Food’s Expensive – Flashfood Wants to Change That

If you buy groceries, you’ve clearly noticed prices have gone up a lot over the past four years.

A Toronto, Canada-based startup, Flashfood, is working on cutting those prices. And they’re helping to solve another important problem, too.

A large amount of food in various stages of the USA’s food system goes to waste. As high as 30 to 40% overall, as estimated by the US Department of Agriculture and 27% per ReFED. Even at grocery retailers, which diligently work to reduce waste, a portion of their unsold food is tossed into landfills or is otherwise untracked.

Flashfood partners with grocery stores to intercept some of their food items, such as perishable items approaching expiration, before they go unsold. Via their mobile app, they offer them for sale at deep discounts from regular retail prices, often 50% off. What’s available varies day by day; depending on your local markets, you might find meat, fish, and dairy; deli items like sandwiches and salads; and various packaged goods. Their most popular items are large boxes of mixed vegetables and fruit which are surplus or imperfect, currently sold for $5 per box.

Signing up with Flashfood is free, as is their mobile app. You can find out here if their service is available at a market near you. (And be sure to look for a bonus coupon that can be applied to your first order, as well.)