My Virtual Fridge

[0bubbles0]

Idea

Key: it needs to be quick to use

📱 Virtual fridge

• Graphic:
  • 📱fridge (maybe with shelves),
  • 🍓🥕🍞🥦🍗 food items I have there already
    • optional with expiration date
• Can add items I have manually & automatically (ticked-off items from shopping list)
• Can search recipes for items I already have

📘 Recipe Collection

• write my own
• read other users' recipes
• like/collect my favourites, recommend to other users (my mum)
• save my favourite recipes in my personal folder
• organise by categories ('winter', 'soup', 'veg')
• search recipes ('🥕')

📅📝 Automatic Meal plan & Shopping List

• Add recipes for the week (from my favourites or a new search)
• Automatically make a meal plan
• Automatic shopping list: checks what's already in your fridge, adds only what you don't already have
• Automatic fridge:
  • This app asks: Did you cook Spaghetti on Tuesday as planned?
  • User: Yes/No/Delay
  • Automatically removes items from fridge

What problem does it solve?

• Constant hassle of "What's for dinner tonight"?
• Manage balance between
  1. Choosing recipes that are interesting?
  2. Knowing what to buy?
  3. What's in my fridge & needs to be used up?
  4. What nice recipe can I cook with what I already have?

Stakeholders

• Everyone who is responsible for dinner in their household, but doesn't have much time/energy to think about dinner
• Wants to eat interesting/healthier food, save money, avoid food waste
• Bonus: special dietary/nutrition interests (vegan, halal, healthy, seasonal)

Avoid:

• Ordering emergency take-out because you are too tired to make a dinner plan
• Food-waste: Throwing out food that expired because you forgot about it
• Maybe find cooking a bit overwhelming, but would like home-cook more/find it easier to manage

Current solution

https://www.myfitnesspal.com/

• It has a lot of useful functions:
  • can save recipes, diary of what you eat, nutrition info, really large catalogue of food items
• But it's a pain to use:
  • takes really long to log each item (100 options of spaghetti to choose from)
  • Deters people who want a quick dinner plan
  • Encourages unhealthy overthinking about food
• Overall:
  • it let's you understand the food you are eating better (Is my bolognese dish actually healthy?)
  • but it doesn't make cooking easier or quicker

Technology ideas

Authentication

• OAuth, Profile Avatar, correct validation

Database

• Postgres

Server

• dynamic pages for each user, recipe collection, recipe...

API

• Maybe find some for nutrition info, seasonal veg calendar, finding recipes...

Interactive Graphics

• interactive fridge, animation ...
• Maybe use React for fridge, sort recipes, like recipes ... ?

Other

• Giving it really good Accessibility, Responsiveness
• Maybe look into how to make an actual mobile app? (Probably won't have time to make one, but could be interesting to research how that is done in theory?)
• Maybe TypeScript?