According to statistics, almost one-third of the world’s food is lost or wasted each year. Additionally, more than one in ten American households are considered to be ‘food insecure’. This refers to those who are unable or uncertain about having enough food to feed their entire household. In recent years, many organizations and a variety of apps have emerged to address the issue of food waste. Many of these apps focus on the end user, offering surplus food stock at lower prices. Others address the issue of redistribution to those less fortunate. These top 6 food waste apps will help you save food, whether your a regular foodie or a chef, or someone who just wants to lend a hand to people in need.
6 Best Food Waste Apps
1. Food for All
Food for All The Food for All App was launched originally through a Kickstarter campaign. You can get meals at restaurants and cafes in Boston or New York City for as low as 50%. Its founders’ mission is to help, save and eat.
You can use the app to:
- Explore over 200 locations.
- You can pay directly through the app for food waste.
- Pick up time
- You can feel proud knowing that you made a contribution to reducing food waste.
2. Flash food
Flash food is currently only available in Canada. This allows shoppers to get significant discounts on food items that are nearing their best-before date. To sell surplus food at reduced prices, they have teamed up to large supermarket chains like Meijer. You can use the app to:
- Find a grocery store close to where you live.
- Take up to 50% off select items
- Buy directly from your smartphone
- You can get your items from a special HTML food area at the store and confirm them with customer service.
3. Too Good to Stay
Similar to Flash food and Food for All (Food for All), Too Good To Go offers a large list of restaurants, cafes and bakeries that sell unsold food in ‘magic bags’ for a fixed price. The best part is finding out what goodies your local store has chosen for you. This app allows you to:
- Explore the shops and other locations on the app.
- Choose your options and then pay for the app.
- When you pick up, show your on-app collection
Too Good to Go is one the fastest-growing food waste apps in Europe. They are available in 14 countries and just launched in the USA. It has 39.1 millions users and counting. Keep an eye out for this.
4. Food Rescue US
Food rescue US is an app that connects food donors like restaurants and grocery stores with food rescue groups. It also helps food insecure people to combat food waste. Food Rescue US was founded in 2011 and has saved more than 22,000 tones of food from landfills. This includes 30,000 lbs of Super Bowl leftover food that was delivered to local shelters.
5. Olio
Olio can be compared to Tinder if you are a very ambitious home cook. You can get to know your neighbors while sharing extra dishes, sauces, and farmers market vegetables that you don’t want to be binned. This app allows you to:
- Upload your product and add a description, picture, and pickup location.
- Accept requests, then connect, meet, and share.
- Instead of posting items, request them.
Users can also leave ratings and reviews for their friends based on what they have done. Nearly four million people use the UK-based app, and nearly 18 million meals have been shared on the platform.
6. Transfer nation
NYC-based Translation will remove any unopened surplus food from your hands with a click. This ensures that the food reaches the right people. This organization works to distribute extra food from events to people in need. It uses a variety of methods, including linking social institutions with events, volunteering food recovery, and partnerships and distribution networks with companies. It is easy to use, and uses your phone’s GPS to locate a pickup. Most of Transfer nation’s transportation uses environmentally-friendly cargo bikes. This reduces car exhaust.
