The latest bid to try to encourage people to buy into and pay more for a connected fridge freezer has been unveiled by Bosch, a fridge that takes a selfie of it’s insides.

Okay so the theory goes that we all chuck out loads of stuff we don’t use and that taking a pic from inside your fridge while you’re out doing the shopping will help you to avoid buying stuff you don’t need. Get it, with us so far?

So Bosch have come up with this as a part of their Home Connect suite that lets you appliances (so long as they’re all Bosch and have the functionality of course) talk to you or whatever via a phone app.

  Wasted Food Problem

Now research by Sainsbury’s is saying that a quarter of households waste £235 worth of food every year due to buying products they already have in the fridge. Annually, this amounts to a staggering waste bill of £1.5bn for households in the UK.

We all kinda knew that already, it’s been in the news plenty of times.

Sainsbury’s research says that fruit and veg are the most overbought items with 38% and 35% of shoppers regularly stocking up on more than they need. Milk, cheese and eggs complete the top five products that are most frequently over-bought.

Great, we knew that too. Thing is, there’s a bunch of that stuff which shouldn’t be in the fridge in the first place so, how does a camera in the fridge help you?

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said that; “With our focus on finding innovative solutions we have teamed up with Bosch to trial their unique camera fridge which will give shoppers an instant view of the contents of their fridge whilst shopping – triggering a reminder to prevent buying more than they need”

Or we suspect, to trigger reminders to help you spend more in Sainsbury’s or earn more Nectar points, whatever.

We think that the research also has highlighted that in a bid to avoid buying stuff they don’t need that 70% of Britons have tried to adopt the habit of checking the fridge before a food shop.

However, despite that apparently over 40% admit that they end up forgetting what they need by the time they get to the shop. Mhm, guilty, maybe but nobody can prove it!

They also say that people end up buying top-up products on their way home from work without checking their fridge first, which often leads to duplication. There again, it’s kinda hard to check the fridge when you’re commuting so we suppose this offers some validation to this idea.

  The Selfie Solution

In what is being billed as UK first, Bosch has launched a new fridge that uses cameras to snap the contents of shelves and the door. A picture is uploaded to the the owner’s smartphone on Bosch’s Home Connect app to view as they trawl round the supermarket.

Paul Crewe, Head of Sustainability at Sainsbury’s said: “Our customers tell us that despite best intentions, they often find it difficult to remember what is in their fridge which can lead to them over-buying. With 4.2million tonnes of food wasted each year in the UK we’re on a mission to help households plan their shopping better and reduce the amount of food they throw away.

“With our focus on finding innovative solutions we have teamed up with Bosch to trial their unique camera fridge which will give shoppers an instant view of the contents of their fridge whilst shopping – triggering a reminder to prevent buying more than they need.”

Charlotte Moran, Group Marketing Manager for Bosch said: “The Bosch fridge is very versatile when it comes to assisting with our hectic daily lives, and with the latest camera technology it can help save on overbuying – which is why we’ve partnered with Sainsbury’s on its Waste less, Save more initiative.

“Not only does the fridge take pictures which link up with our Home Connect app, you can also control the temperature of the fridge and freezer remotely. Our VitaFresh technology will also enable you to keep food up to three times longer. Little things like stacking your fridge properly can be a huge benefit!”

  The Bad News

We read this and thought we’d see what fridge freezer models we could find with this amazing new whizz tech on it after the big announcement and, well we were left a bit flat on it after all that build up.

One model.

An American style fridge freezer, quite possibly another one made for Bosch by Daewoo.

Yes, the American style Bosch’s have been made by Daewoo as Bosch so far haven’t made any side by sides that we know of, vorsrung dorch technik we don’t think.

Anyway, the model with the oh so catchy name that has this feature on it is the KAD92AI30, a hulking big stainless coloured US side by side with a hulking great price somewhere North of £1800!

We’re guessing that not too many people will be rushing out to buy one.