Food Waste Apps

[Jean]

Do you really want potassium glucomate in your soil?

[guitarplayer]

There’s other vegan junk also, like stone baked bread with raisins, walnuts and cashews. There it is just white flour, salt, virgin olive oil and the above, maybe iron fortified. Simple vegan junk.

[sky]

https://freedge.org/locations/

The Free Fridge concept is similar to a food app.

[Scott 2]

Couple more too good to go tries:

1. A local bakery gave generous dessert for two, for $5. Banana pudding, coconut cake, two cookies. Great bakery, lucked into it on the way home from a hike. We were making dinner anyway, so perfect timing.

2. Panera gave $18 of end of day bakery for $5. Dunno if it's, typical, but I got to pick from what was left. So two loaves of bread - sourdough and tomato basil miche. Each weighs about 3lbs. This is the closest I've gotten to legitimate nutrition. An 8-9 pm pickup window was mildly annoying. There was also a variety of pastries or bagels available.

Whole foods remains the most value for dollar spent. Makes sense - the others are essentially restaurants. The app is fun and pushing out more expensive treats.

Back when I ate on $35 a week, I explored baking some of my own food. Cookies, muffins, quick breads, pizza dough, tortillas. This feels like a solid alternative. I couldn't buy the ingredients, for the same money. The variety and quality are
much better too.

Knowing baking isn't my thing, the app feels worth it.

[IlliniDave]

I don't mind cooking so much as I mind the cleanup afterwards. It's not a huge deal but I'm pretty obsessive about not letting dirty dishes pile up. So I've learned to eat some not very skillfully integrated combinations of food for simplicity. If a potential meal takes more than one cooking vessel, it's probably not happening when I'm eating on my own. Dealing with leftovers is really nothing more than a micro buffet of items that are reheated only if required, and almost never combined into a new dish. 5 years ago I couldn't have endured such a system over the long haul, but one of the things I've learned about very targeted nutrition is that my body seems to sense the benefit of high quality stuff, and good whole food is almost never unappetizing, even on repeat. I get challenged on that, especially at group/family meals where I often pass on the most popular of the offerings. I tell people I don't choose what to eat based on what tastes good, that trust me I get the sensory pleasure of yummy stuff, but mostly eating is a chore to optimally fuel myself. I might as well have my head spin around 360 degrees and vomit pea soup across the room. And of course they never remember that when I get scolded for being genetically "lucky" when it comes to good health and fitness for my cohort.

[7Wannabe5]

I tell people I don't choose what to eat based on what tastes good, that trust me I get the sensory pleasure of yummy stuff, but mostly eating is a chore to optimally fuel myself. I might as well have my head spin around 360 degrees and vomit pea soup across the room.

I think the reason why it doesn't come across well is that you are not completing the thought. For example, "I would love a slice of that chocolate cake, but I enjoy the pleasure of solo kayaking on the lake on a sunny day more, and I need to appropriately feed my muscles in order to keep doing that into the future, so I'll pass on the cake." or even "...but I enjoy the pleasure to be obtained by being able to attract significantly younger women more..." might get you a laugh and/or a dinner roll tossed at your head, but would still be more easily comprehended.

[Scott 2]

I'd prefer my day has space for a 400 calorie slice of bread, 500 calorie muffin, or even 1000 calorie pint of ice cream. Surely there's an acceptable percentage of the 10-20k one eats in a week?

The Panera tomato basil miche is a savory cake. Not overly sweet like most American desserts. Delicious.

[jacob]

I'd prefer my day has space for a 400 calorie slice of bread, 500 calorie muffin, or even 1000 calorie pint of ice cream. Surely there's an acceptable percentage of the 10-20k one eats in a week?

It's more that there are trade-offs and that some don't like to accept or admit that these trade-offs exist. Hence the comments about "luck" or even outright denial that the trade-offs exist. .

[7Wannabe5]

Well, we all block off the trade-offs with which we don't wish to concern ourselves. For example, the number of malaria nets I could buy for poor tots vs. the expense of my coffee habit. So, then at next level, once we are rendered more fully aware of the conflict, we attempt to determine the appropriate proportionality of tasty carbs vs. green protein or malaria nets vs. musical theater tickets, etc. etc. etc.

