My main inspiration for this idea came from these four concepts:
Love Food Hate Waste is a scheme created by the organisation WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) to help prevent people from wasting food in their own homes, as well as to encourage saving money by providing advice on how to buy only what’s necessary for a meal. They have a free app which provides a section for recipes (both suggested and personalised), portion sizes, meal planner, kitchen content information and shopping list. Although it can be assumed that this is a simple and effective way of saving food and money, it is not always easy to use and can be time consuming if a user has to list every ingredient (including weight) in their kitchen. The user interface and design however is clear, legible and not difficult to use, so I will likely be using a similar principle in my own idea.
Bisto’s Spare Chair Sunday does not necessarily aim to prevent food from being wasted, but it does strive to help combat loneliness within communities, especially among the elderly. It encourages those with extra space and food in their homes to invite an elderly person over for Sunday dinner, therefore helping to improve the lives of those who may not socialise regularly. Although there is nothing media related (apart from information on their website) it has provided some form of inspiration which I can use in my own project.
FoodLoop is an app created by a German citizen with the aim to stop good food from being thrown away by major supermarket chains. It gives users information on the expiry date of food products, which they can scan with their smartphone to check the price whilst in the store. As this food is close to its expiry date it is discounted, therefore saving people money who are able to use the ingredients within a day or so. Its alerts work on a real-time basis, which is a key concept that I could also use.
FoodCycle is a charity based in major cities around the UK which serves surplus food from restaurants to those who are not able to afford decent meals. It aims to use the leftover food for these meals so that it feeds the hungry instead of being dumped on landfill. It heavily relies on a volunteering system which is run through their website, but there is no evidence of any other key digital media aspects being intertwined. I was wary at first of going forward with my idea as I felt that this was too similar a concept, however after doing some brief research I discovered that the charity only has locations based in major cities, not local areas. My idea would differ from this in the way that it would encourage those who are living in smaller areas (and can therefore be used across a wider range of places). It would also be accessible to users 24/7 at any time and place, rather than solely relying on telephone and broadband connections.
The next step is to begin doing some research into how the project will function and what elements need to be included in order for it to be successful.