A shared-inventory app that turns forgotten groceries into finished meals, built for student flats where nobody signed up to be the fridge manager.
App
Fridgefriend
Timeline
2023
—
2023
Role
Product Designer & Creative Developer
01 COST
It's not a moral problem. It's a logistics one.
Households throw away food they meant to eat. Not because they don't care — because they can't see what they have, can't remember when they bought it, and can't agree on whose it is. Shared fridges compound all three.
bn
Annual cost of household food waste in the UK.
Source · WRAP, 2023
m tonnes
Edible food discarded by UK households each year.
Source · WRAP, 2023
m
UK students living in shared accommodation
Source · HESA, 2022–23
billion
Annual cost of household
food waste in the UK.
Source · WRAP, 2023
m
tonnes
Edible food discarded by UK
households each year.
Source · WRAP, 2023
million
UK students living in shared
accommodation - target audience.
Source · HESA, 2022–23
billion
Annual cost of household
food waste in the UK.
Source · WRAP, 2023
m
tonnes
Edible food discarded by UK household each year.
Source · WRAP, 2023
million
UK students living in shared accommodation
Source · HESA, 2022–23
Most waste in shared housing isn't carelessness. It's invisibility.
Most waste in shared housing isn't carelessness. It's invisibility.
02 THE GAP
Three problems hiding inside one fridge.
Every food-tracking app I tested solved one of these and ignored the other two. The wins cancelled out.
01 /
FRICTION
Logging is work nobody volunteered for.
Existing tools ask too much — manual entry, photos, categorisation. The fridge fills faster than the app.
02 /
VISIBILITY
If you can't see it, you'll buy it again.
Items disappear behind containers and condiments. Duplicates and forgotten leftovers compound weekly.
03 /
OWNERSHIP
Whose yoghurt is this, exactly?
Without clear ownership, no one feels responsible. Nothing gets eaten until something gets thrown out.
03 WHO IT'S FOR
Designed for housemates who share a fridge but not a routine.
Maya
3rd year · London · 4-person flat
"I do a big shop on Sundays and by Thursday I genuinely don't know what's still good in there."
COOKS
4× per week
DIET
Pescatarian
BUDGET
£40/week
PAIN
Duplicate buys, quiet waste
Jay
2nd year · London · Maya's flatmate
"I just grab stuff on the way home. I'll cook whatever's there, but I'm not planning a week."
COOKS
Most nights, improvised
DIET
No restrictions
BUDGET
£25/week, cash-and-carry
PAIN
Opens the fridge, finds Maya's expired spinach
Maya
3rd year · London · 4-person flat
"I do a big shop on Sundays and by Thursday I genuinely don't know what's still good in there."
COOKS
4× per week
DIET
Pescatarian
BUDGET
£40/week
PAIN
Duplicate buys, quiet waste
Jay
2nd year · London · Maya's flatmate
"I just grab stuff on the way home. I'll cook whatever's there, but I'm not planning a week."
COOKS
Most nights, improvised
DIET
No restrictions
BUDGET
£25/week, cash-and-carry
PAIN
Opens fridge, finds expired item
Maya
3rd year · London · 4-person flat
"I do a big shop on Sundays and by Thursday I genuinely don't know what's still good in there."
COOKS
4× per week
DIET
Pescatarian
BUDGET
£40/week
PAIN
Duplicate buys, quiet waste
Jay
2nd year · London · Maya's flatmate
"I just grab stuff on the way home. I'll cook whatever's there, but I'm not planning a week."
COOKS
Most nights, improvised
DIET
No restrictions
BUDGET
£25/week, cash-and-carry
PAIN
Opens fridge, finds expired item
04 PRODUCT RESPONSE
3 screens in 1 loop
01
Capture
Receipt scan, barcode, or 2-tap manual entry. Zero typing in the default path.
02
Track
Shared inventory with expiry flagging, plus a 6pm nudge so urgent items don't get forgotten.
03
Act
Recipes, quick-cook prompts, or a one-tap donation handoff — turning awareness into a decision.
01
Capture
Receipt scan, barcode, or 2-tap manual entry. Zero typing in the default path.