[IlliniDave]

I think the reason why it doesn't come across well is that you are not completing the thought. For example, "I would love a slice of that chocolate cake, but I enjoy the pleasure of solo kayaking on the lake on a sunny day more, and I need to appropriately feed my muscles in order to keep doing that into the future, so I'll pass on the cake." or even "...but I enjoy the pleasure to be obtained by being able to attract significantly younger women more..." might get you a laugh and/or a dinner roll tossed at your head, but would still be more easily comprehended.

Ha, yeah, that would be a nicer way to dress it up. The truest reason would be something along the lines of: three years ago I was overweight, had high blood pressure, was prediabetic, and was starting to show unmistakable signs of NAFLD, but that gets a little morbid and would often be addressed to people with two or more of those conditions who were depending on Medicine 2.0 to manage them. I remember the first time I made a statement about eating for effect rather than taste--someone gave me the stink eye for using EVOO on some okra I was roasting instead of a milder, more refined olive oil intended for cooking, and just the idea of a citizen of a first world nation eating okra at all was greeted with alarm. My response was okra's got great fiber, and the EVOO is loaded with polyphenols and oleic acid, my mitochondria will be rocking, who cares what it tastes like? (Truth is, it was actually pretty darn tasty, it just wasn't the sort of fare that would show up on an hors d'oeuvres tray during a faculty event at at an East Coast private university). I'll try your alternate approach next time.

[Scott 2]

I ate all of the below in about a week. Still working on the Panera bread loaves. Did blood work today. Fasting glucose 93, fasting insulin 5.9, HOMA-IR 1.4. Those are blood markers most likely harmed by my Too Good to Go habit. All good.

There's space for this stuff, if you're active person. I'm not saying a bakery bag per week is optimal. But against an otherwise balanced diet, there's room to absorb the ocassional dietary insult. And it's cheap fun!

$7 from whole foods, via too good to go. Quite the deal:

[guitarplayer]

I'm with you in principle @Scott 2, in my own way I do it too. Whilst rarely food waste (although it does happen!) my version of the above is to down a 150g bag of salted potato chips (so potato, oil, salt) every now and then. Cheap fun!

[7Wannabe5]

What I Picked Up Yesterday for Free at Soon to Expire, Odd, Discontinued, or Imperfect Food Giveaway

1) 5 greenish oranges
2) 7 ripe avocados
3) 2 grapefruit
4) 4 imperfect apples
5) large bag cilantro
6) 6 bagels
7) 2 loaves Italian bread
8) 4 apple turnovers
9) 2 large tubs frozen chicken tortilla soup
10) package frozen chicken breasts
11) 10 cans spaghetti sauce, beans, and fruit
12) large party tray of assorted cut fruit
13) 6 crooked carrots
14) 2 green peppers
15) 1 box macaroni and cheese
16) large carton cranberry juice concentrate
17) 1 dozen small eggs
18) frozen prepared pesto chicken pasta
19) very large bag of hazelnuts

There are 5 giveaways per month. Two , such as the one above, feature more items from general grocery store overstock, and 3 feature more prepared foods such as grab-and-go salads, gourmet cheese spread, and single serving bakery treats. My mother also has Meals on Wheels lunch delivered for the middle-class-income-donation price of around $3/day (which is great deal just on the basis of having somebody check in on her during the day if/when I'm not around), which means a constant over-supply of little cartons of milk to drink or process. I also sometimes eat for free at work or on dates, so my food expenditures are down to coffee (okay, really more of a drug expenditure), and the few random staples or specific ingredients (coconut milk, olive oil, black pepper, etc. ) I need to pull the fairly random freebie assortment together into meals.

It's pretty clear that ready to grab prepared food featuring fresh ingredients for the affluent health conscious market creates the most waste, in terms of need for quick turnover, packaging, and pricing. The way the give-away works is that the senior citizens (or their helpers) shuffle from one table to another arranged in a circle, and are informed by helper or sign how many items they can select from that table. On some of the prepared food giveaway days, you can hear some of the seniors grumbling, because every other table is just another selection of grab and go salads about to expire, due to the multitude of upscale markets located nearby. Pretty typical for me to snag a collection of prepared salads originally priced at more than $50 at each giveaway. The most difficult items for me to process are large frozen cuts of gourmet meats being rotated out of upscale market freezer storage. For example, I am currently defrosting a 10 lb. roast which is not likely to fit in my crockpot in one piece and will have to be refrozen after cooked into some new form, because way too much for us to eat out of the fridge. I only take these large cuts, because the mostly living solo seniors never do, and seems like a terrible waste.

