Toolkit: reducing food waste at home
Recommended apps
These are recommended apps for helping reduce food waste in your home.
Too Good To Go
Too Good To Go was launched in 2016 and tackles food waste by making surplus, unsold food from supermarkets, cafes, restaurants, and independent food retailers available to consumers at heavily discounted prices.
The app lets you browse participating venues by:
- name
- location
- time of day
There is an element of surprise, as the food comes in a lucky dip ‘magic bag’. Each bag costs a third of the retail price.
Too Good To Go is used in 17 countries by 46 million users, including 6.6 million in the UK.
This app is free.
Download Too Good To Go for Apple
Download Too Good To Go for Android
Olio
Olio is the world’s largest food-sharing network. It connects neighbours with each other and a network of volunteers with local businesses so that surplus food is given and not thrown away.
Olio lets you take a picture of your items and add them to the listings. Neighbours then receive customised alerts and can request anything they need, with pick-up arranged through private messaging.
Olio saw a fivefold increase in listings during lockdown, with users enjoying its community interaction.
This app is free.
Kitche
Kitche tackles food waste in the home by helping you keep track of what you've bought and plan meals accordingly.
You can scan your receipts or upload online receipts stored on your phone. The app will then tap into its recipe bank to plan meals based on the food you have, alerting you to items nearing their use-by dates.
This app is free.
NoWaste
NoWaste is a hi-tech ‘inventory’ that allows you to keep track of the food in your fridge, freezer and larder.
It lets you:
- scan shopping receipts
- set the use-by dates for all your food
- receive notifications when items are close to expiry
- record shopping lists and meal plans
NoWaste will also tell you which foods types you are wasting the most and log your progress. You can join communities to share your stats with others for added motivation.
This app is free.