Back To The Fridge

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Back To The Fridge - Main Page
The Warning
The Mission
The Boost

Inspiration

Food waste is a serious environmental issue, causing significant harm to both the environment and agriculture. Ultimately, it comes back to affect us through the food we consume. "Back To The Fridge" was inspired by a playful parody of "Back To The Future" to spark interest while also raising awareness about the critical issue of future food waste. This project focuses on practical, immediate actions we can take today to make a difference. By helping users find recipes for soon-to-expire items in their fridge, the site turns potential waste into delicious meals, reducing food waste, and promoting healthier eating. This motivation drove us to create a website that not only tackles food waste but also helps users stay healthy.

What it does

The "Back to the Fridge" website guides users through three interactive stages:

1. The Warning: This stage calculates users cumulative food waste, generating a "food waste receipt" and estimating its environmental impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, land use, and energy consumption. This helps users understand the seriousness of food waste based on their own habits. Additionally, by using the "Time Machine" button, users can receive a future newspaper called “The FoodTure Times”, highlighting the effects of food waste, offering a fun yet eye-opening way to raise awareness about this pressing issue.

2. The Mission: Before food waste occurs, the site helps users identify items in their fridge that are close to expiring. It includes a search engine that links to recipe pages, suggesting meals based on those ingredients. This allows them to turn potential food waste into delicious dishes, helping reduce waste in a tasty and practical way.

3. The Boost: The platform goes a step further by analyzing the nutritional content of the ingredients users choose, boosting healthier eating habits. Simply enter ingredients to receive detailed nutritional information, ensuring that your meals not only reduce waste but also boost your health.

How we built it

We developed the website using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create its structure and design. To enrich the user experience, we integrated the Gemini and Edamam APIs, adding advanced functionality and a range of useful features.

Challenges we ran into

Although we were familiar with web development, integrating and effectively using multiple APIs presented a significant challenge. This required more time and effort than expected, pushing us to expand our technical skills.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re especially proud of bringing the unique concept of "Back To The Fridge". The combination of a vibrant, intuitive, and futuristic design with practical features highlights our creativity and the dedication we put into the project.

What we learned

This project not only enhanced our technical expertise but also reinforced the value of teamwork. Collaborating efficiently was key to building a functional and user-friendly website.

What's next for Back To The Fridge

Looking ahead, we plan to further refine the user interface and continue adding features that make reducing food waste engaging and accessible. Our ultimate goal is to launch the website as a fully developed platform to help combat food waste on a larger scale.