Generally, in many affluent areas in the U.S. , there is more high quality food waste, more high quality shelter space waste, and even more money waste in the sense that many humans in the realm already have more than more than enough wealth/cash-flow by ERE terms. Ergo, it is fairly easy to just live on waste streams in such a community. OTOH, in impoverished or collapsing communities in the U.S. such as the last locale in which I resided, most of the trash truly is trash that would be more difficult to redeem, although there are some major exceptions to this rule in terms of unrecognized value or alternative uses or integration of cultural capital or waste that could be avoided with very small inputs of financial capital. For example, if I was successful interfering in the waste stream of used/rare books in an affluent realm, this would be more due to other busy humans not having the time to interfere in the waste stream. If I was successful interfering in the waste stream of used/rare books in an impoverished realm, this would be more due to the lack of skill in recognizing this form of value by other humans or maybe simply not having the cash on hand to effect even a very small short-term profitable trade. And, similar applies to wide variety of waste streams and markets. In "Discards: Your Way to Wealth", Dan Quinn makes the point that waste is more often created at the extremes of opposing forces such as wealth/poverty, innovation/obsolescence, deterioration/renewal, staying-in-place and hoarding/moving a lot and dumping, wedding/divorce, government legislation & inefficiency/big business attitudes & inefficiency, etc.

[Scott 2]

In my area, I think waste like that goes to the local food pantries. I haven't seen anything similar for the general public, especially not able bodied early retirees. A big part of the pantry effort, is trucking food in from local grocers, multiple times per week.

The food pantry income cut off is 185% of poverty line, with no asset test. So many here would technically qualify. And truthfully, there's no income verification. While volunteering, I encountered people with $2k phones, driving Mercedes, etc. But I also saw true food insecurity. It makes me very conscious of whether I'm recovering waste or diverting aid.

Another local charity I worked with, promoted this app:

https://www.freshfoodconnect.org/

It's for home gardeners to donate produce, serving the food insecure. I think they partner with pantries on the recipient side. But, hey, that's the other end of the food waste app spectrum. How do we share our excess? Especially as federal funding shifts, local efforts take on increased importance.

[7Wannabe5]

@Scott:

Yeah, I'm not sure why my mother's senior complex is a free food drop location. Maybe just because it would be odd to offer a random assortment of gourmet grocery perishables to some other groups? For instance, definitely not the kind of stuff you would stuff in a bag for a low income kid to take home for the weekend due to liability and towards "Let them eat gluten free cake, tabouleh, and green oranges". The senior complex has one floor of lower-income apartments, but everybody else is likely moderate income senior citizen, and the food pick-up is open to anybody in the building and their care-givers. I usually time it so I'm around the last person in line, but there's still always extra stuff for those who want to come back for more later.

[Stasher]

In our region all the local grocery stores donate expired or blemished or day old inventory to the local food banks, shelters and support groups of which a portion of all that is run by a bigger umbrella non-profit. Of all that food they take some of the best and sell it to the general public in their "ReFresh Marketplace" to generate another revenue stream to fund the non profit. I get fruit and veg here at pennies on the dollar.

https://cowichangreencommunity.org/refresh-marketplace/

https://cowichangreencommunity.org/food ... y-program/

[Scott 2]

That's an interesting model. I'd be inclined to shop from the local food pantry I volunteered at. The options were often quite good. Especially the overstock. Peak season is when something like multiple pallets of berries might be donated.

I haven't seen any shopping options locally. There are over 20 pantries within 8 miles though, so it's possible I'm simply unaware.

In our area, most of the government funding flows through a regional food bank. Pantries purchase food at extremely discounted prices via the bank. In trade, policies from the bank trickle down and determine what the pantries do (ie the 185% poverty line cutoff). I imagine selling that tax payer subsidized food could become scandalous. Especially since pantries often have a religious affiliation.