02
Track
Shared inventory with expiry forecasting. Notifies at the right moment.
03
Act
Shared inventory with expiry forecasting. Notifies at the right moment.
01
Capture
Receipt scan, barcode, or 2-tap manual entry. Zero typing in the default path.
01
Track
Shared inventory with expiry forecasting. Notifies at the right moment.
01
Act
Shared inventory with expiry forecasting. Notifies at the right moment.
05 VALIDATION
I faked the fridge before building it
Six housemates across two flats sent grocery photos to a shared channel for one days. We replied by hand — logging items, flagging expiries, nudging at 6pm. No app. No code. Just a stopwatch and a group chat. The point wasn't to prototype the UI. It was to find out which interventions actually changed what got cooked.
Three findings shaped the build
01
Budget outranked sustainability.
Receipt scan, barcode, or 2-tap manual entry. Zero typing in the default path.
02
Dietary fit was non-negotiable.
Recipe prompts were ignored unless they matched the housemate's stated diet — even when items were urgent.
03
Proactive prompts beat passive lists.
An inventory screen alone changed nothing. A nudge at 6pm changed dinner.
06 ITERATION
Three changes that came from testing.
Home page Iteration
Nearby Donation Feature
07 BEYOND THE APP
The system extends past the fridge.
Once a household has an accurate inventory, it stops being a fridge app. It becomes a hook into the wider supply chain — same product, broader surface.
EXTENSION 01
Donation touchpoints
In-app directory routes users to a nearby drop-in point. The reusable card swaps charity partners freely — minimal disruption, lowest possible cost.
EXTENSION 02
In-store integration
A scannable QR links the physical item to the app — a light-touch presence that sits naturally beside the supermarket's own packaging.
EXTENSION 03
Shelf Scenario
Supermarket price stickers with a scannable QR connect the physical product to the app — smoothing the hassle of linking item to inventory.
EXTENSION 01
Donation
touchpoints
In-app directory routes users to a nearby drop-in point. The reusable card swaps charity partners freely - minimal disruption, lowest possible cost.
EXTENSION 02
Retail
Prompts
A scannable QR links the physical item to the app — a light-touch presence that sits naturally beside the supermarket's own packaging.
EXTENSION 03
Shelf
Scenario
Supermarket price stickers with a scannable QR connect the physical product to the app - smoothing the hassle of linking item to inventory.
EXTENSION 02
In-store integration
A scannable QR links the physical item to the app — a light-touch presence that sits naturally beside the supermarket's own packaging.
EXTENSION 03
Shelf Scenario
Supermarket price stickers with a scannable QR connect the physical product to the app — smoothing the hassle of linking item to inventory.
EXTENSION 01
Donation touchpoint
In-app directory routes users to a nearby drop-in point. The reusable card swaps charity partners freely — minimal disruption, lowest possible cost.
08 REFLECTION
What the project taught me.
Three short notes — what worked, what was tested so far, and what's next. The middle bullet is the honest one: validation has begun, but not yet at scale, and not yet inside the gallery.
WHAT WORKED
Faking the system before building it cut roughly a month of wrong assumptions. The Wizard-of-Oz test was the single highest-leverage decision in the project.
WHAT I LEARNED
People act on money and convenience, not on guilt. Sustainability is the outcome, not the pitch.
WHAT'S NEXT
A retail pilot with one supermarket partner, testing the inventory-to-checkout link with real baskets in a real store.
WHAT WORKED
Faking the system before building it cut roughly a month of wrong assumptions. The Wizard-of-Oz test was the single highest-leverage decision in the project.
Step 1
"You've already got 3 of these." Inventory state syncs to the supermarket app at checkout.
Step 1
"You've already got 3 of these." Inventory state syncs to the supermarket app at checkout.
WHAT WORKED
Faking the system before building it cut roughly a month of wrong assumptions. The Wizard-of-Oz test was the single highest-leverage decision in the project.
WHAT I LEARNED
People act on money and convenience, not on guilt. Sustainability is the outcome, not the pitch.
WHAT'S NEXT
A retail pilot with one supermarket partner, testing the inventory-to-checkout link with real baskets in a real store.
