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Food waste appIn the UK food waste is a huge problem, but it doesn’t have to be.  If you only buy what you need and eat up / freeze leftovers you shouldn’t have a problem. A lot of waste is caused by supermarkets, however, if unsold produce gets thrown away.

In this age of technology, there are Apps which can help with this enormous problem. I have looked at a few. Some are very straightforward and others seem too complicated to bother with as they need updating with what’s in your fridge and whether you’ve eaten it or not!!  Also, some of these apps depend on you buying everything from a supermarket where it can be scanned, so if you buy from local shops such as greengrocers they don’t work properly.

Some also depend on lots of people in your local area using them too.  There may be a case for identifying the most promising and promoting them, so that they do become efficient.  Read on for details of seven of them and see what you think.

KARMA https://karma.life/about-food-waste
This is an app that lets retailers to sell their surplus food at a lower price. It provides a shared platform on which customers and food providers co-exist and benefit from each other. At the moment it only operates in London but is aiming to expand. It claims to be very easy to use.

OLIO https://olioex.com/
This connects neighbours with each other and local shops so that surplus food and other items can be shared, not discarded. It is very simple to use but it depends on how many other Olio users are in your area.

TOO GOOD TO GO https://toogoodtogo.co.uk/en-gb
This App connects you to shops and restaurants that have unsold food. It lets you ‘rescue’ a Magic Bag’ but you have no idea what’s in it!! Morrison’s is the only supermarket in the UK which participates in this scheme - £10 worth of food for £3.09.

KITCHE https://kitche.co/
This is designed to save you money and food waste at home by keeping track of what you buy, suggesting recipes and warning you when things get close to their sell by date. It promises to save households upwards of £600 a year.

PLAN TO EAT https://www.plantoeat.com/welcome/
You collect recipes and enter them on the App. Then you fill out a meal planner, of when you want to cook them and the App creates shopping lists for you. The idea being that planning meals saves money and only buying what you need saves waste. While you are cooking the App will display the cooking instructions for you.

MAGIC FRIDGE https://www.frigomagic.com/en/
You enter the contents of your fridge onto the App and it creates recipes so that you don’t waste anything.

SHARE WASTE https://sharewaste.com/#!
This connects people who cannot compost their own kitchen scraps to people who can, diverting waste from landfill while helping you get to know your neighbors!!