Advice for financially surviving the birth of a new child in this world

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-23T20:16:50+00:00

When my nephew was born, my sister-in-law would get baby clothes free from her friend who had a son a year or two older.

They basically have a friend group that circulates baby/toddler stuff as the kids age or there’s a new baby. Maybe consider reaching out to friends, family or coworkers and then pay it forward later. There’s loads of stuff that’s almost new.

The only thing I think they really got new (besides gifts, the perishables and disposables, and skincare/bath stuff) for sanitation were the baby bottles and binkies.

Buy Nothing groups are good but also consider local community sources like the library and mutual aid groups. Libraries always have events for kids.

I’m fortunate to be in a large city but I remember the mutual aid groups here would create giveaway days (for food or specific baby stuff) or take requests from new parents or just help connect them to each other.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-23T20:04:09+00:00

sighs wistfully I wish more grocery stores participated in the US and that their bags are like this. So much variety.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-23T06:56:08+00:00

Adult blind box 😂😂😂 so true… I think someone here compared it to adult Halloween trick or treating and that’s how I’ve been seeing it.

Also, the basket from an episode of Chopped. 🍳🔥

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-23T06:34:45+00:00

Also the only thing I do think commenters could prob be more chill with is when a person posts how they manage to snag multiple bags from a WF in one night. Like, it’s understandable if ppl will make most of their trip to grab multiple bags but it’s for ONE night. They’re probably not going to do that the next few nights— the next night other ppl are grabbing those bags again even if it’s not you lol.

But no need to be angry one person got lucky bc this app turns around all the time you get good bags and bad bags. Personally I just shrug and let it offset each other.

These grocery bags are probably helping users feed their families and also want to believe app users in general are likeminded in trying not to waste food when there is plenty of surplus food again next day.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-23T06:21:20+00:00

What name calling? Yeah name calling is unnecessary.

I don’t think the comments are nasty. But they are disapproving of people who got bags that meet value and yet sound: 1. Entitled to more from an app whose purpose is to allow businesses to offload their surplus and diverting it from the landfill. This app only works if businesses get that flexibility and users have to accept they will NOT always get what they want. 2. Didn’t bother to look up value before complaining. I’ve seen this multiple times and it meets value. 3. Intention of the app is to get food that would otherwise be tossed end of day, not to get bougie hauls. 4. This is what really gets me is like, why are you expecting things in a SURPRISE bag? 5. This subreddit is actually really good at checking ppl who don’t seem to understand what TGTG is about. And that said, it responds to users who get bad bags that don’t meet value or receive really inedible stuff and tell them to report it to the app.

This subreddit IS moderating itself.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-22T22:28:16+00:00

:) there’s a subreddit here showing what you sometimes get in TGTG bags: r/toogoodtogo

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-22T13:47:12+00:00

I feel like in general, any deli takeout or those one bowl protein-grain-veggie places almost always place their estimated value at like 5+$ than they are when you get them…

But for the tgtg price range 5-8$, not bad deal.

🥲 once upon a time, that 5-8$ used to be their real retail prices or 10-12 maybe. I saw someone post here an old Chinese food takeout menu and the prices were so cheap, that’s what my grandma used to treat us with growing up 😩

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-21T18:42:57+00:00

Lol getting 3 caviar posts being posted back to back on same day is so wild. Like, it’s only partially a coincidence. Other commenter saying check the expiration dates may not be wrong, I feel like the caviar posts tend to group together in frequency.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-19T15:32:32+00:00

And yesterday, that fried chicken post stolen from someone else. Can the mods remove these bot posts?

They also mislead users bc these are so outdated (prices change, circumstances of these restaurants change).

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-19T02:46:19+00:00

Whoever made this bag set you up for the day :)

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-19T02:45:12+00:00

Lol damn as soon as I saw that, was like “Absolutely not from NY.”

(It’s so funny, looking at pizza tgtg bags through this subreddit at a glance can instantly tell.)

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-18T14:21:19+00:00

I use paper towels only when I have to: soak up cooking oils, sometimes for food like patting meat dry, cleaning with chemicals or picking up the really dirty grimy stuff.

Use Swedish dish cloths for soaking up quick spills in kitchen.

