About LunchScraps

LunchScraps is an independent website built around six free tools for wasting less food and getting more out of the kitchen. Everything here runs in your browser, needs no sign-up, and is free to use. The clearest way to explain what this site is, is to walk through the tools themselves and the everyday problem each one is meant to solve.

Balancing a compost pile

The Compost Calculatorexists because the most common reason a pile fails is the wrong mix of greens and browns. You tell it what you’re adding, it applies a documented carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) constant to each material, and it tells you whether your blend lands in the widely cited ideal range of about 25–30:1 — and roughly how much more of one thing to add if it doesn’t. Instead of guessing why a pile is slimy or bone-dry, you get a number you can act on.

Seeing what waste actually costs

Most of us underestimate how much food we throw out. The Food Waste Calculatortakes a rough weekly figure and projects it out to an annual weight, a cost, and a CO₂e footprint using a documented emissions factor — then shows what cutting that waste would save. It’s meant to turn a vague “we waste too much” into a concrete number worth changing.

Using what you already have

Two tools tackle the food that’s already in your kitchen. The Leftover Recipe Generatorlets you tap the leftovers on hand and suggests dishes to make from them — fried rice, panzanella, banana bread, a frittata, and more. It works from a hand-curated rules table, with no AI and no network call, so the same ingredients always return the same honest set of ideas. The Kitchen Inventory Trackerlets you log pantry and fridge items with expiry dates and gives you a live “use first” list sorted by date, flagging what’s within three days of expiring and anything already past it. Your list is saved privately in your own browser — it never leaves your device.

Planning and shopping smarter

The last two tools help before the food ever reaches the bin. The Seasonal Produce Guideasks for a month and hemisphere and shows which fruits and vegetables are naturally in season, so you can plan around produce that’s fresher, usually cheaper, and lower-carbon. The Meal Prep Plannertakes your days, meals, and servings and returns total portions, how many storage containers to prep, and a scaled shopping-quantity breakdown — so you batch-cook the right amount rather than over-shopping and tossing the surplus.

Guides and a museum to go deeper

Alongside the tools, our blog and learn guides cover composting and soil, food-waste reduction, meal planning and prep, food preservation and storage, and seasonal eating. For a change of pace, the Museum of Food & Sustainabilityis a browsable set of galleries on compost and the living soil, the harvest that feeds us, the craft of preserving food, and the challenge of waste and the planet — where every entry, image, and fact is drawn from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

The honest scope

LunchScraps is an independent resource supported by advertising. That keeps the tools free, and it means we have nothing to sell you. The calculators and guides use established composting and food-waste conventions and documented, indicative constants — typical C:N ratios and emissions factors — so every result is an estimate based on the figures you enter, not a precise measurement of your own kitchen. This is general informational and educational content, not food-safety or professional advice; always follow local food-safety guidance for storage, preservation, and expiry, and use your own judgment before eating, preserving, or discarding food. LunchScraps is not affiliated with any brand, standards body, or authority it references.

Have a correction, a question, or an idea for a tool? Get in touch— we read everything.