My TGTG purchases in January 2024

Use the Too Good To Go app to rescue unsold food from being thrown away!  Surprise bags are filled with goods that might be from end-of-day or approaching or just past its “best before” date but definitely still fine to eat.  Download this free app if you haven’t tried it already.  Surprise bags are discounted and the items received should be a third of what the original cost would be.

I gotta admit that TGTG is no longer as “fun” or exciting as it was when I started using it heavily one year ago in January 2023.  It’s become more of a platform for regular grocery shopping than for exploring brand new stores at every purchase. Basically most of the buys this month are repeat runs or staple grocery pickups (with a few new stores).

(Where there is a clear price tag of the goods, surprise bags that meet or are above the minimum value are marked with a green checkmark and surprise bags that do not meet the minimum value are marked with a red X.  E.g. If a surprise bag costs $6.99, the minimum value of goods received should be $21 worth.)

Here are the 18 surprise bags I got in January 2024:

January 2:

YiFang Taiwan Fruit Tea $6.99 surprise bag

• YiFang Taiwan Fruit Tea (First Markham Place)
• 3235 Hwy 7, #18A, Markham
• Pick up time:  8 to 9 p.m.
• Surprise Bag:  $6.99 plus tax = $7.90
• Contents:  3 drinks:  1 mango smoothie $7.59 with tapioca $0.50, 2 black tea lattes with tapioca ($6.59 + $0.50) x2.  Total value:  $22.27. ✅
• Beautiful paper cups.  Good sized drinks.  The mango smoothie was very smooth with big blobs of tapioca stuck together.  The black tea latte was quite watered down and not sweet.

January 4:

Metro $12.99 surprise bag

• Metro (20 Church Ave)
• 20 Church Ave., North York
• Pick up time:  12 to 6 p.m.
• Assorted Meat:  $12.99 (no tax)
• Contents:  Fresh Pork Back Ribs $14.23, Fresh Pork Back Ribs $11.95, Marinated Bone In Chicken Thighs $6.26.  Total value:  $32.44. ❌
• Aw, man, so disappointing that this meat bag didn’t meet value!  The three previous bags I got from Metro had great value.

Metro $6.99 surprise bag

• Metro (20 Church Ave)
• 20 Church Ave., North York
• Pick up time:  3 to 6 p.m.
• Assorted Fruit & Salad:  $6.99 plus tax = $7.90
• Contents:  Classic Romaine Salad Mix $4.99, Greek Salad Mix $6.99, Spring Mix and Spinach Half & Half Salad Mix $4.99, Ultimate Caesar Salad Kit $5.99, Garden Salad $3.99, Quinoa-Caesar Salad Kit $6.99, Chopped Chophouse Crunch Salade Kit $6.99.  Total value:  $40.93. ✅
• Wow, lots of salads!  All best before dates were on the date of pickup.  Metro must have had lots of surplus salads more than usual.
• The half and half salad mix was turning bad and dark green liquid was leaking out of the package.  All the other salads were fine (you have to pick out some rusty lettuce but that was it).

Crust Baking Company $6.99 surprise bag

• Crust Baking Company
• 9610 Yonge St., Richmond Hill
• Pick up time:  5 to 6 p.m.
• Bread Bag:  $6.99
• Contents:  3 sourdough breads, 2 breadsticks.
• The quantity of items is one item less than last time, so it doesn’t feel like it’s as comparable of a deal.  Nevertheless, it’s still a good buy because we get so much fresh bread to eat!

January 8:

Snowfox $7.99 surprise bag

• Snowfox
• 25 Sims Crescent, unit 1, Richmond Hill
• Pick up time:  11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• Bento Express Surprise Bag:  $7.99 plus tax = $9.03
• Contents:  9-piece California Roll, 9-piece Spicy California Roll, 9-piece Vegetable Sushi Roll.
• So interesting that the pickup was at the headquarters building of Bento Sushi and the surprise bag had sushi rolls from Bento Express!  I wouldn’t have expected it from a store called “Snowfox”!  So what’s the story behind it?  (Nevermind, I found the explanation.  Click the above “Snowfox” hyperlink to read their website.)  The 3 rolls were decent, fresh, and average-tasting.  I like that the BB date was four days out.  The Spicy California roll was the best one out of the three.

