In the UK – much as it is the US and other Western countries – food waste has become a pretty big issue and more food than you would ever imagine is simply thrown away because it is either approaching its best-before date, or because it doesn’t look any good any more. This where Sainsbury’s and Google’s new partnership comes in. The UK supermarket has teamed up with the search giant to offer a new, online service dubbed ‘Food Rescue’. By mixing together Sainsbury’s knowledge of produce and some of the magic that makes Google Now so appealing, Food Rescue will put together recipes you can whip up with food that you might otherwise end up throwing in the bin. The UK supermarket says the average household throws away £60 worth of good food a month, which isn’t too surprising as a lot of us are guilty of throwing away good food.
How Food Rescue works is incredibly simple, all you need to do is to speak out ingredients to your smartphone or laptop and then the service will bring these core elements together and present you with a – hopefully – tasty recipe. I tried this with a few staples we always have lying around the home – chicken, peppers, mushrooms – and Food Rescue came up with some interesting recipes for me to try out. A lot of the time these recipes include something else you haven’t named, which you might not have to hand, but for the most part it focuses on the core ingredients you’ve fed it.
The service will tell you how much you’ve saved by not throwing away the food and you can even save the recipe for another time. The short below video from Sainsbury’s shows you just how simple it can be to start cooking with what you have rather than simply throwing it out. It’s easy enough for users of all ages to use, and for those just getting started in the world of cooking, it could be a real eye opener and there are 1,200 recipes currently indexed, with more to come. There’s no Android app just yet, but the Food Rescue website is mobile friendly. You can take a look at the source link below.