Will smart kitchens reduce food waste?

Food waste is a major issue in many homes but going green with technology might be too expensive for sustainability. Collaborations between brands are helping to bridge the gap but, will it ever be affordable?

• Last year, appliance giant Whirlpool acquired Yummly. Now their partnership is bringing curated cooking experiences to your smart kitchen.

We have come across a lot of kitchen gadgets that cook your meat to perfection or even serve you tortillas. But, none of these devices tackles the other end – food waste. More than $1 trillion worth of food gets wasted globally every year and, if we don’t start doing something about it, this waste will only end up in landfills or combustion facilities. In a world where one in seven people do not have enough food to lead a healthy life, this is simply not acceptable. Not only is food waste bad for the environment, it also makes us spend more money on more food.

Thanks to Whirlpool, the future of smart kitchens finally seems to be working on this global issue. With their recent partnership with Yummly, the brand now encourages you to cook food based on whatever is left in the refrigerator.

What’s the Whirlpool “Kitchen of the Future”?

Whirlpool has been trying to make your kitchen surfaces more intelligent since 2015. Their aim is to make cooking easier as well as more eco-friendly at the same time. From cooktops to smart ovens to refrigerators, their kitchen of the future will help you make smarter decisions when it comes to your daily cooking habits. Their acquisition of Yummly accelerated the process this year.

As told by Masiar Tayebi, Yummly COO, “The integration with Whirlpool brand will strengthen the power of the app, allowing home cooks to seamlessly send recipes and cooking instructions straight to the appliance, getting a great result every time.”

This integration is truly ground-breaking and offers tons of benefits such as:

1. Scheduling a recipe based on the exact time your family wants to eat.
2. Image-recognition technology for identifying ingredients and suggesting relevant recipes.
3. A fully integrated cooking experience that works with connected appliances.
4. Easily adding ingredients from a recipe to your shopping list.

What really makes this collaboration stand out is the way it’s going to make you a smart cook. With the app and Whirlpool refrigerator, you can finally cook your food based on what’s left in the refrigerator. Plus, you can also tackle food waste.

Is a smart kitchen confined to the home?

Restaurants have already started to help end food waste by setting up outdoor refrigerators to feed the homeless with leftover food. Imperfect is brand that sells unattractive produce, that would be otherwise tossed, for a fraction of the price. Additionally, brands like Winnow are trying to reduce food waste in commercial kitchen spaces. In an analysis of more than 450 kitchens using Winnow, they have found that more than 70% of food waste happens before it gets to the customer. With this smart meter technology attached to a food waste bin, it will be easy to balance food waste even in commercial space.

Are any of these solutions affordable?

While all these technologies might seem like the perfect way to make your kitchen smart and eco-friendly, they are still far-fetched and surely expensive. As of now, we’d suggest you take a look at few of these affordable options to begin recycling food at home.

• FoodCycler – Eco-friendly and efficient, this device takes your food scraps and turns them into nutrient-rich soil. The FoodCycler actually reduces waste by up to 90%. Plus, the soil is perfect for your garden so you can also grow your own produce to complete the eco-friendly cycle. It’s available for $349 USD.
• Totem Intelligent Waste System – Totem is a self-contained waste and recycling unit that takes up the same amount of space as a traditional kitchen garbage bin. It’s made up of several compartments to separate any household waste. With it, you can easily separate food waste and recycle it on your own. It’s available for $224 USD.

Going green isn’t just about planting trees or cleaning up your yard. It’s also about keeping a track of your food waste. The technology is here to help us help the planet. Shouldn’t we all be jumping on this bandwagon?