Well, I’ve never done a review on my blog before. I thought I’d do one on Flashfood since I just used it for the first time. With money getting tight for everyone and prices constantly rising — having a way to save 50% on food is always a good thing to post about!
I found out about Flashfood about a year ago and was all excited to try it out. I downloaded the app and couldn’t want to see all the goodies I’d been told I might find at deep discounted prices. The examples I’d been given at the time I signed up were pretty fantastic, but none of those reviewers were in my area. I was actually pretty lucky to find ANY grocery stores in my area that offered Flashfood. There are some areas where it’s not available at all. Many stores want to handle their own markdowns and after talking to a store employee earlier today, I can see why. More on that later.
When I went to Flashfood’s app originally — about a year ago — all I found was what I consider weird food. Candied fruit, maybe some bakery cookies at what I considered to be an outrageous price even for fresh out of the oven and the occasional cured or fresh sausage. Hmmmmmm … call me disappointed. No fresh fruits, no fresh vegetables, no fresh anything. I’ve been to this store — it’s big. You can’t tell me they don’t have produce that is on it’s way out on a weekly basis. I’ve also checked this particular store for a markdown section for any of it’s fresh foods (meats, dairy, produce, fish & seafood) … nada, none, zip, zilch. WTH?? I kept checking it every day or so for about 2 weeks and when not one fresh product showed up on offer, I more or less forgot about the app.
I was watching a recipe video earlier today and was reminded of Flashfood and decided to give it another go.
I found fresh meat!! I found fresh veggie boxes!! I found fresh fruit boxes!! I found cheese!! I found cut fresh fruit!! Yay, Giant for offering items I’ve been looking for.
After updating the app (yep, it had been that long), I went and decided to try a few of their options.
- Romaine Lettuce Hearts – 3 pack: $1 each
- Fruit Box (no amount or weight listed): $3 each
- Veggie Box (no amount or weight listed): $3 each
Each veggie and fruit box had it’s own item number and photo of what was included.
My total came to $12. I bought 3 romaine lettuce packages, 1 fruit box and 2 veggie boxes. I had a $5 coupon from when I signed up, so my total was $7.
The app told me where to go in the store to pick up my items and off I went. When I arrived, an employee loaded my items into grocery bags and into my cart. The items were stored in a refrigerated & locked cooler by the checkout, so it’s very easy to zip in and zip out.
I was talking to the employee about Flashfood and asked if there was a way to come look at what is available before buying it. In this store, there is not. the cooler doors are steel and you can’t see inside. He said that bagging the items and taking photos are done by store employees and different employees take photos differently … there is no one set way it’s done.
Overall, I was pretty happy with what I got. I’ll do a cost breakdown at the end of the blog post.
Flashfood Pros:
- Easy to sign up for and the app is easy to use
- Accepts credit cards, debit cards and SNAP/EBT
- Shop at your convenience and pick up at your convenience
- Lettuce, fruit & veggie boxes that were available when I ordered were very well priced. Most items were 50% off store prices or more
- Easy access right by the exit. No waiting in line.
Flashfood Cons:
- No way to enlarge photos of the items available, at least I wasn’t able to pinch-pull or tap to enlarge
- No way to look at the actual available items before purchasing through the app
- My store didn’t list weights or amounts — the app just showed a small photo with a brief 2-3 word description and some of the words were abbreviations that I didn’t understand. The listings are created by the employees at the store, so each group of entries can look different depending on who listed them.
- I still felt that the cut fruit was overpriced — even at 50% off. A shame really.
- None of the items, such as the cut fruit or the fresh pressed juices told me the weight. If I’m paying $9 (at 50% off) for fresh cut fruit, I want to know how much I’m getting BEFORE I buy it.
- The man that got my food for me was also working the self-checkout lane. I wonder if he’s really busy, if I would have to wait until he was done with them. He kept running back and forth while waiting on me, so I doubt it would be an issue unless I went when it was really busy
Overall, I felt that I got a good deal and I’ll use the app again!
Here’s the price comparison:
Two packages of store brand romain hearts
- Regular Store Price: On sale at the time of posting $3.50 each
- Flashfood Price: $1 each
One package of organic romain hearts
- Regular Store Price: $3.99 each
- Flashfood Price: $1 each
Fruit Box (Variety of black plums, red plums, peaches, nectarines, apples
- Regular Store Prices for 5.4 lbs: $8.27
- Flashfood Price: $3.00
Veggie Box #1 (3 8 oz. pkgs of mushrooms)
- Regular Store Prices: $5.97
- Flashfood Price: $3.00
Veggie Box #2 (1 pkg of mushrooms & 1 Sheet Pan Meal)
- Regular Store Prices: $7.98
- Flashfood Price: $3.00
TOTAL REGULAR STORE PRICE: $33.21
TOTAL FLASHFOOD PRICE: $12.00 minus $5.00 coupon = $7.00
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