October 04, 2015

GREEN APP REVIEW: HANDPICK

Did you know that most of us make nearly double the amount of food that we eat and throw roughly 25 percent of it away in the end and that 20 percent of all groceries bought end up in the trash before they're consumed?

Food waste truly is a staggering problem, but it's easy to understand why it happens. So often, you end up with just a little bit of something left, and it's hard to know what to do with it. It's hard to find recipes for one random food or leftover, and as a result, whatever it is sits there until it's no longer good.

But an app called Handpick might change that! With Handpick, you can search through a list of 10,000 ingredients and find out what foods pair well with it. You can also search for recipes from more than 10 million online blogs and recipe websites with the touch of a button. This way, you
can figure out what to do with that extra half of an avocado or leftover rice from your takeout.

Here are some facts about the app based on my test drive:

- The app is very intuitive and easy to use. I managed to find recipes for one dozen different items within just a few minutes.

- You can find ideas for every meal of the day, and there are plenty of paleo, gluten free, vegan and low calorie recipes.

- The recipes include everything from meals you can make for under $10 to fancy ones you can make for special occasions.

- In addition to its food finder, Handpick lets you post your own recipes and follow other users' recipes.

- There is a store built into the app for buying boxes of ingredients with themed recipes that can be shipped to California. The store is unobtrusive. You don't have to mess with it if you don't want to.

All in all, I'd give Handpick a 10/10 as a green app for reducing food waste. The app is free and available for devices with iOS 7.0 and later or Android 4.0.3 and up.

Download it, give it a try and let us know what you think in the Comments section.