Food Costs - OLIO is just brilliant

Pollycat

Charlie680 said:

I'm a working person on a medium salary and was doing OK but I'm single so I always do a little extra work for holidays and my social life  All good until these cost of living rises!! So like the rest of the nation I am looking at ways of saving money.  
I think a lot of people in my position are not going to get much help from the government so we have to help ourselves. Olio has been just brilliant :-) I go on and ask for a few things - sometimes they are gone as you have to be quick but often I get maybe half a dozen items. Many are fresh and have to be eaten in a day or two but some are fine to freeze.
Also if I have a few yogurts for example and I will never eat 6 in two days I give some to my neighbours (who love it) so its a win/win.  I am helping myself to still eat nice food and my neighbours too. Also the people that volunteer are just lovely.  
A tip/hint is sometimes the fruit or veg has to be eaten really quickly but part boil and freeze - I have made some lovely soups/crumbles.  Yes it does require going out when its dark and a bit rainy to pick up and maybe cooking some things quickly but I reckon I save about £60-£70 a month and I know my neighbours save a few pounds too.
What is not to like - go on you know you want to :-) xx

We are pensioners on state and occupational pensions.
To me, there are people in far greater need of help than us so I wouldn't try to take that away from them by saving on my grocery bills.

I can't donate any unused food because I don't have any.
Everything is used up in our house.
Even a few wizened mushrooms will make soup.

All my unwanted clothing, books and bric-a-brac goes to my local Hospice.

shykins

Pollycat Olio is not about need its about stopping food waste, therefore if you dont ask for something thats available it may well get wasted if no one else has asked for it

Pollycat

shykins said:

Pollycat Olio is not about need its about stopping food waste, therefore if you dont ask for something thats available it may well get wasted if no one else has asked for it

I plan my menus to use up everything I'll buy.
I buy stuff that I know I'll use.
I stopped my own food waste many years ago.
For example, I have odd bits of blanched veg (cauli, romanesco, sprouts, carrots, cabbage) in my freezer that was not used.
It makes a good, cheap meal with a few new potatoes and some belly pork.
Or a very nice topping for shepherds pie mixed with mash.
It would be pointless asking for something that I won't use or that I'll just stick in my freezer (e.g. bread) that will take up valuable room for my batch cooking.

Olio is not for me.
The 2 nearest places are 5 miles and 7 miles away.
There's nothing at all in the furthest away and a pack of 6 cobs in the nearest.
I'm not going to travel 10 miles to pick up 6 cobs.
It just doesn't make sense.

CJRyder

Around here Olio seems to be more like Freecycle with a couple of food collection people. Bread and pastries seem to be the most common foods posted. I am not a fan of the constant notifications though. 

elsien

You can change notification frequency or switch it off completely. 

CJRyder

I already have! It's the "volunteer for us" and "you haven't listed anything yet!" ones that were annoying me the most. I mean I have only just joined, give me a chance!

Indout96

Just joined up on the app, will have a look on the days I'm not at work. looks to be a few within a couple of miles from us (everything gone now except some carrots so need to look earlier hence no good whilst at work)

Wednesday2000

I joined Olio a few days ago after reading this and looked on the non-food section and there was a free TV with a stand on there locally to me. It had to picked up before 9pm that night but we don't drive. Somebody snagged it pretty quickly.

Foofoopuppy

I have to agree with the original poster for us - we have found olio really helpful to supplement our food shop which has increased a lot recently. I've always been a yellow sticker shopper, and often plan what we eat around what is reduced so getting on olio has been much the same.

We don't request for more than we can eat, and usually request once or twice a week, so we aren't taking food constantly. I've also noticed that quite often when we go to pick food up they have some that hasn't been requested and they often offer us additional food over what we requested, so I don't feel I am taking food that others who are more needy would. 

shykins

Glad others are finding it useful,  I really like that volunteering for Olio is helping with food waste as well as helping people 

Some of  my collectors are reluctant to ask for more than a couple of things but I tell them) I  ensure it’s shared fairly and will offer more than one if I have it .   We usually have a fair amount of bread but today I offered everything from Tortilla wraps to Spinach and grapes as well as some frozen lollies lol