M&S shoppers can grab a bargain with surprise bakery bags

M&S shoppers can now pick up bags packed with surplus bakery treats for just £3.80, with the new scheme rolling out across more than 350 stores.

Minimising food waste never tasted so good, and let’s face it, who needs an excuse for a little treat.

The supermarket has teamed up with the Too Good To Go app to sell unsold bakery products that might otherwise be left over at the end of the day.

The surprise bags are available through the app, with M&S customers able to collect them from participating stores shortly before closing.

Each bag contains three to four bakery products, with a minimum retail value of £10.20.

Before you get your hopes up envisioning bags stuffed full of the iconic M&S cookies (white chocolate and gingerbread, yes please!), what you receive is not revealed in advance and will depend on what is left in the bakery.

M&S has teamed up with To Good To Go (M&S)

The selection can include pastries, cookies and bread made in M&S stores, giving shoppers the chance to pick up a range of products for considerably less than their usual combined price.

The bags cost £3.80 and can be collected from Monday to Saturday, one hour before the customer's local store closes.

Availability is limited and varies from store to store, so finding a bag will depend on how much surplus food is available that day.

The partnership is part of M&S's wider efforts to reduce food waste.

The retailer has set a target of halving its food waste by 2030 and says the new scheme will provide another route for surplus food to reach customers rather than going unsold.

Lucinda Langton, head of sustainability at M&S Food, said the partnership was turning the retailer's commitment to reducing food waste into ‘practical action’.

“By giving customers access to surprise bags of surplus bakery products, we can help ensure more of our food is enjoyed,” she said.

Langton added that the response from stores involved in the trial had been ‘outstanding’, describing the wider launch as another step towards M&S's 2030 food waste target.

The scheme follows a trial in a smaller number of M&S stores before being expanded nationally. More than 350 stores across the UK and Ireland are now taking part, although not every M&S branch will have the bags available.

The Too Good To Go app aims to reduce food waste by offering shoppers a bargain rather than the food ending up in the bin (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Customers need to use the Too Good To Go app to reserve and pay for a bag before collecting it during the allocated time.

Individual products cannot be requested or guaranteed.

Chelsea Kerr, managing director of Too Good To Go UK & Ireland, said the company was pleased to be working with M&S to make surplus food available to more customers.

“Food waste is a huge challenge, but partnerships like this show how simple it can be for businesses and consumers to take action together,” she said.

Kerr added that the arrangement would make it easier for people to ‘save good food while also getting great value’.

The new Too Good To Go Bags are just the latest step to reduce waste for M&S.

The retailer also repurposes surplus bread into frozen garlic bread.

Extra-ripe bananas are sold in discounted bags, while food that cannot be eaten is sent for anaerobic digestion rather than landfill.

Sound good?

Be warned, bags can sell out quickly, and the number available each day will depend on that store's unsold bakery stock.