M&S launches Too Good To Go bags: Is the £3.80 surprise bundle a good deal?

Marks and Spencer has partnered with food waste app Too Good To Go offering the chance to get bakery treats worth at least £10.20 for just £3.80.

The new M&S surprise bags are now available in more than 350 M&S Food stores and feature a selection of pastries, bread, cookies for less than £4.

Each bag contains three to four bakery products with a minimum retail value of £10.20, meaning shoppers will get a saving of at least £6.40, which sounds like a great deal.

The caveat is that all food is on the brink of being past its best, so you'll need to eat swiftly or freeze items where possible.

You'll need to reserve bags through the Too Good To Go app, and competition could be fierce with availability depending on how much surplus food is left at each individual store.

How to get M&S Too Good To Go bag

You'll need to have downloaded and signed up to the Too Good To Go app to find and reserve an M&S bag.

Then search for M&S or browse the available Surprise Bags in your area.

All surprise bags need to be reserved and collected.

If you find bags available, check the collection time, and if it suits, you can reserve and pay through the app.

M&S says the bakery bags will be available for collection Monday to Saturday, one hour before the individual store closes.

You'll just need to show a code from the app when you collect.

Check the app regularly if you're hoping to get the M&S surprise bags as availability depends on how much surplus food is left in each store each day.

Demand is set to be high for these bags so you'll need to act quickly if you want to get your hands on the package.

Is M&S the best supermarket Too Good To Go bag?

Marks and Spencer isn't the only supermarket offering surplus food through Too Good To Go, other major brands also partner with the app to give shoppers the chance to get cut-price food.

You can check the ratings given by users to help compare the quality of bags from local supermarket stores.

Morrisons Too Good To Go bags

Morrisons offers Surprise Bags through Too Good To Go.

Unlike M&S these include general groceries as well as bakery bags.

Prices can vary, we've seen prices from £2.29 with around £9 worth of goods.

It's not just the big supermarkets, Morrisons Daily stores also have their own Surprise Bags, with individual stores setting their offers and collection arrangements.

Aldi Too Good To Go bags

Aldi is another supermarket worth checking if you're looking for a cheap Too Good To Go Surprise Bag.

The supermarket's bags cost £3.30 and contain at least £10 worth of Aldi food, meaning you're getting at least £6.70 of food value for every £3.30 you spend.

The contents are a surprise and can vary depending on what the individual store has left over. Aldi says bags could include fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, dairy, cakes, pastries and snacks.

The bags are available through the Too Good To Go app, where you can search for participating Aldi stores in your area and see the available collection times.

Availability varies significantly between stores, with some bags selling out while others have availability on the same day.

Tesco and Olio

Tesco works with food waste app Olio to redistribute surplus food from its stores.

Olio is similar to Too Good To Go - it works with local stores and restaurants to redistribute food about to go past its best before date.

Tesco is among the supermarkets where its Food Waste Heroes can collect surplus food, including grocery items that are still safe to eat.

Olio offers Lucky Dip bags, which are similar to the Too Good To Go Surprise Bags.

You don't know exactly what will be inside a Lucky Dip bag before buying it.

Iceland and Olio

Iceland rolled out Olio Lucky Dip bags across more than 900 Iceland and The Food Warehouse stores.

The bags cost £2 and contain at least eight grocery items.

Exact contents vary but can include products such as bakery items, fruit and vegetables, chilled meat and deli food.

This could make Iceland one of the options worth checking when trying to get the most food for your money.