[7Wannabe5]

One interesting thing to consider is why the markets that donate the food that would be otherwise dumpstered don't simply discount the food themselves. The answer must either be that their customer base doesn't want day old or blemished food at any price point and/or their floor space is too valuable and their overhead is too high. Analogously, when I was dealing in a large volume of used books, if the market price I could obtain for a book fell below $5, I would donate it back to a Friends of Library sale, because I hadn't structured my business in a manner that I could afford to be a "penny dealer." Even though my inventory occupied the entire bottom floor of a large barn which I rented quite cheaply, and my employees were my own teenage kids and their friends whom I paid minimum wage, I couldn't afford to store books on which my profit would only be pennies. Similarly, my mega-millionaire friend whose business dealt in a financial product, told me that one of his keys to success was not wasting his time on small fry clients. Another terrible example would be that when a 10%-er woman dumps or neglects a 10%-er man at the margin because she has a more profitable use for her "floor space", he becomes a good catch for me on some dating app, although I do often prefer to shop for my dates in markets other than the Women My Age Who Shop at Whole Foods After Pilates Discard Market . Anyways, my point is that the manner in which Affluence creates Waste is quite similar across a wide spectrum of goods.

"Unprocessed: My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food" by Megan Kimble is an interesting book that is also quite relevant to this discussion. The challenge she sets for herself is basically to avoid processed food as much as possible, but along the way of her journalistic experiment, she discovers that much of the processing and packaging that seems wrong, because less nutritious or wasteful from the end consumer perspective is often least-worst solution if you consider the entire system. If you are purchasing a Spring Greens and Summer Fruits prepared salad in January in Michigan, the extra 1/4 of a salad that had to be dumpstered or donated at the end of the day, so your salad could be "fresh" and "convenient" is just one of the final steps in an inherently wasteful production and marketing cycle, and this is reflected in the $10.99 price tag. The clamshell packaging around the customized salad is no differently wasteful than the solo occupation of large and/or expensive-due-to-nearby-infrastructure spaces in relationship to the good of shelter.

[IlliniDave]

One interesting thing to consider is why the markets that donate the food that would be otherwise dumpstered don't simply discount the food themselves. The answer must either be that their customer base doesn't want day old or blemished food at any price point and/or their floor space is too valuable and their overhead is too high...

The grocery store I go to does occasionally have "reduced for quick sale" items, usually meat that they can throw into a freezer case. But I've occasionally wondered if they steeply discounted everything that was probably still okay but at the tail end of it's life if they'd feel like it would eat into their margins (which for grocery stores are generally pretty slim) as frugal customers would play chicken with them and make a habit of buying only the items they're selling at a loss.

It could also be a reputation issue. As food items near the point of becoming garbage, I'd imagine there's a higher probability of them either being inedible or even causing illness, and although there's a dash of caveat emptor in buying food (and most of it is probably okay or at least partially salvageable), if people start complaining to their family and neighbors about having purchased some food a specific store that made them puke or whatever, the store's defense of, "Well I sold it to them really cheap," will probably ring hollow. There's probably even an issue of appearances. If Joe's Farm Fresh Produce had an appreciable inventory of stuff that is obviously far from fresh (especially as detected by the nose), it would likely undermine the brand reputation Joe was trying to cultivate.

And when it's a local business rather than a corporate chain, there may be some sense of civic do-goodism (legitimately so) for donating it to organizations that actually do good for those who truly need it rather than all-but-giving it to people who don't really need it but are driven to pinch pennies.

The amount of food waste is disheartening, especially when it's stuff you know is flown in from another hemisphere. And it's not lost on me that by essentially being a food snob for having decided to optimize for health rather than source location or low cost I contribute to that, except maybe for my bias towards food produced from regenerative practices. But even that is more for health reasons than for ecological concerns.

[Scott 2]

I'd guess the tax benefits of donating are more profitable than discounting. The volume of food flowing from grocer to pantry is substantial and systemized. With produce, it's often warehouse scale. IE 50lb sacks of cabbage. Or a pallet of 20lb sacks of onions. Part of the volunteer work, is throwing out the bad bits, so shoppers have a grocery store comparable experience.

Most waste happens well before the consumer's hands. Supply chain efficiencies demand behavior a typical consumer would find abhorrent.