Free food & household goods

budgie2

I discovered a free app called Olio a few weeks ago and think it's brilliant, I have already had quite a few free meals through it. I am not sure if it's a registered charity but it's definitely non-profit. So I hope it's okay to post on here about it, I have been going round telling everyone! :rotfl: I have found it a wonderful source of freebies.

The idea is to prevent food waste and also bring the community together: you post any spare food you have, basically. They also have volunteers who pick up fresh food from shops, bakeries, delis etc and put it on the app. It's all good to eat (I have had several loaves of bread that were baked that same day) but not good enough to be kept and sold the next day/week. The other great thing is that (in my area at least) it's high end stuff, artisan handmade etc etc.

When you open the app it shows you all the food (and other stuff) on offer near you and you can request and go and collect whatever you want. It is really easy to use, I think I am making it sound more complicated than it is!

I thought other Moneysavers might find it useful. It has certainly saved me money already. By the way - the non-food bit of the app is a bit like Freecycle but without all the zillions of emails! :T

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Official MoneySavingExpert insert Tue 12 Mar: Olio is a free food and drink sharing app – instead of throwing away surplus food, drink and sometimes household items, people sign up to Olio and offer it to their local community. When you see something you like, request it via the app and message to arrange pick-up. The app’s available for Apple iOS and Google Play for Android.

We’ve covered the Olio app before – see ‘Eat neighbours’ food for free – would you dare?’ for more information on how the app works.

Big thanks to budgie2 for the spot!
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Ladykernow

I really want to do the food waste hero for it to build it up in my area.
My area doesn't seem to have much going on with OLIO, so i've found it really hard to find any food. Glad to hear you've found it really useful!

budgie2

Really sorry to hear there is not more on offer near you! You could always ask them for some posters and leaflets to try and spread the word? It has been such a boon for me, I hope it will be for you too. 😊

asajj

That's a great idea

Wizard_of_Id

Great idea but I don't have a device that the app would work on

What devices does OLIO work on?

OLIO requires at least iOS 7.0 or Android 4.0 and upwards. OLIO is supported by the iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini and is optimised for the iPhone 5 and higher. We do not recommend using OLIO on the iPod Touch. At the moment we don’t have a Windows app or desktop version, but we will be launching a desktop version in 2017.

Brynsam

Seems to be heavily focused in a small area - and operating part of their site in a way which is similar to Freecycle confuses the issue. I stopped using it because I couldn't work out what they were trying to be and there was nothing at all local to me. The original idea was great and I hope it heads back in that direction, but it seems a shame they can't somehow link up with Freecycle to the benefit of everyone (but it's always easy for outsiders like me to criticise without knowing the reasons!).