TikTok videos go viral as Whole Foods customers reveal mysterious grocery purchases

To reduce food waste, Whole Foods has teamed up with an app to give customers a bargain on prepared meals – and social media users have some thoughts.

The Too Good to Go app is a surplus food marketplace that partners with local grocery stores to sell unused food that may soon go bad.

The trend has hit TikTok — particularly the bags offered at Whole Foods — because of the variety of results from the “mystery” purchase.

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Emily Gierke, 36, of Dallas, Texas, told Fox News Digital that she used the Too Good to Go app a few times after hearing about it on TikTok.

Gierke said she first started purchasing the mystery food bags in June 2023, but has only purchased them five times due to the “treasure hunt” involved.

In a TikTok video, she said the bag of prepped groceries she purchased cost $9.99 and was supposed to contain $30 worth of groceries.

“I got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, three containers of pizza cheese and five containers of pasta salad,” she told Fox News Digital via email.

Gierke received five containers of pasta salad in a bag. (Emily Gierke)

Although she was disappointed with her purchase, Gierke said she has been happy with her purchases in the past – and since there are no food restrictions or allergies, she finds this idea very valuable.

“I can try new places or new items from a place I’ve been before at a lower cost,” she said.

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Gierke joked that while pasta salad isn't her favorite food, the process helped her be creative with her food choices.

“Overall, the bags are a hit [but] “This was a failure,” she said.

Whole Foods' Too Good to Go bags have gone viral on TikTok and people are sharing different opinions. (Lili Baiden; Emily Gierke)

However, social media users commented on the video – and some had different experiences.

One TikTok user said of Gierke's video: “The only time I did this I got a unique ham. It was so exciting.”

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Another user said: “I was so excited for my bag of baked goods – I got two of them. Bagels had mold and the other pastries were long out of date. Never again.”

“We have found an innovative way to not only help reduce our food waste and reduce our environmental footprint, but also provide our customers with high quality food at great value for money.”

Lili Baiden, 21, of Scottsdale, Arizona, told Fox News Digital that she is a full-time student at Arizona State University and struggles with the surprise bag because she is a vegetarian.

“The interesting thing about the bag is that you can’t customize it,” she said via email.

“For example, I'm a vegetarian – so I didn't eat any of the meat dishes that were in my surprise bag.”

Lili Baiden, pictured here, said she ordered the bag of prepared food and the bag of baked goods at a bargain price. (Lili Baiden)

Baiden, who bought a bag of prepared meals for $9.99 and a baking bag for $6.99, said she was able to give some of the food to others and was still excited about the concept overall.

She also noticed that all of the groceries in her Too Good to Go bag didn't expire until a week after she picked it up.

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“This is a great thing if you want a late night snack or something to eat for dinner and don't want to spend too much money,” she said via email.

The Too Good to Go-Whole Foods partnership launched nationwide last month. More than 450 Whole Foods stores provide excess food for the “surprise bags.”

Baiden said her bag wasn't particularly helpful because she was a vegetarian and she couldn't specify that before picking it up. (Lili Baiden)

Whole Foods has more than 500 grocery stores in the United States and nearly 20 in Canada and the United Kingdom.

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Caitlin Leibert, vice president of sustainability at Whole Foods, told Fox News Digital that nearly 100% of Too Good to Go bags have sold out.

“We know that the most effective way to reduce food waste is to prevent it in the first place,” she said.

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She added: “By working with Too Good to Go, we have found an innovative way to not only help reduce our food waste and reduce our environmental footprint, but also offer our customers high quality food at a great price.”

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Fox News Digital's Aislinn Murphy contributed to this report.