Young professional
Priya
All case studies
Food & homeSolo project7-day sprint4 min read
Know what’s in your fridge before it goes off.
A fridge inventory and expiry tracker that helps people waste less food.
The problem
It started with my own fridge
I kept throwing away food because I forgot it was there or missed the expiry date. When I asked around, almost everyone struggled to remember what was in their fridge. It was a solo project done over one week, on a prompt of my choice.
How might we
Help people reduce household food waste?
Research
Why existing apps don't stick
I mainly followed design thinking. Before touching any design, I read up on the motivations behind goal setting, then looked at which food-tracking methods already work and where they fall short.
Competitive analysis
App 01KitchenPal
App 02FoodWise
App 03NoWaste
App 04MyFridgeFood| Feature | KitchenPal | FoodWise | NoWaste | MyFridgeFood |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Add items manually | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Add items by photographing each one | ✓ | – | ✓ | – |
| Pick items from an inventory list | ✓ | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Edit items and expiry dates | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – |
| View expiry dates | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – |
| Suggest or calculate expiry dates | – | – | ✓ | – |
| Remind users before food expires | – | – | ✓ | – |
| Mark food as finished | – | – | ✓ | – |
| Group items by kind | – | ✓ | ✓ | – |
| Group items by fridge placement | – | – | ✓ | – |
| Search recipes | – | – | – | ✓ |
| Recommend recipes | – | ✓ | – | ✓ |
What gets in the way
01
Too much typing. Apps ask for a lot of manual input, which takes time.
02
Constant checking. You have to keep opening the app to track expiry dates.
03
No next step. No suggestions for food that is about to expire.
Interviews
Talking to people about their fridges
User interviews30+
data points from primary interviews. The questions I asked:
- How often do you throw away expired food from your fridge?
- How do you track expiry dates today?
- Would notifications about expiring food help you?
- Would you use an app that scans grocery receipts to update your fridge inventory?
- Would rewards for wasting less food motivate you?
What I heard
Organisation habits
- Label items with purchase dates
- Organise the fridge by expiry
- A digital note on the phone
- No tracking, just occasional checks
- Rely on memory
Technology
- Already use an app to track expiry
- Scanning receipts sounds convenient
- Love tech solutions
- Would try scanning if it is free
- Depends on how easy the app is
Food waste
- Once a week
- At least twice a week
- Every other day
- Often vegetables
- Rarely, thanks to meal planning
- Hardly ever, I eat out a lot
Notifications
- Definitely helpful
- A game-changer
- Good for items hidden at the back
- Need reminders
- Maybe, if not too frequent
- Not needed, I am organised
Motivation
- Love rewards
- Environmentally driven
- Rewards are a win-win
- Grocery discounts as rewards
- Only if rewards are substantial
- Not a deciding factor
Personas
Designed for students and young professionals
The research pointed to two groups who waste the most food for lack of time and planning. Click any image to see it full size.
Student
Rohan
Opportunities
From opportunities to product structure
I mapped the opportunities from research and turned the strongest ones into a simple product structure before designing screens.
How might we
Help students and young professionals reduce household food waste efficiently?
The design
Five features, less typing
FEATURE 01
Scan receipts to add items
Scan a grocery receipt and the items go straight into your fridge inventory, instead of typing them one by one.
FEATURE 02
Notifications before food expires
FridgeBuddy tells you when something is about to expire, so you don't have to keep checking.
FEATURE 03
Track and deal with food
See everything in your fridge at a glance, with guidance on what to do with food that is about to expire.
FEATURE 04
Add or edit custom items
For homemade food or anything without a receipt, add or edit items by hand.
FEATURE 05
AI recipes from your inventory
Recipes suggested from what is already in your fridge, so expiring food becomes dinner instead of waste.
Prototype
The flow in motion
Scan a receipt, get the items in, see what expires first and turn it into a recipe.
Next steps
What I would add next
Product features
- Group items by kind, placement and more
- Coupons or points for wasting no food
- A dashboard of what was eaten and what was wasted
- Double confirmation to prevent mistakes
- Partner with online stores, so there is no receipt to scan
Design
- Higher colour contrast for text and icons
- Voice: an Alexa or Siri skill to ask what is in the fridge
Honest noteWith only 7 days, I skipped usability testing. It would be the first thing I do next.
Next case study
Select Design System
