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Note: If you plan on deploying your own Heroku app of this repo
Please set the environment variables in your Heroku app
Settings -> Config Vars -> Reveal Config Vars
and then set
RAPID_API_KEY, JWT_SECRET, and PRODUCTION_MONGODB_URI, as dictated below.
You will also need to add MongoDB as an add-on
Resources -> Add-ons and then enter mLab MongoDB. Heroku AutoMeal app not compatible with Firefox browser
Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/automeal/AutoMeal.git
Go into source folder
cd AutoMeal
Install dependencies with npm script
npm run i
In the following folder AutoMeal/server/ create the following in a .env file:
# move to folder
cd server/
touch .env
Open the file with your preferred editor and paste the following
PRODUCTION_MONGODB_URI=<getMongoCloudServerAccount>
DEV_MONGODB_URI=<getMongoCloudServerAccount>
TEST_MONGODB_URI=<getMongoCloudServerAccount>
RAPID_API_KEY=<getRapidAPIKey>
JWT_SECRET=<chooseSecretString>
These keys' values must be set, in order to communicate with the database, fetch recipe data, and authenticate users throughout their web session.
Sign up for MongoDB Atlas (cloud database).
To get the connection string URI, click Connect on your database cluster and then Connect Your Application -> Connection String Only -> Copy to copy the string to your clipboard.
Note: you can create separate databases by creating a New Project under the Context dropdown.
You only needPRODUCTION_MONGODB_URIif you plan on launching your own Heroku app.
You only needTEST_MONGODB_URIif you plan on running the tests.
Sign up for RapidAPI account to get a RecipeAPI key.
JWT_SECRET can be set to a string of your choice.
Run development environment with
npm run dev
Our goal is to create a web application that supplies users with recipes collected from the internet to form a daily or weekly meal plan based on the items they already have in their refrigerator or pantry and in accordance with their dietary and nutritional goals and limitations.
Many people do not plan the meals they will eat during the day or week and this can waste time and money. In addition to this, many people do not have enough time to cook for themselves and they resort to eating out or ordering takeout. Planning your meals throughout the week can properly prepare you to eat healthier, save time, and save money. Oftentimes, people buy the same groceries over and over again but do not know exactly what they want to eat. By compiling recipes from the internet and allowing users to input the ingredients that they have on hand (or would like to eat), our application will output recipes and meal plans based on each user’s specific needs.
Step 1: If you're a new user, sign up for an account with our site. This will allow you to maintain a profile that stores your pantry, dietary restrictions, and allergies, and recipes that you enjoy
Step 2: Fill out the survey to let us know what your preferences are. These preferences are saved with your profile so that all results will be accomodating YOUR needs.
Step 3: Fill in your virtual pantry with items you keep in your kitchen so recipes found include items you already have at home.
Step 4: Using the answers from your survey, recipes and/or a meal plan can be generated based off of your preferences. The possibilities are endless!
1. Weekly or Daily Meal Planning
2. Search for new recipes
3. Random recipe recommendations
4. View meal plan history
5. Update user and nutritional information (change survey info)
6. Low Fat Diet Calculation:
maxFat = ((maxCal * .15) / 9) / numMeals
7. Low Carb Diet Calculation:
maxCarb = ((maxCal * .20) / 4) / numMeals
8. Store pantry items in user dashboard
Frontend: React.js
Backend: Node.js
API: Spoonacular Food API
Database: MongoDB
Testing: Travis CI, Jest, Heroku
Future Iterations:
1. Implement a barcode scanner to scan food and add specific items directly into user's pantry
2. More advanced safeguards for recipe searches
3. Implement a grocery list in addition to the pantry
4. Interfacing with online retailers
5. Allow for recipe “multiplication” so a user could add more serving sizes than the serving size provided by the recipe, and have the ingredients update to match the requirements for this augmented serving
Reflection:
Challenges we were able to overcome and future iterations from our requirements document that we were able to implement include suggesting random recipes if the user is unsure of what to eat, as well as incorporating various cuisines into the recipe search (i.e. Caribbean, American, Japanese, etc.). We were able to improve our Mobile UI through the use of Semantic UI and fix the issues with our mobile display.
Challenges we still face include the limitations of the Spoonacular API and the calls it is able to generate, as well as finding an adequate number of unique recipes for users with very limited dietary restrictions.
More testing for users with various combinations of diets, intolerances, and health preferences is needed to ensure all users have the same experience.
- Register for AutoMeal!
- Take Our Survey!
- Update Your Dashboard!
- Generate Your Meal Plan!
- Explore New Recipes!