Hometown Food Wholesale $6.99 surprise bag

• Hometown Food Wholesale 国货之光食品贸易批发中心 (Scarborough)
• Unit 8, 190 Silver Star Blvd., Scarborough
• Pick up time: 3 to 6 p.m.
• Gold thread and honey date 金丝蜜枣 Surprise Bag:  $6.99 plus tax = $7.90
• Contents:  box of 11 lbs of gold thread honey dates.
• A whole box of gold thread honey dates!  The description said that there were 11 lbs worth of them!
• I got this surprise bag for my mom who said she wouldn’t mind trying it out to use the honey dates for soups, but I don’t think this was what she was expecting lol.  She portioned them out to freeze them for use later.
• Oh, and the pickup location was totally questionable.  After finding the door labelled “unit 8”, the door opened to reveal a whole room filled with boxes nearly to the ceiling!  It took a while for the lady there to find the box of dates to give to us.
• Tried a date and it tasted sweet with a taste of honey.  It’s perfect for those with a sweet tooth.
• My mom has been using them in Chinese soups.

January 9:

Longo’s $6.99 surprise bag

• Longo’s (Hwy 7)
• 3085 Hwy 7, Markham
• Dairy: $6.99 (no tax)
• Pick up time: 5 to 7 p.m.
• Contents:  2L of 1% Beatrice chocolate milk $6, 4 x 100ml of 0% strawberry Greek yogurt $5.49, Longo’s Fresh Vodka Sauce with Bacon $5.49, 4 x 95g of Two Good raspberry yogurt $4.69, 900ml of Iogo Nano vanilla drinkable yogurt $5.96.  Total value: $27.63. ✅
• Ohh, I love this assortment of dairy items!!  We haven’t had chocolate milk in a while and all these yogurts are perfect for our family.  I like that all the BB dates are 2 to 5 days out and there was no wait time for the dairy surprise bag this time.  It was in the fridge waiting for pickup.  They even gave the items in one of their reusable cloth bags!

January 10:

Metro $12.99 surprise bag

• Metro (20 Church Ave)
• 20 Church Ave., North York
• Pick up time:  12 to 6 p.m.
• Assorted Meat:  $12.99 (no tax)
• Contents:  Fresh Chicken Breast Split $11.59, Fresh Chicken Breast Split $10.65, Marinated Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs $10.46, Fresh NZ Lamb Shoulder $6.50, Extra Lean Ground Chicken $6.99.  Total value:  $46.19. ✅
• Wow, very good variety and value!

Longo’s $8.99 surprise bag

• Longo’s (Bayview Ave)
• 7355 Bayview Ave., Markham
• Pick up time:  5 to 7 p.m.
• Prepared Foods:  $8.99 plus tax = $10.16
• Contents:  Arugula Pear Salad 245g $8.99, Fruit Cocktail 300g $4.99, Orange 300g $4.29, Fresh Honeydew 300g $4.29, Longo’s Fruit Tray 845g $10.99, Chicken Burrito $7.99.  Total value: $41.54. ✅
• This Longo’s is amazing!  Their variety of goods in the surprise bag surpasses the one in my local neighbourhood.  Look at that amazing value too!  Everything was very fresh and tasty. ^_^

January 15:

Metro $6.99 surprise bag

• Metro (20 Church Ave)
• 20 Church Ave., North York
• Pick up time:  3 to 6 p.m.
• Assorted Fruit & Salad:  $6.99 plus tax = $7.90
• Contents:  Small Caesar Salad with Real Bacon $5.99 x2, Honeydew Chunks $4.99, Half Papaya $2.62, Vegetable Griller Family Pack $8.99, Cheddar Simply Green Salad $5.99.  Total value:  $34.57. ✅
• Another great salad bag from Metro.  And this time, true to its name, we got fruit too!  (The cheddar salad was one day past its BB date — one of the first times that Metro gave us something past the BB date — but it was fine and edible.)

Metro $12.99 surprise bag

• Metro (20 Church Ave)
• 20 Church Ave., North York
• Pick up time:  12 to 6 p.m.
• Assorted Meat:  $12.99 (no tax)
• Contents:  Pork Feet $8.24, Pork Feet $7.11, Marinated Chicken Breast $6.66, Marinated Chicken Breast $5.27, Marinated Chicken Breast $7.27, Marinated Chicken Breast $7.61.  Total value:  $42.16. ✅
• Interesting items.  We got 2 packs of pork feet and 4 packs of marinated chicken breast (jerk and souvlaki flavours).  Great value.  All the items were so delicious too (after cooking of course).

January 18:

Patisserie Gateau $6.99 surprise bag

• Patisserie Gateau (Richmond Hill)
• 90119 Bayview Ave., Richmond Hill
• Pick up time:  9 to 11 a.m.
• Surprise Bag:  $6.99 (no tax)
• Contents:  9 assorted Chinese buns.
• Hubs said that when he went to pick this bag up, the staff added the mango mochi item at the end because they said the bag wasn’t at value yet.  This mango mochi was new for us and it was so full of fresh mango pieces!

