With extra spare time because of social distancing and restrictions, more people are embracing Iso-baking or Iso-cooking. At the same time, spending extra time at home means we are taking notice of things around the house that we otherwise normally wouldn’t notice, such as the amount of waste we are producing.
Did you know that Australians discard up to 20% of the food we purchase? That equates to 1 out of every 5 our grocery bags! This makes us ask the question “how do we minimize our waste?” In our previous blog ‘Waste not, want not’, we have suggested:
- Connect with your supply
- Know what you’ve got in your fridge and pantry
- Store (and eat) your leftovers
- Get creative with your food
Thankfully, there are organisations like Foodbank Australia who fight hunger by working with entire the food industry including farmers, wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers to source food donations and distributed to food relief programs. While this is happening on a greater commercial scale, it has left some asking – how do we contribute to helping our community directly as an individual?
OLIO has stepped in as a solution. The OLIO app was founded in England 2014 and their mission is to connect neighbours with each other and with local businesses so surplus food (and other things) can be shared and not thrown away. What better way to help a neighbour out while also making sure less waste is ending up at landfill, and all at the convenience of your fingertips? Alternatively, if you are struggling during current times, you can even request household items you may need!
But of course, with safety in mind, no-contact pick ups are encouraged during the current pandemic.
If you have some left-over banana bread from a big-bake session, or an unopened jar of pasta sauce nearing expiry that you can’t finish on your own, you can share it with a neighbour in need by downloading the OLIO app from the Google Play Store or iOS App Store!
Photo by Guus Baggermans on Unsplash
