweet potato, and I'm going to try it because it appeals to me. So you gave one person an idea at least!
Your limited budget challenges are great watching, and really helped me try to come up with new ways to use old items, thinking outside the recipe book. This video isn't a failure, it's a smashing success, knowing what to not do is at least as important as what to do!
I appreciate and respect so much that you a) didn't go and get another bag another day and pretend the first bag never happened and b) that you went ahead with it anyway even though it wasn't going to be enjoyable. I feel like knowing those petrol station convenience stores tend to charge 25%-50% more for everything in general, that an actual supermarket's bag would be better value for the same price (or at least I hope so). I still think from a food wastage standpoint, the Too Good To Go app is a noble cause and it's better that it doesn't end up wasted in landfill.
One of my favourite things about especially your budget challenges is that they give a great glimpse into what prices and stores are like across the Atlantic. These challenges are always really fun to watch because getting anything decently hearty for the Canadian equivalent of one pound, $1.73, is basically impossible where I live. Even just the non-reduced price of that wholemeal loaf is almost $1 less than a store-brand whole wheat load here.
Always keep up with the amazing content Shrimp, you're one of those channels where I always tune in for every upload!
I personally live in germany, so most of the selections in the app are bakeries which are S tier in terms of quality + quantity for your buck. The few other things that pop up that I would recommend not picking up would be anything gas station relation, as the initial price of the products even when reduced to 1/3rd or even 1/4th is still expensive for what they are (usually overpriced perishable snack foods). Another one is any restaurant that advertises "meals" that is located within the city, same principle applies the food is usually bland and the price reduction doesn't help enough. (I had a meal from Nordsee which included mashed potatoes, remoulade sauce and a fish filet for 3,50€).
Meanwhile the worst possible outcome out of your bag from a bakery would be something among the lines of: a pretzel, a croissant (could be chocolate), cookies, a sandwich, an assortment of breadrolls, pizza sauce bread and maybe a pastry. However most of the time they include a loaf of sliced bread as a the core thing.
Since I am personally not picky with my bread the gambling part of the mystery bag doesn't affect me much, idm not getting a loaf if i have a few breadrolls instead. And everything else is like a great bonus ontop. (3-4€ range)
Please do this again! The mystery of the too good to go bags is so interesting and seeing how you figure out a meal from them with your limitations is super fun too!
I've had a few too good to go bags and there are some shops I avoid 100% and others I know I'll get my moneys worth from, I'd love to see how this is in a different part of the UK
I would like to thank you, not for anything in particular, just for being a decent fellow. When I am not doing the best I enjoy watching your videos as a way to cheer up.
Thank you.
THANKS for keeping on keeping; always enjoyable. Love your energy!!!
I'm thinking of living off TGTG and foraging for Lent next year...
TGTG is very hit and miss. My first few mystery bags from Morrisons were really good, then i got a couple that were pretty much all baked goods so put me off getting any more...
I haven't watched it all yet but loving this video already ☺️
Beware the cancelled bag. Makes tricky meal planning impossible.
❤ This was a GREAT video!
The whole concept and execution was very well done!
I love watching these challenges and to see what you were able to make with what you got was both informative and highly entertaining.
The three men in a boat made me giggle and the dinner options name had me laugh out loud! Thank you for making these and being so real!
Your vids are always entertaining, and the failures teach better lessons that the successes.
Seeing someone as creative as you stumble through the challenge really drives home how hard it can be on a budget
"19p for spaghetti hoops..." followed by complete silence, was an iconic piece of cinema. The amount of context wrapped into that singular moment somehow compounded how comedically depressing it all was😂
Great names for the dishes, and 11 out of 10 for creativity under the testing circumstances. Thank you for publishing. An interesting learning experience. With gratitude, from Herefordshire.
3 men in a boat, exploring the mountains of toast. ;) Also I like that you weren't willing to put your partner through something she would have hated. I eat a lot more adventurously than my husband and he hates sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes aren't cheap and are very hard to make taste not awful.
I love your budget challenges. You can always get something out of it, so to me, all of them are a success. Thank you!
I love that you said you would do it "for your entertainment". It worked. Thanks!
I've used TGTG for a while and unless you land lucky everything gets sold out really quickly or you can pick it up after 8pm, and by that time out of date perishables are a bit ropey to use the day after. Good idea but in practice, for the most part it doesn't really work. Glad you've tried it.
Or live in a big city
@placeholder7539 I'm a bugs dick away from Manchester does that count?
Looking at the dates on the Too Good to Go products and the ones on the reduced products in Morrisons, it seems you missed the final reductions for that particular day in Morrisons. The stuff in the reduced bays was reduced in preparation of the next day, when further reductions will be done with what doesn't sell in the early afternoon and early evening (the final reductions). That's why so little was taken off the price. I hope you try this one again soon, maybe avoiding a shop in a petrol station for the Too Good to Go bag.
Yes, when I noticed it was dark as he entered Morrisons, I knew that all the decent reductions had gone. The items we saw in the video were for the next day. 5:30pm is when they do the 90% reductions at my local store. There are always swarms of vultures crowding around the person doing the reductions, I usually wait until the crowd disperses.
“Three men in a boat” made my day. Very funny name alongside that image! This wasn’t as much of a failure as you thought - three men in a boat looked pretty good, I’d eat that one. It was still fun to watch the challenge, and I thought you rose well to a more-challenging-than-usual challenge.
I think even if you had just ended up with an ice cube, you would have made it interesting to watch. The vid reminded me of my student days. Loved it.
I got a Morrisons TGTD bag once. I got 36 jam doughnuts that went out of date the following day, and some bread.
you continue to impress me with your ingenuity despite the circumstances presented to you even though the challenge was a struggle I was still quite entertained so thank you for that!💛
thanks for the video as always mr. shrimp. appreciate the work you put into these videos, especially as these budget challenges just get more and more difficult.
Loved the dishes in the end, thanks for not just giving up