Food Next Door

Inspiration

When shopping for produce or exploring new foods, we found that the bulk packaging for many groceries kept us from trying new things. We have also seen a lot of food waste in the dining halls in college and want to minimize the amount of food we throw away; in fact, ~40% of the entire US food supply goes to waste, resulting in wasted resources and increased environmental damage. Combining these two issues, we sought to minimize food waste while maximizing exploration and generosity in communities. Food Next Door is an app where neighbors can share what they love with people that they love -- for free! Bonding communities over a shared love for food, Food Next Door offers a convenient space for people to help each other out in practical ways.

What it does

Build community, minimize food waste, budget smartly.

How we built it

Using Adobe XD, we drafted the wireframes for the front end of the Food Next Door app.

Challenges we ran into

Our team do not have much coding experience, so we had to develop a new approach to demonstrate what our app does, as well as learn how to efficiently navigate Adobe XD to produce what we envisioned. In terms of Food Next Door, things we considered but weren't able to address in the given time frame included: the sanitation of the food and safety of interactions, especially during COVID; the security liabilities of those both participating in giving and receiving. We are considering a vetting system for those joining the community.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of generating an idea that can benefit communities, following through with our plan, and sticking to our original mission. Additionally, producing a unique end product that matched our vision and values was extremely rewarding.

What we learned

We learned the difficulties of thinking through both the user and developer's sides of producing an app. We also recognized the value of collaborating with others to have others help keep partners accountable for their work.

What's next for Food Next Door

Using our front-end design for Food Next Door, we strive to develop the back-end program for the app to provide this meaningful experience of sharing with neighbors. We also envision expanding the app's features to allow users to share more of what they love such as recipes or gardens, as well as to include local businesses in our communities and optional delivering services.