Money-saving and climate action goes hand in hand

Did you know the average household throws away £60 worth of good food away every month? 

The cost of living is a growing concern for many Manchester residents. To help support residents, we designed and created an interactive installation that used everyone’s love for delicious food to share savvy tips on how to make food last longer, and save money and energy in the kitchen. 

Using Sow the City’s Carbon Supermarket as inspiration, our “Ready, Steady, Save” installation has an interactive kitchen with games to help people understand the best way to store food, and simple tips to save energy whilst cooking. It also has a supermarket section to help shoppers identify seasonal fruit and veg, the difference between best before and use-by dates, and simple swaps to save money by switching to plant-based meals. 

The installation was showcased at the Manchester Flower Show where we spoke to over 2,000 people across the Jubilee bank holiday weekend. 

• The installation sparked and invited conversation around tips and tricks the public already take at home to save money, food and energy, as well as learn about other steps they can take. 

• People learned about climate-related actions, such as energy saving, seasonal food choices, cooking, and storage. Many were inspired to take action in their daily life. 

• The interactive elements and bright colours meant that people were immediately drawn to it, and there was a lot of appeal for both kids and adults.