The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has launched a new phone app as part of its Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) campaign. The app is designed to encourage food planning and leftover reuse, as well as to provide help with budgeting, shopping and recipes.

The app, which is free for both iPhone and Android users, contains the following features:

• ‘My kitchen’, which allows users to store details of all the food in their kitchen and add ‘use by’ reminders;
• a portion planner and a meal planning diary;
• recipe ideas, as well as cooking tips and ideas;
• a ‘My cookbook’ section to store recipes;
• a ‘Shopping list’ for planned meals.

Commenting on the launch of the app, LFHW’s Emma Marsh said: “This all-new app, which is free to download and use, builds on the knowledge and expertise LFHW has gained over the years.

“In the UK, we throw away 7.2 million tonnes of food every year, much of which could have been eaten. This good food and drink costs us around £12 billion a year, and the average household could save up to £50 a month by making the most of the food they buy.

“Wasting less food is not only good for our pockets, but it’s also good for the environment, helping to save energy and water, and reducing our carbon footprint. By making all this information available via the new free app, we want to make it even easier for people to get the most from the food they buy.”

Welsh Minister for Natural Resources Alun Davies added that the app can help reduce waste: “The best thing we can do is prevent food waste in the first place by using the app to plan meals and not buy or cook more than we need.

“However, some food waste – such as egg shells and vegetable peelings – is unavoidable, and I encourage everyone to use their food waste caddies to reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill and help reduce climate change.”

The previous LFHW app has been downloaded over 100,000 times since February 2010, according to WRAP.