Olivia Shellard was hoping for cookies. Maybe a muffin. Possibly some bread.
She got the bread. All of it.
The 21-year-old from Newcastle picked up a £2.33 Too Good To Go bag from her local Morrisons on 23 April and walked out with seventeen baguettes.
Seventeen. Pointing out of the bag in every direction.
“I just thought, how on earth am I going to eat all of these before they go off,” she said.
The haul that broke the internet
Olivia shared the find online. The post hit 334,400 views and over 61,600 likes, which feels proportionate.
The comments arrived in force. “How does it feel to live my dream?” asked one person.
“Always good to get in your 17-a-day,” said another.
Someone suggested a really massive bread and butter pudding.
Someone else told her to recreate the scene from Ratatouille.
One commenter, presumably a primary school teacher, wrote: “So it’s you they wrote the maths questions about.”
Baguette distribution strategy
To her credit, Olivia handled the situation with considerable logistical efficiency.
Housemates received baguettes. Several went into the freezer.
A batch became croutons. And her Uber driver, for reasons he likely did not anticipate when he accepted the fare, received one as a tip.
“I was just laughing and scared people were going to wonder why I had so many baguettes,” she said.
They would have wondered.
Why it matters
Too Good To Go has built a loyal following among younger, cost-conscious shoppers drawn by the discount and the mild thrill of not knowing what’s inside.
Most of the time that gamble pays off in a reasonable assortment of near-expiry goods. Occasionally it pays off in seventeen French sticks and a viral moment.
The app currently has over 12 million users in the UK. Baguette distribution remains, for now, unregulated.
Olivia says she has no regrets. The Uber driver, presumably, agrees.
