I was recently speaking to the owner of a local bakery and the topic of “leftovers” came up.

With small businesses running on such tight margins these days, I could only imagine that there would have to be a very creative use for the delicious items that didn’t get swooped up on their freshest day.

What Small Bakeries Do With Leftovers (and Why Big Chains Like Costco Are Different)

So his answer didn’t surprise me when he said that many bakeries — especially those on the smaller side — will take their unpurchased items and use them to create new products. Day-old croissants can become rich and delicious bread pudding (um, yum), and yesterday’s baguettes take on a new life as crunchy crostini. Everyone wins!

But what about the BIG places, like Costco, where operations are a little heftier than the average mom-and-pop corner pastry shop? He wasn’t sure.

As often happens these days, “someone” was listening and sure enough a recent article from Reader’s Digest popped up in my news feed that offers the exact answer for this scenario, and it’s actually pretty sweet.

READ MORE: Hate Crowds? Avoid Shopping At Costco During This Time

It turns out that those soon-to-expire muffins (and other popular bakery items) are donated to nonprofit organizations, like Feeding America.

Does Costco Sell Its Day-Old Muffins at a Discount?

RD goes on to explain that while discounting day-old pastries and bakery items might be a common practice for independent businesses (I buy day-old bagels weekly from a local place — they get toasted anyway!), that is not the case for Costco, which donates all items under this category.

Do Costco Meat Products Get Donated?

Meat is a bit different. The common practice of taking something delicious and turning it into something else delicious applies here, as Costco will pull popular deli items like their rotisserie chickens after the 2-hour time limit and repurpose them into other dishes, like pot pies.