How it works

The apps involve picking up perfectly good food from cafes, restaurants, bakeries and shops near you, so you have to be willing to collect it.

Too Good To Go has more than 28 million users worldwide and says it saves more than 100,000 meals each day.

Users simply register for free and can pick up “magic bags”, which contain various items from big-brand chains such as Greggs, Costa and Waitrose.

OLIO is also free to download with an optional supporter donation of £4.99 a month. It allows people to fetch food from all the usual sources, as well as from neighbours, who might be throwing away good food because they are moving home or going on holiday.

The app also includes a goodwill scheme in which you can sign up to be a volunteer, picking up food for others.

Other popular food apps include Karma, which works similarly to Too Good To Go but focuses on local outlets. The food offered on the app is sold as individual discounted meals so you know what you’re getting – handy if you’re a vegetarian or have food allergies, for example.

NoWaste also helps you manage your own food waste. The free app allows you to log your weekly shop and sets up reminders so you will know when it is going out of date.

Another app called Nosh, developed by the University of Essex, works in a similar way – as does Kitche, which has more than 1,000 recipe ideas to help you use up leftovers.