With eggs more than doubling in price in the past year, many families are feeling the pinch of inflation at the grocery store. To cut down on costs, budget-conscious Redditors on r/Frugal and r/PovertyFinance have turned to Flashfood, a Canadian app that connects consumers with discounted groceries.
Like Misfits Market, the idea is to reduce food waste while also saving people money. After downloading the app, available on Android and Apple, users can browse deals on groceries that are about to expire at nearby retailers. Once you’ve found a few products you’d like — fresh produce, meat, snacks, etc. are fair game — you pay for them and pick them up at the store.
While stores that collaborate with Flashfood are mainly concentrated in the Midwest and Northeast of the United States — Meijer, Giant, and Food Lion are a few participating chains — Redditors who have tried the service say that it’s worth your time and a “tremendous help,” particularly if you freeze soon-to-expire meats. One Redditor even claims that they’ve saved around $800 after using the service for just half a year.
@peeliesnpetals Reposting cause my fat thumbs put this in my stories 🤦🏼♀️ Flashfood app not available everywhere but worth checking. #nowaste #peeliesnpetals #foodsecurity ♬ original sound - Sarah Plain & Tall
Flashfood isn’t the only app thrifty Redditors are turning to slash their food budgets
Reddit is full of discounted Too Good To Go hauls — they even have their own subreddit — featuring low-cost groceries, discounted baked goods, and cheap takeout meals. Similar to Flashfood, the Too Good To Go app lets consumers buy unsold surplus food from restaurants and stores at a discount. A heaping tray of Chinese food? Just $6 using the app. A bag of grocery staples? A mere $5.
While neither Too Good To Go nor Flashfood are new, there’s been a marked uptick in apps and services that target surplus and unsold food around the world. Launched last year, Martie is a grocery-delivery service that sells discounted shelf-stable goods. And abroad, apps like treatsure and Phenix have begun to gain ground.
While these companies have something to gain from such services, usually taking a portion of each sale, they also help address the longstanding issue of food waste. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 30% to 40% of food in America ends up in the garbage bin.
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