For this month’s Spotlight on, I asked Sam Hearn to write a guest blog post about his new-to-market product, Shake n’ Store. Shake n’ Store is a really simple idea that has great potential for reducing your food waste and saving you money.

What is Shake n’ Store?

Shake n’ Store is a way of helping people store their food and reduce food waste. It’s a clear upright food container, ridged at the top to fit the three most common sizes of tin cans, and its got a lid that can be twisted to mark the day of the week on which the leftovers are stored.

To use it, you place the Shake n’ Store on top of the can, turn it over and give it a good shake (no need for cutlery to get the food out). Mark the day of the week and store it in the fridge.

Whilst I keep mentioning tinned food, that’s not all you can use it for. I’ve used it to store anything and everything; from anchovies, mozzarella balls to dog food (I’ve allocated my dog her own Shake n’ Store!).

Who’s behind Shake n’ Store?

I’m a Bristol based dad of two young kids and both my wife and I do a lot of cooking at home. Now I’m not saying Shake n’ Store is just for parents, but our kids pretty much need feeding constantly and, because of the sometimes random sizes of portions, we end up with lots of leftover food in the fridge. We can’t always remember when it was put there and end up throwing it away. I couldn’t help but think about the vast amount of food that must be wasted by others like us doing the same thing.

The Shake n’ Store was actually conceived in a real lightbulb moment. I was cooking a midnight snack with my wife and after I used some of the food, I instinctively grabbed a plastic cup, put it on the top and turned it over to shake the food into it.

My wife looked at me and said, “ What did you just do? That’s great! ”, and it started to develop from there.

It started as just a cup shape but whilst in development we realised tins came in standard sizes e.g. a small soup is the same as a tin of sweetcorn, and a tin of tuna is the same as a large tin of tomatoes. We then found that by creating three stepped ridges in the cup we could place the Shake n’ Store securely on the tins, turn it over, and the food cleanly passed from the tin through to the cup. If you had some tricky/sticky food you just shake it a little.

Being able to date the food was a great development and meant we were not just effectively storing it but now we were potentially saving it.

All through production I’ve been longing for this product to be ready because I was regularly wanting to use it. Since it’s arrival, we’ve got a few positioned on the inside aisle of the fridge. We can straight away see what’s in there and we can quickly check what day it was added, so it’s easier for us to use, and we’ve inevitably thrown less food away. Success!

What makes it great?

Sustainability and caring for our planet has always been important to both my business and to our family. We try very hard not to waste anything and are intensely aware of the growing problems our world faces at the hands of such vast numbers of human consumers. I would definitely far prefer to be part of the solution than part of the problem.

Whilst looking into food waste, I found that every year in the UK alone we throw away 7 million tonnes of food and drink waste, half of which is perfectly edible. Wasting this food costs the average household £470 per year. A family wastes up to £700 per year…that’s £60 per month, and a huge waste of good food and hard-earned money.

Source: WRAP

That’s a lot of food waste! There are many articles on the internet on ways to reduce the food away you throw away, and I think many of us do try. If we continue to do our little bit, we’re all saving money and in the long run, we’re helping the environment.

The Shake n’ Store is a simple and clever little product that helps you do just that.

How can you support Shake n’ Store?

Currently the Shake n’ Store is available to buy from Amazon in packs of one and three.

We’re aiming to get it in a UK retailer soon and are working with our distributor to secure UK and US deals.