5 free iPhone apps for a greener life!
Love Food Hate Waste
Did you know the average household in Scotland throws away £430 worth of food a year? That’s almost enough to buy an iPad with! So, whether you’re appalled at food waste, or just on an economy drive, the free app from the Scottish Love Food Hate Waste campaign is worth downloading (after all, it’s free!)
One of its most useful attributes is the portion planner. Handy for newbie cooks, or even for the more experienced home cook who is catering for more or fewer people than they’re used to, it helps you get measurements just right. It also offers a useful weekly meal planner and shopping list facility (planning meals by the week is a sure-fire way to avoid waste), recipe ideas and a blender. Simply pop in the ingredients you have and it will come up with some recipe ideas. We were particularly taken with the Haggis pakora recipe, but would like to see the choice of ingredients widened in the future.
3.75/5
Walk Score
If you’re set on saving the planet by living without a car and relying on Shanks’s pony, here’s one way to help you decide how walker-friendly an area is. Whether you’re planning to move home, or just heading off on holiday or for a short break, this app will help you work out how close you are to local shops, restaurants, stations, coffee shops, bars, libraries, gyms and more. Even if you’re not fussed from an eco point of view, it’s a handy way of working out how close that hotel you’re thinking of booking for a city break is to local facilities.
4/5
Good Guide
Serious eco warriors will question the credentials of every new product they purchase, which is where the Good Guide comes in. As well as listing the health, environmental and social impact of products ranging from air fresheners to toys, food stuffs and many more, a new feature allows you to scan in the barcode to get instant results. At this moment, there are more American than UK brands listed, but if your product isn’t featured, you can suggest it be added to the app. You can then build a list of your favourite products. An easy traffic light system allows you to gauge the item’s status quickly. While it offers food for thought, I can’t imagine trawling round the supermarket and scanning in every product.
3.5/5
My Water Diary
Whether you want to save water to save the planet, or save your bank balance if you have a water meter, My Water Diary is a step in the right direction. If you don’t want to see your money going – er – down the drain, keep a tab on your water usage with this neat little app. It helps you add up water usage for baths, hair washing, toilet flushes, floor mopping and lots more. It doesn’t stop there, either; accuracy is increased by an ability to rate each action – whether you gave your hair a quick rinse or had to give it a good lathering, for instance. An easy way to raise awareness of how much water you use, all done with a sense of humour thanks to quirky icons and watery sounds.
5/5
Recycling Group Finder
If you’re not familiar with Freecycle, I’ll enlighten you quickly. You’ve had a clear out – there’s a pile of photography mags, a set of shelves you no longer have room for and a couple of lamps that you had before you repainted the bedroom. You could take them to the tip – but better to advertise them on the Freeycle website and someone will come and take them off your hands. Likewise, you can put up requests for that elusive something, from a couple of spare pieces of laminate flooring for the smallest room in the house to a baby’s cot. This app allows you to use your location to identify the nearest recycling groups to you (including the equally useful Freegle and independent groups), and join from your iPhone. What could be simpler?
4/5