A shared-inventory app that turns forgotten groceries into finished meals, built for student flats where nobody signed up to be the fridge manager.
App
Fridgefriend
Timeline
2023
—
2023
Role
Product Designer & Creative Developer
01 COST
It's not a moral problem. It's a logistics one.
Households throw away food they meant to eat. Not because they don't care — because they can't see what they have, can't remember when they bought it, and can't agree on whose it is. Shared fridges compound all three.
bn
Annual cost of household food waste in the UK.
Source · WRAP, 2023
m tonnes
Edible food discarded by UK households each year.
Source · WRAP, 2023
m
UK students living in shared accommodation
Source · HESA, 2022–23
billion
Annual cost of household
food waste in the UK.
Source · WRAP, 2023
m
tonnes
Edible food discarded by UK
households each year.
Source · WRAP, 2023
million
UK students living in shared
accommodation - target audience.
Source · HESA, 2022–23
billion
Annual cost of household
food waste in the UK.
Source · WRAP, 2023
m
tonnes
Edible food discarded by UK household each year.
Source · WRAP, 2023
million
UK students living in shared accommodation
Source · HESA, 2022–23
Most waste in shared housing isn't carelessness. It's invisibility.
Most waste in shared housing isn't carelessness. It's invisibility.
02 THE GAP
Three problems hiding inside one fridge.
Every food-tracking app I tested solved one of these and ignored the other two. The wins cancelled out.
01 /
FRICTION
Logging is work nobody volunteered for.
Existing tools ask too much — manual entry, photos, categorisation. The fridge fills faster than the app.
02 /
VISIBILITY
If you can't see it, you'll buy it again.
Items disappear behind containers and condiments. Duplicates and forgotten leftovers compound weekly.
03 /
OWNERSHIP
Whose yoghurt is this, exactly?
Without clear ownership, no one feels responsible. Nothing gets eaten until something gets thrown out.
03 WHO IT'S FOR
Designed for housemates who share a fridge but not a routine.
Maya
3rd year · London · 4-person flat
"I do a big shop on Sundays and by Thursday I genuinely don't know what's still good in there."
COOKS
4× per week
DIET
Pescatarian
BUDGET
£40/week
PAIN
Duplicate buys, quiet waste
Jay
2nd year · London · Maya's flatmate
"I just grab stuff on the way home. I'll cook whatever's there, but I'm not planning a week."
COOKS
Most nights, improvised
DIET
No restrictions
BUDGET
£25/week, cash-and-carry
PAIN
Opens the fridge, finds Maya's expired spinach
Maya
3rd year · London · 4-person flat
"I do a big shop on Sundays and by Thursday I genuinely don't know what's still good in there."
COOKS
4× per week
DIET
Pescatarian
BUDGET
£40/week
PAIN
Duplicate buys, quiet waste
Jay
2nd year · London · Maya's flatmate
"I just grab stuff on the way home. I'll cook whatever's there, but I'm not planning a week."
COOKS
Most nights, improvised
DIET
No restrictions
BUDGET
£25/week, cash-and-carry
PAIN
Opens fridge, finds expired item
Maya
3rd year · London · 4-person flat
"I do a big shop on Sundays and by Thursday I genuinely don't know what's still good in there."
COOKS
4× per week
DIET
Pescatarian
BUDGET
£40/week
PAIN
Duplicate buys, quiet waste
Jay
2nd year · London · Maya's flatmate
"I just grab stuff on the way home. I'll cook whatever's there, but I'm not planning a week."
COOKS
Most nights, improvised
DIET
No restrictions
BUDGET
£25/week, cash-and-carry
PAIN
Opens fridge, finds expired item
04 PRODUCT RESPONSE
3 screens in 1 loop
01
Capture
Receipt scan, barcode, or 2-tap manual entry. Zero typing in the default path.
02
Track
Shared inventory with expiry flagging, plus a 6pm nudge so urgent items don't get forgotten.
03
Act
Recipes, quick-cook prompts, or a one-tap donation handoff — turning awareness into a decision.
01
Capture
Receipt scan, barcode, or 2-tap manual entry. Zero typing in the default path.
