My Too Good To Go hauls in March 2023

In late February 2023, Too Good To Go announced that for the first time, applicable sales tax would be added separately to the price of the surprise bags beginning on March 1, 2023.  Previously, the sales tax was embedded into the price (something I loved because it was a straight-forward number to see on my credit card statement).  Basically, this new change meant that the surprise bags cost more than before — the added tax on top of the old price meant an increase in prices (something we are all used to now in the age of post-pandemic inflation).

The asterisk refers to taxable sale items

I was a bit disheartened that I only started obsessing about the app since January 2023 and two months in was slapped with this new sales tax wherein there was none before.  Despite the new added costs, I was still obsessed with this app that helps me save money on food, discover new restaurants and shops, and divert food from going to waste!

Here are my Too Good To Go hauls in March 2023 (15 surprise bags).  Where surprise bags meet or are above the minimum value, they are marked with a green checkmark.  Surprise bags that do not meet the minimum value are marked with a red X.

March 5, 2023:

Reesor’s Chicken & Deli TGTG $7.99 surprise bag

• Reesor’s Chicken & Deli
• 7509 Yonge St., Markham
• Pick up time:  2 to 4 p.m.
• Medium organic deli and butcher items:  $7.99 plus tax = $9.03
• Grass fed yogurt $3.99, Danish havarti $4.42, Organic medium cheddar $4.60, sausage (no price or label).
• I was not very impressed with this surprise bag considering the yogurt was past its Best Before Date by two days.  Yogurt is a dairy product and dairy products should not be consumed past their BB date for the most part.  They’re easily perishable.  I did the “smell and taste test” and it was fine to eat, but I didn’t think the store should have waited two days to give this out in a surprise bag.  The two cheeses were packed a few months ago; it was questionable but thankfully tasted fine.  The sausage was a complete mystery because there was no label on it.  We chopped and pan-fried it and it was delicious though.  I didn’t think this bag was worth $24 worth, especially considering there was no price on the sausage.

March 7, 2023:

Longo’s TGTG $7.99 surprise bag

• Longo’s (Hwy 7)
• 3085 Hwy 7, Markham
• Pick up time: 5 to 7 p.m.
• Prepared Foods:  $7.99 plus tax = $9.03
• Vermicelli Rice Noodles $3.99, Pad Thai Noodles, Mini Rice Balls $11.99, Roasted Root Vegetables $8.99. ✅
• This was a shocking and disappointing surprise bag.  I felt like the staff at Longo’s was playing a joke on me this time.  I understand that the staff can’t control what leftover food there is and that this could be all they had to place in the surprise bag, but I felt it was highly unlikely that this was everything that was left.  There were other surprise bags for pickup too.  They couldn’t have mixed the items to create more diversity for the bag?  It felt like a joke to be given two plain noodles (no sauce or accompanying proteins), plain rice balls, and some starchy vegetables.  I couldn’t believe this bag.

Metro TGTG $5.99 surprise bag

• Metro (291 York Mills Rd)
• 291 York Mills Rd, North York
• Pick up time:  10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Baked Goods:  $5.99 plus tax = $6.77
• Challah bread $4.79, Four Cheese Butter Croissants $4.99, Creamy Fudge Swirls Pie $9.49, Marble Chocolate Vanilla Cake $6.99.  Total value: $26.26. ✅
• I absolutely loved this bag!  I couldn’t believe that I got a whole marble cake from it too!  The croissants were stale but salvageable after toasting.  Everything else was delicious.  The swirls pie was a new item to me.  It was sweet but unique.

March 9, 2023:

Edible Arrangements TGTG $4.99 fruit cutout bag

After an hour’s worth of work

• Edible Arrangements (Richmond Hill)
• 9019 Bayview Ave. Unit 21, Richmond Hill
• Pick up time:  3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
• Cutout Fruit Bag:  $4.99 plus tax = $5.64
• Large plastic bag of pineapple, cantaloupe, and honeydew cutouts; a box of strawberries.
• We were at the Wycliffe Village Plaza where this Edible Arrangements is located right when the bag dropped, so I felt an extreme urge to get it since we were right there anyway.  The door to their store was broken and I didn’t realize it was open and actually called the number on the door.  The man handed me a large cardboard box with the bag of fruit cutouts and box of strawberries.  Mom was the one who cut up the fruits this time and it took her about 50 minutes.  Unfortunately, we didn’t even end up finishing most of this fruit and most of it went to the compost.