Lumiere Patisserie $6.99 surprise bag

• Lumiere Patisserie (Thornhill)
• 1102 Centre St., Vaughan
• Assorted Pastries:  $6.99 plus tax = $7.90
• Pick up time:  6:40 to 7:10 p.m.
• Contents: 3 pastries:  Salted Caramel Toffee Crossiant, raspberry croissant, chocolate Danish.
• (Their website doesn’t list what pastries these were.)  The Danish was super decadent and the crust very flakey and fresh.  The two croissants were on the sweet side but very tasty and you can tell their pastries are of high quality.
• That being said though, I thought they would have been more generous and given more than 3 pasties in one surprise bag.

January 22:

Longo’s $6.99 surprise bag

• Longo’s (Hwy 7)
• 3085 Hwy 7, Markham
• Dairy:  $6.99 (no tax)
• Pick up time:  5 to 7 p.m.
• Contents:  Minute Maid Orange Juice $5.29, Yves Jumbo Veggie Dogs $7.49, 12 x 100g Activia yogurt $8.69.  Total value: $21.47. ✅
• I was hoping for some milk in the bag, but this assortment of goods delighted me in that they are not items I normally would have chosen myself.  Veggie dogs are new to try and I haven’t had orange juice in a while! 😄
• Update:  I tried the veggie dogs and unfortunately I don’t like them at all.  Why do plant-based sausage dogs always taste so artificial and not delicious at all?  I dressed it up with hummus, ham, and shredded cheese on a bun and it tasted so much better!  Other sausages taste fine on their own, but I guess veggie dogs are better with condiments and a bun lol…

Maki Mart $5.99 surprise bag

• Maki Mart
• 3623 Hwy 7, unit 103, Markham
• Pick up time:  6 to 7:30 p.m.
• Hand Roll Surprise Bag x2:  $5.99 x2 (no tax)
• Contents bag 1:  6 handrolls (Sesame Lobster $4.95 x2, Shiitake Mushroom $2.95 x2, Sweet Corn $2.95, Sea Eel $4.95).  Total value: $23.70. ✅
• Contents bag 2:  6 handrolls (Sweet Corn $2.95, Shiitake Mushroom $2.95, Tuna Corn $3.95, Salmon Belly $4.95, Seaweed Salad $2.95, Spicy Squid $3.95).  Total value: $21.70. ✅
• I saw 7 bags available and we decided to get two for the first time.  Yay!  We got to try their brand new Sesame Lobster handroll too.  What a pleasure!! 😄

January 27:

Metro $12.99 surprise bag

• Metro (6201 Bathurst St)
• 6201 Bathurst St., North York
• Pick up time:  3 to 6 p.m.
• Assorted Meat: $12.99
• Contents:  Chicken Breast Split $14.08, Extra Lean Ground Chicken $6.99, Organic Boneless Chicken Breast $13.20, Organic Boneless Chicken Breast $13.26.  Total value: $47.53. ✅
• The beauty of the surprise bags is that you never know what you will get.  In this case, we received all chicken items!  (Found it unnerving that the lean ground chicken didn’t have a BB date stamped on the package at all.  It looked fine, but it would have been important to know what the BB date is.)

January 28:

Cuscatlan $6.99 surprise bag

• Cuscatlan
• 3232 Steeles Ave. E., Unit 8, Concord
• Pick up time: 3 to 4 p.m.
• Surprise Bag:  $6.99 (no tax)
• Contents:  2 Tamales De Pollo (corn tamales stuffed with chicken, potatoes, chickpeas, peppers) $4.79, 1 slice of Pastel De Tres Leches (a 3 milk soaked sponge cake – whole, evaporated, condensed) $4.  Total value: $8.79. ❌
• The 2 corn tamales were wrapped in banana leaves inside of aluminum foil and still piping hot and warm throughout.  The yummy corn tamale was filled with chicken and it was soooo delicious!!!  The sponge cake was absolutely incredible as well — soft and fluffy and wet on the bottom from the milks.  Delicious!  I want to try their restaurant someday!!
• (Only issue is their bag is ridiculously undervalued.  It’s not even 3x the paid price at all!)

Thanks for tuning in for this month’s TGTG hauls!

See what I got in my surprise bags in February 2024,   March 2024,   April 2024,   May 2024,   June 2024,   July 2024,   August 2024,   September 2024,   October 2024,   November 2024,   December 2024.