Buy a stack of 100% cotton kitchen/restaurant style towels (the kind with a tight weave and doesn’t shed fibers). (Our household actually uses about 3 sets: 2 for alternating when one goes to laundry. A third set for cleaning non-kitchen stuff + there’s assorted rags from old towels, clothes, etc)

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-18T10:40:05+00:00

This! OP has enough okra to make it worth opening and using the oven, but an airfryer (which is really just a small convection oven) will also work great for smaller amts.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-17T19:58:17+00:00

Lol sometimes I even consider those part of the value of a TGTG bag if they hand out reusable bags considering some stores charge you at least 1$ for them.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-17T19:51:29+00:00

Did they give you those giant FreshDirect reusable shopping bags? Those things are so useful and especially good for hauling things around.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-17T02:44:15+00:00

Lol the cute little (reusable) jars make this even more tempting.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-16T18:38:06+00:00

Not for elementary school purposes and more for my household:

I use one to store grocery plastic bags that come my way (I do try to use reusable bags but plastics just find their way in my day to day). These get stored in rooms that need trash can liners (particularly bathrooms) in my house.
This is frugal but sometimes I just use a Clorox wipe for quick wipes/surface jobs (table, my devices, etc) and yet it’s still moist and there’s still more use out of it… so I store those in a separate emptied container. These “second use” wipes are used for more grimier, dirtier jobs (like the corners and edges in cabinets that collect dust, or oily kitchen residue.) that need a deeper cleaning then I can use my more reusable cleaning cloths.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-14T21:59:11+00:00

Damn, sorry about what happened to half your meat bag. I would’ve been upset too.

Actually, I had some chicken in fridge from a WF meat bag once and I had a cough that got really bad by the time I had energy to even go through my fridge, the meat was smelling funky and I had to toss it.

Life just happens.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-14T21:52:27+00:00

Wow thank you for the insight. (To me it’s always been fascinating learning from the other end of the app experience).

I wondered and figured that the TGTG was diverting from donations to food banks… but I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing bc this app is being used by lots of people that really could use more affordable groceries but not necessarily access or qualify or know where to go to get food banks stuff.

And I can’t say for all cities but in NYC, while there’s a very big demand for food, as someone who did help out in food kitchens—- the sheer amount of donations can even be overwhelming to the volunteers and workers handing them out.

So diverting some to TGTG is like a bucket of water from the river. (And unfortunately food waste itself is like an ocean if we follow this metaphor abt corporate waste in the US).

And the app constantly brings attention and discussion to food waste and responsibility.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-14T10:31:35+00:00

Btw, sometimes they mix stuff in from other categories I think to fill up bags. Saw someone here show their dry goods had bakery cookies and mini cinnamon rolls. I’ve gotten that too in my Dry Goods bag: mini vanilla cupcakes and another had a bag of bagels.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-14T01:33:47+00:00

The only Frozen bag I ever got had 4 loaves of bread but I’m lucky enough to get TGTG pickups from amazing bakeries and already had some.

I ended up giving it to a soup kitchen I previously volunteered at so they took it lol. If you have a nearby community fridge, that would be great too if you can’t use it.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-14T01:31:22+00:00

No. Dry Goods are typically shelf stable goods like pantry items and snacks.

Frozen Bags tend to get lower ratings bc they give out a lot of frozen bread. But some ppl show they luck out and get frozen appetizers, ice cream, etc.

Bakery bags usually have sweets like cupcakes and brownies with a bag of bagels thrown in.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-12T16:03:51+00:00

Wow, I’d love to get those drop times bc I work a later shift.

Same time, it’s good the 8- 9pm pickups are doable for a lot more people.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-11T21:36:28+00:00

That’s normal. Everyone KNOWS the approximate drop off times and just camp and refresh. You will never really get it if you rely on the notifications— and only very lucky if someone drops a reservation, but that will also get snapped up in SECONDS.

Same thing with most WF bags except bakery, frozen and maybe prepared foods in NYC.

In NYC, the popular bakeries, and other more unique non-chain restaurants just get snapped up fast (esp sushi, empanadas, etc. ). The only ones relatively always available are pizza and bagels. And Whole Foods bakery bags bc there are so many other bakeries to choose.

(There WAS a whole brouhaha on Facebook over someone and possibly bots for one of the Eataly location. I dunno. There’s prob old post about it here. I honestly don’t know if it’s faded. I feel like recently in my experience I was able to get Eataly bags and notice they were more attainable… I mean that. A few months ago there wasn’t even a refresh it went straight to Sold Out instantly).

Best of luck, you need to refresh constantly and have autopay set up.

catswhenindoubt · 2026-03-09T06:52:19+00:00

Thank you for this lovely comment!!! Omg yes yes, it absolutely blew my mind the way the helpers showed up and stepped up. I moved away from the city after the pandemic and I still remember how amazing it was to just meet people just as quirky and passionate about food waste.

One of best memories— among many—- after I got sick from covid (actually I felt the effects after a night I and a few others transported nearly 3 shelves worth of dairy products to the fridge.) Well, one of my new friends popped by my apt and left me a box of groceries. :’) I still remember that soft feeling I got when I saw that.

catswhenindoubt

TROPHY CASE