FoodFairy

Home Page!
Add an Item
View My Fridge(peep the notif!)
User Dashboard
Food Archive(view by clicking Total Items Tracked on dashboard)
Feature Highlights and Future Directions!

Inspiration💡

Food goes bad. A lot.

Whether it’s forgetfulness, poor coordination, or miscommunication between roommates, we've all had moments where good food quietly expired at the back of the fridge. I've seen friends suffer through this - and, admittedly, been a culprit myself.

I wanted to build something light and intuitive that helps reduce food waste while making shared living smoother and even fun!🧚

What it does 🎇

FoodFairy is a magical fridge companion designed to track, share, and reduce food waste in communal living spaces like dorms, shared apartments, or even households.

It offers:

Easy logging of fridge items
Expiration tracking with visual & toast alerts
A "request" system for items not offered
An offer-to-group system for sharing food
A personal dashboard tracking usage habits
Light community stats like your “food bestie”
Multi-user mock support (with Auth0 planned!)
Live deployment with real-time database integration

How it was built 🛠️

Next.js (frontend & API routes)
MongoDB Atlas (database)
TailwindCSS (styling)
React Hot Toast (notifications)
Vercel (deployment)
Auth0 (planned authentication)

Learned 🧠

Handling shared data logic in multi-user environments
Balancing frontend interactivity with backend simplicity
Debouncing, toast notifications, and state-driven UX
Connecting MongoDB with serverless functions
GitHub-based auto-deploys with Vercel

Challenges ! 😱

Managing state across users (without real auth at first)
Making sure data updates reflected across pages
Deploying with Cloudflare... and then switching to Vercel 😅
Making UI intuitive without cluttering the experience

Proud Accomplishments 💯

This was the first project I’ve ever completed from start to finish, entirely on my own. I started with barely any experience in full-stack web development, and along the way, I learned so much - not just about code, but about pushing through challenges and staying accountable to something I truly believed in.

I can’t wait to show my family and friends what I built and use it for myself! I hope it makes their lives a little easier and their days a little brighter :D