March 11, 2023:

Longo’s TGTG $7.99 surprise bag

• Longo’s (Hwy 7)
• 3085 Hwy 7, Markham
• Pick up time: 5 to 7 p.m.
• Prepared Foods:  $7.99 plus tax = $9.03
• Butter Chicken $9.99, Udon Noodles $3.99, Broccoli & Cheddar Quiches $6.49 x 2, Vermicelli Rice Noodle $3.99.  Total value: $30.95 ✅
• I was a little more impressed with this prepared foods bag this time.  There were again 2 plain noodle packets, but at least the Butter Chicken item and 2 Broccoli & Cheese Quiches were good.

March 12, 2023:

Reesor’s Chicken & Deli TGTG $7.99 surprise bag

• Reesor’s Chicken & Deli
• 7509 Yonge St., Markham
• Pick up time:  2 to 4 p.m.
• Medium organic deli and butcher items:  $7.99 plus tax = $9.03
• Organic 3.8% Nordic milk (expiring on the day of pickup) $6.15, Bison jerky (expired about a month from the pickup date) $18, Organic bullion cubes (expired MORE THAN a year ago in late November 2021) $3.99.  Total value: $28.14. ✅
• Needless to say, at first glance, I was not impressed with these items being all expired.  Even the Nordic milk was a stretch because who can finish 1L of heavy milk in one day?  It’s inconsiderate of the store to give items like this at all.  I ended up giving the organic bullion cubes away on FB marketplace.  On the bright side, you can say that the bag meets value and the items are unique.

Toronto Yatai TGTG $3.99 surprise bag

• Toronto Yatai
• 7500 Woodbine Ave., Markham
• Pick up time:  3 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Surprise Bag:  $3.99 plus tax = $4.51
• Sausage and Egg Onigirazu $4.99, Oven Baked Matcha S’mores Donut $2.75, Takoyaki $5.99.  Total value:  $13.73. ✅
• I loved finally getting one of their Oven Baked Matcha Donuts to try!  Incredible deal and delicious midday snack bag!

March 13, 2023:

Saint Germain Bakery TGTG $17.99 large cake bag

• Saint Germain Bakery (Fairview)
• Unit CRU1092, 1800 Sheppard Ave. E, North York
• Pick up time:  12 to 2 p.m.
• Large cake:  $17.99 (no tax)
• Red Bean Green Tea Bavarian Cake (green tea sponge cake, red bean paste, green tea bavarian cream, green tea chocolate film) $49.98. ❌
• First time getting a large cake bag from Saint Germain!  This was a surprise to get for sure.  Unfortunate that the cake does not meet the minimum value, however.

Longo’s TGTG $5.99 surprise bag

• Longo’s (Hwy 7)
• 3085 Hwy 7, Markham
• Pick up time: 5 to 7 p.m.
• Baked Goods:  $5.99 plus tax = $6.77
• 4 chocolate dipped donuts $7.99, French onion focaccia $5.99, Hawaiian donut and cinnamon twist $1.99, 6 butter croissants $4.99, butter croissant and chocolate raspberry muffin $1.29.  Total value: $22.25 ✅
• The chocolate dipped donuts were so good.  I would have preferred getting a loaf of bread or bagels since almost everything is sweet here.  The variety of goods was great, despite my preference.
• Funny story behind this bag is that it took more than 5 attempts to successfully collect it.  The store kept selling out of the baked goods bag and cancelling my order 3 days in a row (not a bad thing because they have no surplus).  On the 4th day when they didn’t cancel on me, I ended up cancelling on them because I picked up a baked goods bag from Metro instead.  It was also really frustrating because I noticed that on two specific days when the bag was cancelled on me, I noticed a new bag being put out on the app an hour after.  Why did they cancel my bag only to have one available an hour later?  It wasn’t fair to me to have someone buy the bag when I had one reserved from the night prior.

