Pantry2Plate

Pantry2Plate proves that eating on a budget shouldn’t erase culture. I’m building a faster, more convenient food search engine that starts with your pantry and your story.

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Inspiration

My inspiration for this hackathon was making a change in the world. My original plan was to build a tower defense game in Unity. This game would have the user make decisive decisions within a specific time window, manage money, and turn; however, these ideas became boring and were similar to many other games with little impact. After talking with Wynn, one of the eboard members who hosted the hackathon, I was inspired to step out of my comfort zone and build new skills, so I decided to learn how to vibe code in 12 hours. Beyond picking the new skill of vibe coding, I wanted my project to have a real-world impact especially with the economical state of the world at the current moment, so I combined what I love doing best, eating and trying new foods, with what I miss since coming to college far away from home, popular asian and soul dishes, I'm struggling to find in Worcester. With all of these new ideas, the skills needed to learn, and limited time, the hackathon finally began and inspired me to push myself, opening many doors to coding beyond traditional ways.

What it does

-Turns your pantry + per-serving budget + goals into 3–6 cook-now recipes you can actually make tonight. -Ranks by fit (matched base ingredients, under-budget, pinned cuisines) with a clear "Why shown" explainer. -Highlights nutrition bands (protein/fiber/sodium) and SNAP-friendly badges for fast, healthy choices. -Surfaces African, Asian, and Global Cheap dishes side-by-side to center cultural representation. -Always offers near-matches with concrete substitutions (e.g., gochujang → chili paste + sugar) to avoid dead ends.

How we built it

  • Idea brainstorming
  • AI interpretation/reshaping
  • PRD (fleshed out document of the product) uploaded to ChatGPT
  • Mock-up creation
  • PRD and Mock-up input to VS Code
  • Tweak code until final version ## Challenges we ran into
  • The limit on the free Vibe coding software
  • Issues within files that neither I nor the AI could solve
  • Getting the AI to see my UI/UX and functionality vision
  • PowerShell learning curve/issues no one knew how to solve ## Accomplishments that we're proud of
  • Moving through many vibe coding editors and building a full website without spending money
  • Coming up with a creative last-minute idea that resonates with my goals and hobbies
  • Did not give up after scrapping and switching ideas three times, and had fun till the very end ## What we learned
  • VS Code IDE
  • Learning new skills builds future ideas
  • The lack of cultural representation in many cookbooks
  • Front and backend frameworks
  • The importance of checkpoints, and GitHub save points ## What's next for Pantry2Plate
  • Expand the cuisines to 1000+
  • create an online website instead of a local download
  • Add specific macros for each dish
  • Add an audio read mode for the blind
  • And MUCH MORE

Built With

  • css
  • json
  • tailwind
  • vite-+-react-+-typescript-with-react-router
  • zustand-for-state
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