CampusMeals

Inspiration

The inspiration behind Campus Meals came from our own experiences navigating the complexities of campus dining as students. We noticed how overwhelming it could be to figure out meal options, manage dining dollars, and plan around a busy schedule. Every university has its own set of dining halls, meal plans, and unique rules, making it tough to make the most out of what's available. We wanted to create a solution that takes the guesswork out of dining, saves time, and helps students focus on what really matters, whether that’s acing their classes or simply enjoying a meal without stress.

What it does

The app collects a student’s dorm location, meal plan type, dining dollars, dietary restrictions, and weekly schedule to generate a custom weekly meal plan tailored to their routine and preferences, show real-time dining dollar balance and estimate daily spending, suggest nearby dining halls and available meal options based on time of day, and provide tools to adjust preferences and plan meals more efficiently.

How we built it

We began by designing a flowchart to map out the user experience and app structure. Lovable was then used to set up the very basics of the app, which we later exported to GitHub for further development. Using Lovable’s database, we stored and managed all user data, ensuring each student had a personalized and secure experience.

Challenges we ran into

Faced challenges syncing the database and editing the app due to limited familiarity with TypeScript and React.
Time constraints increased the difficulty of development.
Collaborated to troubleshoot issues and keep the project moving forward.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Creating an interactive database that can successfully receive input as well as create accounts, including saved usernames and passwords, for users.
Created a system that allowed users to add times for different meals, either through typing the times themselves or using the implemented dropdown feature.
Created an equation that used the number of dining dollars the user has to determine the number of dining dollars they can use per day

What we learned

Learned CSS, TypeScript, and React
Developed teamwork and collaboration skills using GitHub.

What's next for CampusMeals

Use Google Maps and allow the website to be used for various schools around the country.
Allow users to implement their schedule for better recommendations of dining locations and times.
Implement the Purdue Dining Menu App for more accurate details on what food is served at every dining court and when they are open.