FridgIT

• 

  Main Page

Inspiration

Our inspiration for FridgIT stemmed from the issue of food waste, which is a common problem for many households. We wanted to create an app that helps users keep track of their groceries' expiration dates to ensure they consume them before they go bad, saving money and reducing waste.

What it does

• Expiration Tracking: Easily input or scan food items to monitor their freshness.
• Notifications: Get alerts 2-3 days before items expire, ensuring you use them in time.
• Recipe Suggestions: Receive basic recipe ideas based on soon-to-expire ingredients to minimize waste.

How we built it

We built FridgIT as a web application using Python and Flask for the backend, and integrated the Spoonacular API to fetch recipe suggestions based on the ingredients that are nearing expiration. The app was designed to allow both manual entry and the option to scan items using OCR (though we’re still exploring ways to fully implement OCR).

Challenges we ran into

• Spoonacular API limitations: The API request limits were a challenge, as we exceeded the allowed number within just a few runs, requiring us to rethink how we’d test and demo the app.
• Deployment difficulties: Deploying the application took us over 4 hours, as we navigated challenges in setting up the server and addressing configuration issues with AWS. We still could not be able to deploy it and decided to demonstrate using our local server to the judges and deploy it later with the help of mentors.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Successfully incorporated the Spoonacular API into our Python code to suggest recipes based on available ingredients.
• Learned how to sync our project in a GitHub repository and collaborate using Git, which was new for some team members.

What we learned

This project helped us better understand API integration, team collaboration via GitHub, and the deployment process. We also learned about the various challenges associated with building a functional MVP under a time constraint, especially in a hackathon setting.

What's next for FridgIT

• Enhanced OCR for Scanning: We plan to improve the OCR functionality to make it more accurate and user-friendly.
• Customizable Notifications: Adding options for users to set custom notification times would make the app even more user-centric.
• Expanded Recipe Suggestions: By improving API integration, we hope to offer more diverse and tailored recipe recommendations.

Built With

• bootstrap
• css
• database
• flask
• html
• python
• spoonacular-api