As food costs soar and many families struggle to keep up with rising energy costs, many are looking at ways to save money on their grocery bills.
And while they were originally set up to stop food waste, a new generation of apps can also save families substantial sums of money and provide meals for less.
Although you have no control on what you get, if you are prepared to take pot luck, the most popular food waste app, Too Good To Go, is well- worth downloading and exploring.
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The idea is simple - every day huge amounts of food are thrown way as supermarkets get rid of food that’s near to the sell by date, and restaurants and cafes toss out things that aren’t fresh.
The solution is for them to box or bag the items up and sell the 'Magic Bags' at a fraction of the cost on the app.
The result is a win-win - the shops are not guilty of throwing away good stuff that's slightly past its best and the consumer - usually - nets a real bargain.
The food is all close to expiry but you can freeze it, or cook something up and keep it for a few days more.
In the North East, shops such as Morrisons, Greggs and Starbucks regularly offer Magic Bags, which you can pay for through the app and get given a slot before closing time to go and pick it up.
You can even get a hot meal for a bargain price if you order a bag to be picked up at various restaurants, including Toby Carveries and Farmhouse Inn pubs, or local fish and chips shops including Gill's in Ponteland or The Canny Cod in Spittal Tongues, Newcastle.
However, there is no guarantee you will get the offer you want on the day you want it, and there's no way of knowing what's in the Magic Bag until you pick it up.
And you'll have to be quick, as there are only a few boxes available every day, and they often go before lunchtime, even if they are not due for pick-up until the evening.
However, customers regularly tell of their bargains, and social media is full of people showing off the contents of the bags and what they paid for them.
Olio is another app designed to minimise food waste, with the intention of sharing surplus food among communities all across the UK.
Olio is more personal and community-based than Too Good to Go, and consumer group Which? reported that of all the apps, Olio has more community spirit.
If you have surplus food you can’t bear throwing away, simply list it on the app and someone in your area will pick it up. The scope has now increased to include second-hand non-food items and a place to sell homemade crafts or food.
Everything on the app is free, except listings in the “made” section, and you can sign up to be a local volunteer, collecting leftovers from supermarkets and distributing to the community via the app.
We found that a lot of nearby food listings were donated by Tesco, presumably listed by volunteers at the end of the day.
A third player in the food waste app space is Karma, which connects users with restaurants, cafes and shops that end the day with leftovers that they can’t sell, and would otherwise go to landfill.
Karma prioritises choice over savings, the app allows you to purchase specific food items that are going to waste and pay around half price for them at certain times.
However it doesn’t have nearly the range as Too Good To Go and choice is extremely limited if not non-existent outside of London at the moment, so isn't really a viable option for our region yet.
