5 Apps That Make it Easy to Reduce Your Food Waste
We can all do our part to reduce food waste globally, and if you don’t know where to start, try one of these apps!
1. Foodkeeper
This app, created by the USDA, Cornell Institute, and the Food Marketing Institute, provides food storage advice, storage timelines, cooking tips, and even offers a 24/7 virtual representative that can answer questions about food storage and safety. Learn more effective ways to store certain foods so that you can maximize the storage life of groceries. Get storage timelines for specific foods that you have in your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. The app even offers a calendar feature that reminds you to use ingredients before they go bad!
Available for Apple and Android
2. TangoTab
The next time you feel like going out to eat, use TangoTab and you can help feed a local person in need at the same time. TangoTab is an app that gives users exclusive deals to local restaurants, and when you claim a deal that restaurant TangoTab will donate a meal to feed a person in need through local food banks. “When you eat, they eat!”
Available for Apple and Android
3. Copia
If you live in the San Francisco bay area download Copia, an app that allows businesses and events to donate their extra food to feed local people in need. So the next time you have some extra food from a work meeting, don’t throw it away, use Copia to request a donation pickup. After answering a few short questions the app matches you up with a nearby shelter, church, or non-profit and a driver who will come pick up your food. Strengthen your community and protect the environment by sharing your excess food!
Available for Apple and Android
4. Handpick
Sometimes it seems like even when you have a kitchen full of food there’s nothing to eat! You might have a full meal without even knowing it, and Handpick will help you find recipes with the ingredients you already have on hand. When you use more of what you already have you end up wasting less of the food you buy, saving you money and saving the world. The app also includes a feature called Meal Kits which creates efficient shopping lists paired with recipes meant to use up all of the ingredients you buy.
Available for Apple and Android
5. Cookbrite
Have you ever been at work or school pondering what you should make for dinner? This digital pantry app allows you to log every ingredient in your kitchen and suggests meal recipes based on what you’re in the mood to eat. All you have to do is take a picture of your receipt when you finish grocery shopping and Cookbrite will update your HomeList with the purchases you make. Browse recipes to make amazing meals with ingredients you already have in your kitchen. You also have the option to choose recipes first and let Cookbrite create your shopping list for you, that way you buy exactly what you need every week and don’t end up with more than you need.
Available for Android