Inspiration
Living in a city where plant-based eating was growing but scattered—friends struggled to find vegan meat, compare nutrition, or see their environmental impact. I wanted to create a one-stop tool to make plant-based eating easy, not overwhelming.
What it does
PlantMeat Guide helps users find local stores with plant-based meat, compare nutrition to traditional meat, access recipes, track carbon savings, and join weekly meatless challenges.
How we built it
Started with wireframing core pages (Home, Store Locator, Carbon Tracker) in Figma. Built the frontend with React for mobile-first responsiveness; backend with Node.js/Express to connect to PostgreSQL (product/store data) and Firebase (user auth/profiles). Integrated Google Maps API for location services and Chart.js for data visualization.
Challenges we ran into
Real-time inventory sync was tough—we had to build a reliable scheduler to update stock levels every 4 hours without breaking load times. Also, calibrating carbon footprint calculations to align with scientific data took weeks of research to get right.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We built a fully responsive app with 50+ store locations, 100+ plant-based products, and 50+ recipes—all validated against user needs. The carbon tracker now accurately calculates CO₂ savings, and users love the community challenge leaderboards.
What we learned
I mastered API integration at scale, learned to balance data accuracy with performance, and discovered how to design for diverse dietary needs (gluten-free, soy-free). Most importantly, I saw how user feedback shapes iterative design—early testers pushed us to add the "Notify Me" feature for out-of-stock products.
What's next for this project
We’ll add integration with local grocery delivery services, AI-powered recipe recommendations, and multi-language support (starting with French/German). We also plan to expand store coverage to more European cities and add barcode scanning for quick product lookups.
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