Our Story
Mumpreneur invents App-enabled container to reduce wasted food
Our story; It’s a tale as old as time, your freezer is stocked, but you cannot remember what you stored in that container…or when you even stored that food… so you throw it out. To keep from throwing out any more food, you begin to use a sticky note, other times you can use a marker and hope the date doesn’t get scratched off. You think you have a process, until you realize that even that new process isn’t quite effective.
As the founder of Smartfreeze containers, I know this issue quite well. So well, in fact, that I decided I was going to change this tale for myself and others. After brainstorming different options, the idea of Smartfreeze was born. I witnessed the cycle occur with my own mother as I watched her prepare meals for the family while juggling a busy work schedule only to fall into the same trap. At a young age, I noticed all the time my mum spent preparing food, and the constant struggle of what to do with the leftovers. I decided I would be better about this and spend my time cooking more efficiently; however, once I returned to full time work after maternity leave, the struggle seemed inevitable.
An idea was born
I felt a pressure to feed my family nutritious meals, and the consciousness to reduce waste and save leftovers was already instilled in me thanks to my mum. Planning ahead, I would spend my time off on weekends, cooking meals to store in the freezer to help alleviate the week’s craziness.
The idea was to prepare food ahead of time so that my partner could heat it up for the family as I came home from work. In reality, this process turned into phone calls from my partner asking about what meals we had. I am self-admittedly not very organised so I know whilst some people have everything labelled and meals made a month in advance, I cooked for the prior week and still couldn’t remember what I had prepared.
After stating that I couldn’t remember, my partner would be left rummaging through plastic tubs in the freezer that looked unappetising and questionable at best – so in the bin they went! In March of 2020, when much of the world was turned upside down, my life-changed, and it wasn’t COVID related. It was a rainy day, and I was coming home from work and my partner asked me, “what are we having for dinner?” Except this time, instead of being frustrated, I felt excited. I had this idea and wanted to come up with something that was durable, versatile, safe, and heat resistant, but also smart and didn’t rely on sticky labels or anything single use. So, on this rainy day in March 2020, Smartfreeze was born! This is our story!
