Would you be interested in adding a little fun and mystery to your usual food shopping at a low price and saving good food from going to waste?

Last month we saved three “bags” of food: one was a $9.99 bag of prepared foods from Whole Foods that contained two curry chicken meals (value: $10.59 each) and two boxes of roasted beets (value: $10.19 and $10.29). We ate the beets right away and put the curry meals into the freezer. Last week we got a $19.50 assorted box of donuts from Krispie Kreme to share with our grandkids for just $6.99.

We have been using Too Good To Go for the past few months (usually around two to three times a month) – our youngest daughter turned us onto the program – and we have been able to add some delicious treats to our usual groceries each month for very little. We love the boxes of Krispie Kreme donuts we can get for $6.99, but we’ve also gotten bakery treats for $6.99 from Whole Foods, and huge steamed bao (three of them: pork, chicken, and beef) for $4.99 from a local Asian restaurant, and a bag with fresh mozzarella cheese, gourmet chocolates, and crackers for $9.99, also from Whole Foods.

A third TooGoodToGo bag this month was from the Whole Foods bakery for $6.99. It contained four giant pretzel butterscotch cookies (value: $6.49), four large orange cranberry muffins (value: $7.49), and an Abe’s vegan coffee cake (value: $8.99).

Too Good To Go partners with food businesses to offer bags of food that are still perfectly good to eat but because of sell-by dating cannot be sold in stores or restaurants the next day. Here’s an example of how it works: I’ll get a notification during the day that Whole Foods will have some bags from their bakery available that evening. I click on the TGTG app, reserve a bag and pay for it, and then Brett and I go pick it up in the evening. We never know what we’re going to get but every bakery bag we’ve bought so far has always contained high quality items, ones that are either at their sell-by date or the day after. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a whole (even a half!) pie from the bakery one of these days, but so far we’ve gotten bagels, cookies, brownies, turnovers, scones, muffins, coffee cake, and other great bakery items. The value of every bag or box we’ve purchased has been worth at least three times what we’ve paid for it.

If you want to get in on the savings (and fun), start by downloading the Too Good To Go app to your smartphone. Set your location, and select a few favorite types of food you’d be interested in getting (our favorites are the Whole Foods bakery bags, Whole Foods prepared foods, Krispie Kreme, and a nearby Asian restaurant). Every area is different and has different participating markets, bakeries, and restaurants with different offerings. Setting up favorites and alarms on the app is the best way to find out the minute bags become available, very important as the bags can sell out very, very quickly. It can feel frustrating to lose out on a bag, and it might take a couple of tries to snag one – they’re very popular.

When you do reserve a bag, you’ll need a mobile wallet service to pay before it’s officially yours. Also, be sure to take your phone when collecting the bag – stores will ask to see proof on the Too Good To Go app that you’ve reserved and paid for it.

And then, enjoy!