frugi

When every dollar counts, knowing where to shop matters. Frugi instantly compares prices at your local grocery stores so you never overpay.

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Inspiration

What it does

How we built it

Challenges we ran into

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

What's next for frugi

Inspiration

We've all been there — it's the end of the month, your wallet is thin, and you're standing in the grocery store having no idea if you're overpaying. As college students, we felt this constantly. You know prices are different at different stores but who has time to drive around comparing? We wanted to solve that — not with a coupon app, not with a loyalty card, but with instant, real price comparisons right when you need them.

What it does

Frugi is a grocery price comparison app built for people who need every dollar to count. Type what you need, enter your zip code, and Frugi instantly compares prices at Trader Joe's and your nearest grocery stores — side by side, cheapest option highlighted automatically. Then it helps you plan the smartest trip, split the bill with roommates, and cook on a budget.

  • Price comparison — Search any item and see real prices from Trader Joe's, Kroger, Fred Meyer, and Walmart on an interactive map — pins show each store's total basket cost.
  • Trip optimizer — Frugi calculates whether it's worth hitting two stores instead of one, showing you the exact savings and which items to grab where.
  • Shared cart & bill splitting — Share your cart with roommates via link. Everyone adds their own items, chats in a group thread attached to the list, and Frugi splits the bill by who added what — or evenly, your call.
  • Budget recipes — Browse meal ideas with cost-per-serving shown upfront. Tap any ingredient to add it directly to your cart with exact measurements.
  • Deals tab — Surfaces the best-value staples at Trader Joe's so you always know what to stock up on.

How we built it

  • React + Vite for the frontend, organized by feature into separate component files
  • Kroger Developer API for real-time product pricing and location data at Kroger and Safeway stores near the user's zip code
  • Trader Joe's pricing built from a verified national price database we compiled, since Trader Joe's has no public API
  • Spoonacular API for recipe search with full ingredient lists and nutritional info
  • All API keys managed securely through environment variables

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was data. Trader Joe's has no public API and actively blocks scraping — so we had to build our own verified price database from scratch using public comparison sources and recent price tracking data.

We also had to solve the problem of matching user search terms to real products across completely different data formats — a Kroger API response looks nothing like a Trader Joe's JSON object. Building a unified comparison layer that makes them speak the same language took significant work.

Getting the Kroger OAuth flow working correctly in a frontend React app without exposing credentials was another technical hurdle we had to solve carefully.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Built a fully working cross-store price comparison in under 24 hours
  • We are proud of connecting real product information in real time to users
  • The recipes feature: being able to search a meal, see the ingredient costs, and add everything to your cart
  • Mobile-responsive design that looks good on a phone

What we learned

  • Real-world data is messy and APIs don't always do what you expect — building resilience into every API call so the UI never crashes was a lesson we learned the hard way
  • Scoping matters more than features. We started with a much bigger idea and winning meant cutting ruthlessly to what we could actually build well in the time we had
  • The best demo moment isn't the most complex feature — it's the simplest one that solves a real problem people immediately recognize

What's next for Frugi

  • Integrate Plaid to read users' actual bank statements and show them how much they're overspending on groceries every month compared to the cheapest local option
  • Expand to Walmart, Whole Foods, and Aldi using their APIs and data partnerships
  • Add a weekly meal planner that builds your entire shopping list automatically optimized across stores
  • Push notifications for price drops on items you buy regularly
  • A community price reporting feature where users confirm or flag prices to keep the database accurate in real time
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