FridgeBuddy

FridgeBuddy helps you track groceries, reduce food waste, and plan meals effortlessly. Log your haul, get automatic expiry reminders, and make the most of your food—saving time, money, and the planet.

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Inspiration

As students, we know how expensive groceries are, and wasting food feels like throwing money away. But it still happens—you buy fresh produce with good intentions, forget about it for a few days, and suddenly it’s gone bad. It’s frustrating, and we’re not alone. One third of all food produced each year is wasted, draining resources and deepening food insecurity. That’s why we created FridgeBuddy—a simple, smart tool to help people track their groceries, reduce waste, and make the most of their food, while making food education more accessible for everyone.

What it does

FridgeBuddy is a smart web app that helps users track groceries, reduce waste, and plan meals efficiently.

Features:

  • Quickly log items in your fridge
  • Scan groceries using image recognition to log items quickly.
  • Receive expiry reminders to avoid forgotten food.
  • Get smart storage tips to extend shelf life.
  • Find recipe ideas based on what’s in your fridge.
  • Learn how to use food at different stages (e.g., freeze ripening fruit, use stale bread for croutons).

By making food management simple, FridgeBuddy helps users save money, time, and the planet.

How We Built It

We started by sketching mock-ups of our web pages and outlining the user flow and database structures. Drawing inspiration from existing cooking and sustainability websites, we designed a solution that seamlessly integrates food waste reduction strategies into a user-friendly platform.

Our development process included:

  • Building the frontend for an intuitive and accessible user experience.
  • Designing the backend to track groceries, expiry dates, and user preferences.
  • Interfacing with APIs to retrieve expiration guidelines and storage tips.
  • Integrating Gumloop to streamline data extraction from grocery lists.

Challenges We Ran Into

  • Interfacing with APIs to retrieve accurate expiration data for various food items.
  • Integrating Gumloop into an existing framework while ensuring smooth automation.
  • Balancing functionality and simplicity to create a tool that’s both powerful and easy to use.
  • Time constraints—developing a fully functional prototype under a tight deadline.

Accomplishments That We're Proud Of

  • Learning Flask and successfully implementing it in our project.
  • Finishing our first hackathon with a functioning web-app
  • Addressing an important social and environmental issue that we genuinely care about.

What We Learned

  • How to manipulate databases to efficiently store and manage user-inputted grocery data.
  • Flask development, including routing, database handling, and server-side logic.
  • The complexities of API integration and real-world data retrieval.
  • The impact of food waste and how technology can help mitigate it.

What's Next for FridgeBuddy

  • A calendar function to provide a clear view of upcoming expirations.
  • AI-powered meal planning based on available ingredients and user preferences.
  • Smart grocery recommendations to reduce over-purchasing and waste.
  • Mobile app integration for on-the-go grocery tracking.
  • Community features to share meal ideas and sustainable food habits.
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