Zu gut für die Tonne! review
A free recipe app focused on turning leftovers into meals and tracking food waste.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Zu gut für die Tonne! is a free recipe app from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (BMLEH), aimed at cooks who want to use ingredients already on hand and reduce household food waste. Available on the web, iOS, and Android, it centers discovery on entering up to three leftover ingredients, with dietary preference settings to narrow results. Its library contains about 800 leftover-focused recipes, making it a practical fit for solo cooks and households looking for ideas from what is already in the kitchen rather than a general-purpose recipe collection.
Cooking support extends beyond finding a match. Recipes include step-by-step instructions and preparation times, while substitution suggestions and a portion calculator help adapt a dish to available ingredients and the number of servings needed. Food-storage and shelf-life tips make the app relevant before cooking as well: users can check how to keep ingredients and reduce the chance they go unused. The emphasis is on guided, ingredient-conscious cooking, not a broader workflow for collecting recipes or organizing a week of meals.
A kitchen diary lets users record household food waste and follow progress toward reducing it, tying the app’s tracking feature to its leftover-recipe focus. That makes it particularly suited to people who want both meal ideas and a way to pay attention to discarded food. Cooks seeking recipe imports, meal planning, or grocery lists should look for an alternative that explicitly includes those workflows; Zu gut für die Tonne! is most compelling for leftover discovery, cooking guidance, and waste awareness.
Zu gut für die Tonne! pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Find recipes with up to three leftover ingredients and dietary filters
- Guided instructions, substitutions, and portion adjustment support cooking
- Kitchen diary tracks household food waste alongside storage and shelf-life tips
- Where it doesn't
- Focused on leftover recipes rather than broad recipe discovery
- Recipe imports, meal planning, and grocery lists are not part of its stated feature set
- The kitchen diary requires users to record household food waste
Zu gut für die Tonne! fact sheet, pricing and score →
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