Can I reject bakery items from my collection if there are too many?
Our business partners rely on Olio to rescue as much surplus as possible, so ideally our Food Waste Heroes would take all bakery items, if they’re able to.
Because some collections can have very large quantities of bakery items, we recognise that you may not always be able to safely transport and store, or redistribute, all the bakery items in your collection. If you are concerned about the volume of bakery items at your collection, please leave what you can’t take. That said, please don’t pick through the collection and take only the bakery items you fancy - this is against our rules.
Please read our tips below on getting more requests and what to do if you're left with unsold bakery items.
If you’re regularly unable to take all the bakery items, you may want to consider giving up that slot for another Food Waste Hero who can rescue all the bakery items and prevent them from going to waste.
How to safely list bakery items?
If it's labelled (it has a name on the packaging), list it under that name.
If it's loose or unlabelled, list it as “Loose bakery items”. Never guess a name for it, as misidentifying an item could give someone the wrong allergen information.
Make sure that the requester is aware that you cannot identify a specific product. They should identify the items themselves using the information available on the allergen page.
Keep loose bakery in its original packaging or a clean bag. Don't handle or photograph it with bare hands. Ask the store to bag it for you, or use tongs or clean gloves.
Always make sure any visible Use By or Best Before date is clear in your listing photo.
It's illegal to give food away past its Use By date, so anything past its Use By date must not be shared on Olio or any other platform.
❗A note about Sainsbury’s: store colleagues at Sainsbury’s should not donate loose bakery items. If they do, please report this to us immediately. For more details on what food to expect from your Sainsbury’s collection, check out ourSainsbury’s Collection Guidance.
How long can I list bakery items for?
Most bakery is ambient food with a Best Before date, so it's about quality and judgement, not safety.
That means you can share it beyond the Best Before date as long as it still looks and smells fine, and you can keep it listed for several days rather than unlisting it at midnight of the collection day or after 24 hours.
Use the “List for” setting when adding your listing to keep it visible for as long as it's still good to share.
How to get more requests for my bakery items?
Share as early as possible and for as long as you can. Bakery items are often requested several hours, or even a day or two, after they are first listed, so don't assume that nobody wants them if they haven't been claimed within the first few hours.
Try a pre-listing so local Olio-ers know that bakery items are on its way.
Become an Olio Ambassador and/or download and hand out Olio flyers in your area. More local Olio-ers means more requests over time, so it's worth building demand ahead of your next big bakery haul.
For more information on how to get more requests, check this FAQs
What to do if you left the bakery listings active for more than a day but you still have bakery left over with no requests
Take it to a local charity or food bank (make sure you ask them if they’d like it, and never leave it outside the premises without checking). You can also encourage them to set up an Olio account and request it directly, so it's properly tracked.
If it’s not possible for them to request via the Olio app, once it's handed over, mark it as “Someone is collecting this” in My Listings, so it's recorded as shared rather than wasted.
If there aren't any local charities nearby, you can also see if your neighbours would like it - making sure to encourage them to download Olio and request it directly.
Freeze it for your own consumption. Please refer to our guidelines for freezing food
Feed it to your pets. Note there are strict UK rules on feeding pet pigs or piglets, so please read up first. Donating to local farms as animal feed is not allowed.
Turn it into something new! Check the next section for recipe ideas from the Olio community
Recipe ideas from the Food Waste Hero community
We looked at what Food Waste Heroes have been sharing on the Forum about surplus bakery. Here's what they've been making:
Croutons: cube up stale bread or rolls, toss with oil, salt and garlic granules, then air-fry or oven bake until golden and crisp. Great with soup, and keeps well in an airtight container for a few weeks.
Refreshed “fresh-baked” bread: run a solid baguette, bloomer or rolls briefly under the tap, then pop in the oven for about 10 minutes. Comes out tasting freshly baked.
Garlic bread and crostini: turn spare French sticks into cheesy garlic bread, or slice and toast for crostini.
Bread and butter pudding: a popular way to use up spare baguettes or loaves, using rescued milk too.
Puff pastry pizza: top spare puff pastries such as croissants with tomato sauce, cheese and veg for a quick, no-cost lunch.
For more inspiration: