Depending on when you’re reading this, you’re either just waking up from your food coma or you’ve never slept because you were Black Friday shopping since 3am. Either way, Thanksgiving is over and you’re left with a lot of food. Turkey might be delicious but it’s going to get really nauseating, really fast. With my previous student’s corner targeting food waste in the United States, I thought it’d be a nice follow up since we’re entering the season of food binging. A quick Google search can provide you with many recipes to reuse your recipe, and everything has been said and done, so my focus is geared towards those who just can’t stand the sight of a Thanksgiving meal any longer.
In this day and age, there is an app for just about everything. With smartphones being the trend, a large majority of us have access to this large collection of apps. I want to bring two to mind: LeftoverSwap and CropMobster.
CropMobster allows local farmers and local food businesses to reach out to their communities regarding their crops. For example, farmers can post about available produce and CropMobster will alert those in the community of the opportunity to purchase the produce (or to get it for free). Unfortunately, CropMobster is only available for those in the California area so residents of The Golden State can take advantage of the opportunities to buy local if they so desire. The great successes of CropMobster hints at the possibility of further successes in other states, so while the CropMobster team aren’t expanding their services, an opportunistic sustainability focused entrepreneur should definitely take this idea and run with it.
LeftoverSwap is more location friendly version of CropMobster and is more convenient for the unwanted Thanksgiving meals. For the leftover giver, this app allows you to take a picture of your food and share it with those who also have the app. This enhanced version of Instragram allows the pictures of your food to reach those who are interested in the leftovers. Not only is food waste avoided, everyone involved in the transaction is happy. However, the user should take precaution of this method as one would with similar sites like craigslist.
These are only a few examples of the innovation that technology has brought us, and we should use it to its fullest extent to reduce our food waste this season. On that note, Facilities Team Green wishes everyone a belated Thanksgiving!
Written by Linda Shackles, Class of 2017