Flashfood App: How it Works

I first learned about the Flashfood app from a story on the news the other night.

The story focused on the fact that, starting March 1, 2023, many of the SNAP benefits that people have enjoyed were going away.

That means that many families were going to start having a tougher time affording to buy groceries.

In addition to using local food banks, the news story talked about Flashfood.

I’d never heard of Flashfood before so I was intrigued.

What is the Flashfood App

Flashfood is an app that connects shoppers with heavily discounted food nearing its best-before date.

If you’ve read my article on food expiration dates, then you know that you can often get away with eating items even after their best buy dates have come and gone.

Yes, that’s safe to do.

Now there was a way to find them and get them at a discount?

Well, that’s awesome.

In fact, Flashfood says that it helps shoppers buy groceries at up to 50% off.

What kinds of groceries?

Well meats, dairy, seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables and more. 

Where to find Flashfood

You’ll need to download the Flashfood app to your phone.

It works with both Apple and Android devices.

After I downloaded it and searched a nearby grocery store, here’s what I found.

One, most of the Flashfood items I had access to were in the dairy aisle.

Some items I found included:

Organic milk marked down to $2.74 from $5.49

Oikos Triple Zero yogurt (my fave) six pack marked down to $2.99 from $5.99.

Plus, its best buy date isn’t until nearly three weeks from now.

In addition, there was a whole lot of cheese.

Two, there was fresh produce included as well, such as apples, oranges and bagged salad.

All told there were 51 items I could have purchased via the Flashfood app in a single day.

Where can you use the Flashfood app

According to a press release I found from the company, right now there are more than 1,500 grocery stores, supermarkets and other retailers that have partnered with Flashfood.

This is in the United States and Canada–Flashfood is a Canadian company.

Right now the biggest concentration of participating stores in the United States is in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.

There’s also a decent number in New England.

For example, in Pennsylvania where I live right now, there are over 100 Flashfood locations.

There are similar numbers in Michigan and Ohio.

Other states where you can use Flashfood include:

• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kentucky
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Nebraska
• New York
• Rhode Island
• Texas
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin

Flashfood retail partners

It helps to know which retailers work with Flashfood so you can figure out if there is a store near you that offers this service.

To date, these are the U.S. stores that have Flashfood:

• Family Fare
• Giant Eagle
• Giant Food
• Martin’s Markets
• Meijer
• Save a Lot
• Spartan Nash
• Stop and Shop
• Tops Friendly Markets
• VG’s Grocery

However, not every location does.

For example, Giant Eagle is a big grocery store in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

In fact, there is a Giant Eagle location right in my town–I could walk there.

However, the Giant Eagle near me is not on the list of Flashfood locations.

I discovered that when I opened the app and got this screen.

Now, that result is misleading because if I moved the app a bit to the west, I discovered a Giant Eagle location 26 miles away.

So, hardly the 1,628 miles results that the app originally showed.

You will need to play around with it to find the specific retailer nearest to you.

In addition, we know that Save a Lot is another retailer partner, and there is a Save a Lot about 20 minutes from me.

However, again, this location is not listed as part of the Flashfood network, which is disappointing.

What really bums me out is the Giant Food where I used to shop in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where we lived for nearly 20 years, is in the Flashfood network. 

This is also good news for people who live in New Jersey near the Pennsylvania border.

That is, there aren’t any stores in New Jersey shown on the app.

This even though Stop and Shop is a partner and has many stores in New Jersey.

However, if they just drive across the Delaware River to Pennsylvania, they’ll find plenty of Flashfood retailers.

How does the Flashfood work

OK, so now that you know where you can find these Flashfood discounts, I’m sure you want to know how it works.

Well, to shop the Flashfood deals, you will be shopping in the app exclusively.

There is not an online option on a website.

Basically, you choose everything you want to buy via the app, checkout and pay for it on the app.

Then, you’ll have to drive to the store to pick up your order in the specially marked Flashfood zone.

Keep in mind that this is not part of that grocery store’s shopping app.

Therefore, if you like to order your groceries online, you’ll need to make two stops.

For example, if I was doing curbside express pickup at Giant Eagle for my regular groceries, I would still need to go inside Giant Eagle to get my Flashfood order.

In other words, it is two separate transactions and two separate “actions” to get my groceries.

Make sense?

Flashfood promo and referral code

Here’s some good news: in addition to saving up to 50% of groceries, you can share your referral code with friends.

They save money, and so do you.

This is how it works.

One, you share your exclusive referral code with friends.

That’s mine below.

Two, once a friend shops on Flashfood and spends at least $10, then they can cash in that referral code and get $5 off.

Three, once they do that, you get your own promo code for $5 off your next order.

You’ll find that promo code under “Rewards” inside the app. 

Other Flashfood benefits

We compost our food scraps at home.

I try to do whatever I can to keep food out of landfills.

It’s also why I’ll put my shredded paper in the compost bin.

Eventually, it becomes dirt that I can use in my garden.

Well, Flashfood diverts food waste from landfills, too.

According to Giant Eagle, they believe that since partnering with Flashfood in 2021, they have diverted more than one million pounds of food from landfills.

Overall, Flashfood claims its program has diverted more than 50 million pounds of food from being thrown away into landfills. 

Finally, in places where food insecurity is a reality, using Flashfood can help families find groceries at a savings.

Here is a link to the Flashfood website for more information.