Mobile app that delivers pantry-provided foods to families in need and offers recipes as well as games based on the recipes.
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California has the largest GDP of any state in the United States. Despite that, Los Angeles County is home to the largest population of food-insecure people in the nation. According to the California Association of Food Banks, at least 1 in 4 families suffer from food insecurity.
Families with children are almost twice as likely to suffer from food insecurity than families without children. In addition to that, one of the greatest struggles is feeding picky children. However, when parents take the time to get creative, their children are more likely to eat healthy foods.
Fun With Food helps families by delivering groceries from nearby food pantries and offering easy-to-follow recipes based on the week’s grocery list. Furthermore, it provides grocery box customization based on diet preferences and cooking games for children based on that week’s recipes.
As we began our research, we created our user persona Maria, mother of Alyssa and Connor. Even though she works full-time and receives food stamps, she can’t comfortably provide healthy meals for her family. Most dinners consist of frozen food or take-out.
“I know the amount of take-out food I feed my children can’t be good, but I can’t find the time or money to grocery shop for healthier foods.”
During our interview, Scarlet shared that her son Elliot is extremely picky with food, and for the longest time, she struggled with getting Elliot to eat. Scarlet found cooking together invaluable in giving Elliot the courage to try new things.
“I definitely feel like I never have enough time with my kid… but I understand that it's my responsibility to be able to financially support myself and my son.”
Lee shared that she felt insecure about feeding her first child, Rilee. She prefers pre-ordering groceries to save time. Also, Lee regularly uses recipes because they make cooking much easier and less time-consuming.
“Recipes are something that’s made cooking a lot easier. Hayes’s dad and I used to get Blue Apron meal kits, and I learned a lot of skills.”
One of the main issues our target audience faces is a lack of resources, such as time and money. Going to a grocery store or a pantry takes time; moreover, people tend to overspend when they don’t have a grocery list. The grocery delivery feature will save money and time by partnering with food pantries.
This feature will provide recipes based on groceries for a particular week. Recipes will include nutritional facts and an easy-to-follow guide.
Parents want to spend more time with their children, but with all their responsibilities, they find it hard to find the time. That’s why we found it necessary to add this feature. The app will offer many cooking games based on weekly recipes. Children will be able to play a game while their parents cook and learn more about healthy cooking.
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Low Fidelity Prototypes by Audra W.
Paper Prototype walkthrough by Yena K.
One problem our testers noticed was that the payment page was before the “Your box” page. They wished that they could see what they were getting before paying. In addition to that, Natsumi wished that it was easier to access saved recipes.
It was hard to find quick recipes on the recipes page. Since many parents don’t have plenty of time to cook every day, we needed to add an option to sort by cooking time.
Parents want to spend more time with their children, but with all their responsibilities, they find it hard to find the time. That’s why we found it necessary to add this feature. The app will offer many cooking games based on weekly recipes. Children will be able to play a game while their parents cook and learn more about healthy cooking.
App that delivers groceries from food pantries straight to families’ homes, along with recipes based on the groceries and games based on the recipes.
Food Preference page allows user to input their dietary needs and preferences. This feature provides food box personalization.
Weekly Recipes page contains recipes for each week based on a particular food box. Users can bookmark recipes, sort recipes, and search for recipes (as well as search by ingredients).
Your Food Box page has a progress bar to visualize tracking information. In addition to that, it features a summary of a user’s plan and this week’s box details.
Cooking Game is created for children to play while their parents are cooking. Games are based on weekly recipes, and each game features achievements for finished steps, a progress bar indicating progress, and colorful illustrations to encourage kids to eat healthy foods.
