Who needs a grocery list when you can get a mystery meat jackpot for 10 bucks? A Tennessee woman is going viral after revealing what she scored in Whole Foods’ new Too Good To Go “mystery meat” bag. We’re not ones for spoilers, but let’s just say it’s a carnivore’s dream. For only $9.99, she unboxed enough to be worth a total of $31. Her main review? “I cannot wait to make stuff with that.” For that kind of savings, bargain hunters are ready to roll the dice on their own surprise dinner.
What is Too Good to Go?
On their website, Too Good to Go describes how their app and surprise bags work. “You can easily see which cafes, restaurants, bakeries and/or stores in your local area have perfectly good food left over for you to save and enjoy at half of the price or less.”
The main aim of the company is sustainability and the affordability of food. It also mentions on the website how you can track your impact: “Use the Profile page to see your orders, maintain your profile and track your positive Impact on the environment. Your saved Surprise Bags are listed here, with an overview of how much money you saved, and how much CO2e emissions and unnecessary water use you helped avoid by saving good food from going to waste.”
What Did Ellie Score in Her Surprise Bag?
Ellie’s (@jungbtseok) TikTok reviewing the new Whole Foods’ surprise bags has already amassed 2.2 million views. For a little over two minutes, Ellie’s focus for the clip is on one of her two surprise bags, the mystery meat bag. She starts the video by sharing that every Whole Foods on the app has now added new surprise bags, so she went ahead and got the meat bag. She’s surprised as soon as she opens it, seeing as how the paper bag is insulated on the inside.
As she reaches inside the bag and cringes at the “squishy” feel, she pulls out a pack of chicken thighs. She says, “Chicken thighs. That’s the best kind!” She then reads the label that says “ultra premium chicken thighs, boneless, skinless.” She shows the camera the list price is $11.25 and says the package brings 6 pieces. Before Ellie goes to pull out another pack, she makes sure to mention, “Also, this bag is $9.99.”
What else did she get?
Her next score is a pack of ground turkey breast, and she “oohs” at the camera and says, “This is good!” She then shows the best-by dates as Oct. 31st and mentions, “I do think a lot of the locations were kind of blindsided by these new bags, so they’re probably just putting in stuff that’s not necessarily by the next day.” This means the products are not scheduled to expire right after receiving the surprise bag.
Her last pack is another ground turkey breast. Ellie says, “This is great. You can freeze. Neither of them are like puffed up [spoiled] so those are good.” The text overlay then shows, “Total value: $31.25.” Ellie then says, “I’d say this is not bad for ten bucks.
Ellie ends her video by asking her viewers to share their own thoughts on the new surprise bags that Whole Foods has recently introduced. She mentions that in addition to the standard bakery and prepared foods, Whole Foods has added: meat, seafood, dry grocery, refrigerated grocery, frozen grocery, specialty foods, floral, and produce.
@jungbtseok Has anyone gotten any of the new bags yet??? HOW TO DO THIS: Download the Too good to go app to see what options are available in your area. The concept of Too good to go is to reduce food waste so most of the items will be at their sell by date and potentially after. If this bothers you please do not use this app. If you click the store that you’re wanting to get a bag from and they are not available it should tell you the time to check back for when they upload the next bags. If you look at your map and there’s nothing there, make sure to filter for sold out to show the bags that are not currently available. As they mention in the descriptions on the app, variety is not guaranteed. What they put in the bag is what they have left over that night so there is a chance that you will get multiples of stuff. If you are a picky eater, this is not for you. Whole Foods specifically values their bags at the original price. Don’t get one and expect to get fresh food and a wide variety. You can only pick up in the time that it is listed for pick up if you come before or after you cannot get the bag. Make sure to pay attention to ratings if there’s anything under a 4.5 or even a 4 star maybe don’t go to that one especially if you’re prone to complaining. Moral of the story don’t be upset if you don’t get exactly what you want and it’s stuff you don’t like. If you’re that picky just go to a restaurant. #toogoodtogo #toogoodtogobag #toogoodtogohaul #tgtg #wholefoods ♬ Club Penguin Pizza Parlor – Cozy Penguin
What Does the Internet Think?
Many of Ellie’s viewers are green with envy–in a good way. One viewer says, “That’s a steal!” While plenty of others point out how the chicken thigh brand Belle and Evans is top tier. One said, “Belle and Evans is the BEST chicken. You are so lucky.”
Other viewers praise the app and its business model. One viewer says, “A lot of companies need to do this instead of throwing it away.”
Another viewer shares their experience with the new floral surprise bag: “I got a floral one and got 12 yellow roses, a happiness bouquet (I think that’s what it was called), & 2 succulents!!! A steal!!!”
Lastly, a lot of viewers thank Ellie for the PSA, saying, “Thank you for this. Can’t wait to try it out!”
The Mary Sue reached out to Whole Foods via email and Ellie via TikTok direct message.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