March 15, 2023:

Bruno’s Fine Foods TGTG $5.99 surprise bag

• Bruno’s Fine Foods (Richmond Hill)
• 9665 Bayview Ave., Richmond Hill
• Pick up time:  12 to 3 p.m.
• Baked Goods:  $5.99 plus tax = $6.77
• Cheese onion loaf $4.99, Apple strudel $7.49, Elmo gingerbread cookie $3.99.  Total value: $16.47. ❌
• I loved this haul!  The cheese onion loaf was amazing and smelled so good on the drive home.  The apple strudel was right up my alley and so delicious with cream cheese inside.  The toddler loved the Elmo gingerbread cookie!

March 18, 2023:

Gyu Kaku Japanese BBQ TGTG $8.99 surprise bag

• Gyu Kaku Japanese BBQ
• 550 Hwy 7 E, unit 281-283, Richmond Hill
• Pick up time:  8 to 9 p.m.
• Surprise Bag:  $8.99 plus tax = $10.16
• 1 box of white rice, edamame, 2 gyoza, barbecued beef.
• Hefty takeout box.  Lots of barbecued beef!  The marinated beef tasted good and wasn’t rough nor hard to chew through.  The rice tasted a bit hard.  It was an unassumingly large portion.

Metro TGTG $9.99 cake bag

• Metro (15 Ellesmere Rd)
• 15 Ellesmere Rd, Scarborough
• Pick up time:  4 to 6 p.m.
• Cake Bag:  $9.99 plus tax = $11.29
• Chocolate Truffle Marble Cake $29.99. ✅
• Back story: when the hubby went to pick up this surprise bag, the staff person said there were no more cakes left for TGTG/they couldn’t find the intended cakes…☹.  They offered a Baked Goods bag instead, but hubby said no.  The staff person then went to grab a cake from the display.  It was a fresh cake and wasn’t even close to expiry yet!  Absolutely delicious decadent chocolatey cake.

Metro TGTG $5.99 surprise bag

• Metro (15 Ellesmere Rd)
• 15 Ellesmere Rd, Scarborough
• Pick up time:  4 to 6 p.m.
• Baked Goods:  $5.99 plus tax = $6.77
• Chocolate-Pecan Cookies $5.99, Lemon Mini Tarts $4.49, Mini Muffins – Banana Chocolate Chip $5.49, 1 Double Chocolate Cake $6.99, 2 Cheddar Cheese Bagels $2.78.  Total value: $25.74 ✅
• I loved this bag!!  I was so happy to finally get cookies in my Metro baked goods bag!  They were a bit hard but still tasty.  The muffins and tarts were such a hit with the toddler.  I couldn’t believe we’d get another whole chocolate cake again!

Tagpuan TGTG $5.99 surprise bag

• Tagpuan (Van Home Ave.)
• 2806 Victoria Park Ave., North York
• Pick up time:  6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
• Surprise Bag:  $5.99 (no tax)
• 1 siopao, 2 hot dishes: lechon (3 pieces), some okra, eggplant, green beans, white rice, marinated pork with chickpeas.
• The steamed bun was so delicious (filling was some kind of meat with eggs).  Nice variety and taste of their prepared items, but I’m not sure if this bag was at value.

March 28, 2023:

Metro TGTG $9.99 cake bag

• Metro (1 Henderson Dr)
• 1 Henderson Dr., Aurora
• Pick up time:  4 to 6 p.m.
• Cake Bag:  $9.99 plus tax = $11.29
• Maple Rocky Road Bar Cake $18.99, Fancy Fruits Custard Tarts $13.14.  Total value:  $32.13. ✅
• The bar cake was too sweet for our taste (a lot of caramel!), so we gave it away after trying a slice.  The strawberry custard tarts were not bad (just don’t look great because they slid around on the car ride back).  This was our second ever cake bag from Metro.

View my blog posts of my other TGTG hauls:  January 2023,  February 2023,  March (this one),  April 2023,  May 2023,  June 2023,  July 2023,  August 2023,  September 2023,  October 2023,  November 2023,  December 2023.