02
Track
Shared inventory with expiry forecasting. Notifies at the right moment.
03
Act
Shared inventory with expiry forecasting. Notifies at the right moment.
01
Capture
Receipt scan, barcode, or 2-tap manual entry. Zero typing in the default path.
01
Track
Shared inventory with expiry forecasting. Notifies at the right moment.
01
Act
Shared inventory with expiry forecasting. Notifies at the right moment.
05 VALIDATION
I faked the fridge before building it
Six housemates across two flats sent grocery photos to a shared channel for one days. We replied by hand — logging items, flagging expiries, nudging at 6pm. No app. No code. Just a stopwatch and a group chat. The point wasn't to prototype the UI. It was to find out which interventions actually changed what got cooked.
Three findings shaped the build
01
Budget outranked sustainability.
Receipt scan, barcode, or 2-tap manual entry. Zero typing in the default path.
02
Dietary fit was non-negotiable.
Recipe prompts were ignored unless they matched the housemate's stated diet — even when items were urgent.
03
Proactive prompts beat passive lists.
An inventory screen alone changed nothing. A nudge at 6pm changed dinner.
06 ITERATION
Three changes that came from testing.
Home page Iteration
Nearby Donation Feature
07 BEYOND THE APP
The system extends past the fridge.
Once a household has an accurate inventory, it stops being a fridge app. It becomes a hook into the wider supply chain — same product, broader surface.
EXTENSION 01
Donation touchpoints
In-app directory routes users to a nearby drop-in point. The reusable card swaps charity partners freely — minimal disruption, lowest possible cost.
EXTENSION 02
In-store integration
A scannable QR links the physical item to the app — a light-touch presence that sits naturally beside the supermarket's own packaging.
EXTENSION 03
Shelf Scenario
Supermarket price stickers with a scannable QR connect the physical product to the app — smoothing the hassle of linking item to inventory.
EXTENSION 01
Donation
touchpoints
In-app directory routes users to a nearby drop-in point. The reusable card swaps charity partners freely - minimal disruption, lowest possible cost.
EXTENSION 02
Retail
Prompts
A scannable QR links the physical item to the app — a light-touch presence that sits naturally beside the supermarket's own packaging.
EXTENSION 03
Shelf
Scenario
Supermarket price stickers with a scannable QR connect the physical product to the app - smoothing the hassle of linking item to inventory.
EXTENSION 02
In-store integration
A scannable QR links the physical item to the app — a light-touch presence that sits naturally beside the supermarket's own packaging.
EXTENSION 03
Shelf Scenario
Supermarket price stickers with a scannable QR connect the physical product to the app — smoothing the hassle of linking item to inventory.
EXTENSION 01
Donation touchpoint
In-app directory routes users to a nearby drop-in point. The reusable card swaps charity partners freely — minimal disruption, lowest possible cost.
08 REFLECTION
What the project taught me.
Three short notes — what worked, what was tested so far, and what's next. The middle bullet is the honest one: validation has begun, but not yet at scale, and not yet inside the gallery.
WHAT WORKED
Faking the system before building it cut roughly a month of wrong assumptions. The Wizard-of-Oz test was the single highest-leverage decision in the project.
WHAT I LEARNED
People act on money and convenience, not on guilt. Sustainability is the outcome, not the pitch.
WHAT'S NEXT
A retail pilot with one supermarket partner, testing the inventory-to-checkout link with real baskets in a real store.
WHAT WORKED
Faking the system before building it cut roughly a month of wrong assumptions. The Wizard-of-Oz test was the single highest-leverage decision in the project.
Step 1
"You've already got 3 of these." Inventory state syncs to the supermarket app at checkout.
Step 1
"You've already got 3 of these." Inventory state syncs to the supermarket app at checkout.
WHAT WORKED
Faking the system before building it cut roughly a month of wrong assumptions. The Wizard-of-Oz test was the single highest-leverage decision in the project.
WHAT I LEARNED
People act on money and convenience, not on guilt. Sustainability is the outcome, not the pitch.
WHAT'S NEXT
A retail pilot with one supermarket partner, testing the inventory-to-checkout link with real baskets in a real store.