Find cheap food and reduce waste in your area with these apps

The UK produces around 10.7 million tonnes of food waste each year according to WRAP, costing over £17 billion pounds.

It’s thought that 6.4 million tonnes of the food we waste could actually be eaten. This is the equivalent of more than 15 billion meals – enough to feed everyone in the UK three meals a day for 74 days!

If you’re wondering how to reduce food waste, thankfully, there’s plenty we can all do to help. Rescuing food from shops, restaurants and even other people can save it from going in the bin.

These three apps can help you find cheap, if not free food in your area, and save all sorts of cuisine from going to waste:

Olio

Olio is an app designed to save food from going to waste in your area. You can use it to find food that’s being given away or advertise food you don’t need. For example, if you’re going on holiday and don’t want to throw food away, you can list it on Olio.

Companies also use Olio, including Tesco and Pret A Manger. They distribute their surplus food at the end of the day. You can get involved in this by becoming a Food Waste Hero on Olio.

Too Good To Go

You can use the Too Good To Go app to buy food at a low cost. It works with businesses like restaurants, supermarkets, and hotels to reduce food waste and bring it to the consumer. At the end of each day, food that's still perfectly good but would otherwise go to waste is bagged up for sale at reduced prices. Sometimes, food will be on sale for less than half its usual price.

Some of the bags get reserved quickly (so you'll need to be on the ball) and you can’t find out exactly what’s in the bags beforehand - although you’re given an idea of what to expect.

Businesses using this app include Aldi, Krispy Kreme, Gail’s, Greggs, plus many more.

Karma

Karma is a food rescue app, founded in Sweden in 2016. It’s similar to Too Good To Go in that companies use it to sell off their surplus food at reduced prices, but with Karma, you’re able to see what you’re buying first.

Karma have a big focus on the environmental aspects of this, and at the time of writing, have been responsible for rescuing 1,200 tonnes of food waste, equating to 4,000,000 meals. This has also resulted in the saving of 1,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Reduce your own food waste at home with our tips, or read our guide on eating for £20 a week.