TikTok user shares massive free Pret haul from food waste app
A TikTok user has shared a video of a massive free haul of Pret A Manger food she received that was about to be thrown out.
Lara Oztekin is the latest person to post food items on the social network that she had managed to save before companies disposed of them.
As part of the trend, she showed items she picked up from Pret that she later handed out via the food sharing app Olio.
The app connects neighbours to give away unwanted food and other items that may otherwise end up in a landfill.
Read more: Food banks ‘deeply concerned’ about donations drying up in winter
Lara titled the TikTok video “My free Olio pick up from today… in slight shock. So glad this didn’t go to waste.”
In the clip, she says: “I’ve been seeing people post their Olio pickups and I just want to share mine.”
She then showed the massive haul of products, including sandwiches, yoghurts, cookies and croissants.
She added: “I think I may have won. This is just an insane amount of food."
Watch: Amount of food wasted by UK households revealed as charity warns 'things going into bins that could be going into bellies'
Laura said she had distributed the food to friends, neighbours and locals by the evening.
Olio co-founder and CEO Tessa Clarke was inspired to build the app in the UK six years ago after struggling to find anyone to take unwanted food from her fridge when she was moving house.
Users of the free app upload a photo and description, plus details about where and when to collect it.
Others can then request these by searching or browsing through the listings, where they will see what’s available nearby.
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Olio works with companies, including Pret A Manger and Tesco, to collect unwanted food which volunteers then distribute via the app.
The Olio or Too Good to Go challenge has swept TikTok with people posting free food items they have received.
Too Good To Go is a similar app which connects people with restaurants and stores so they can buy unsold food.
It comes as The Trussell Trust, the UK's leading food bank, warned that the cost of living crisis is leading to fewer people donating supplies.
Read more: UK living standards fall at record rate as inflation soars
British shoppers are having their budgets squeezed due to soaring food prices amid record inflation.
Official data showed consumer prices index (CPI) inflation rose to 9.4% in June – the highest in 40 years – heaping further pain on households as the cost of living crisis intensified.
It was driven by rocketing fuel and food prices, with the cost of food and non-alcoholic drink rising by 9.8% in the year to June 2022 – the highest rate since March 2009, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Grocery prices lifted 1.2% month on month in June, which follows similar increases in April and May as higher cost pressures and the impact of the Ukraine war filter down to the supermarket shelves.
