À propos du projet
Mission Statement
Fresh Lids aims to save you money while reducing food waste.
I created Fresh Lids while throwing away food. As I tossed the spoiled food in the garbage, I said to myself, wouldn't it be great if I could be notified that my food is about to spoil? If I knew food was about to go bad, I could consume it instead of throwing it away. I realized I wasn't only generating unnecessary waste; I was also throwing away money. Then began the journey to think about an efficient solution to this problem, and eureka, Fresh Lids was born.
Patent Awarded!
I am very happy to let you all know that Fresh Lids' patent has been awarded. We are no longer Patent Pending!
Benefits of Fresh Lids Food Labels:
Instead of throwing food out because you forgot it was in your fridge or pantry, Fresh Lids will alert you about upcoming expiration dates. Fresh Lids will then help you find recipes you can use your food with, helping you save money and reducing waste at the same time. Food visibility is a big part of the reason we forget about perishable goods that may be in our fridge. Fresh Lids aims to solve this problem by providing the user with alerts and notifications to address the issue.
- Save Money: Every food item we throw out is money down the drain.
- Reduce Waste: Why waste when we can consume?
- Recipe Finder: Find Recipes with what is in your Fresh Lids list.
- Food visibility: Always have a list of Fresh Lids scanned items right in your pocket.
- Notifications: Be notified before the expiration date arrives.
- Data Points: Receive estimates of how much money you've saved and how much waste you've reduced.
Why Fresh Lids?
Fresh Lids is a simple and elegant solution to a big problem, food visibility and food waste. With the help of the Fresh Lids application you can scan smart labels, which you paste on reusable food containers. Once the label is scanned, the user can read or write information about the contents of the food container. Fresh Lids will give you an estimate of how long the food you are storing usually keeps in your pantry, fridge or freezer and before the expiration date arrives the application alerts you and even gives you possible recipes to use your perishable goods with. If the food you are storing already has an expiration date, you can always use that instead. Fresh Lids also works with items that come in their own container like milk, apple juice, eggs etc.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Does Fresh Lids work with foods one would not store in a container?
Yes it does, you can store items on Fresh Lids that don't have a QR code, or that have their own barcode, like milk. For example, you can take a carrot and add it manually to the app without even needing a Fresh Lids smart label. Just tap "add manually", write carrot and we'll suggest an estimated expiration date based on the storage method.
2. So why would I even needs the Fresh Lids smart labels?
You need the Fresh Lids smart label to read back information specific to a particular "instance" of a container. That is, without a Fresh Lids smart label you can't be sure the item you have on the list of stored foods in the app is the one you are inquiring about. If you have many bunches of carrots, it would be hard to determine which specific bunch is the one you stored. However, if you store it in a container with a Fresh Lids smart label you would then be able to automatically retrieve the information for that specific container by scanning it.
3. How many food items with UPC barcodes codes can Fresh Lids recognize?
Fresh Lids uses a third party product database in the background, this database currently has more than 32 million records, although not all of them are food items. That said, most major food items should be recognized.
4. Are you selling labels, containers or both?
Both, even though Fresh Lids does not currently manufacture its own containers we have sourced reusable containers that we "brand" with our Fresh Lids smart labels. These containers are the ones offered in the rewards. If you already have your own containers and prefer to use those, you can always buy smart labels on their own to paste on said reusable containers of your choice. Both options are offered in the rewards.
5. Are Fresh Lids stickers washable, dishwasher safe, freezer safe and microwavable?
Fresh Lids smart labels use a very strong adhesive; they are not a regular off the shelf "stickers". Our labels use some of the stickiest glue in the market, assuring your label sticks to the surface of your container in a permanent manner. The sticker can be put in the microwave and it can be hand washed. We have also tested stickers in the dishwasher safely but honestly I would not get into the habit of constantly washing the sticker in the dishwasher as it may wear the sticker's ink much faster than usual. The sticker is freezer safe and is made of a synthetic material that won't absorb water.
6. Is the application available for both iPhone and Android platforms?
The application is currently iPhone only, however if we surpass our goal by at least $3,000, as a stretch goal an Android application will be developed. Regardless, an Android application will eventually be released to the public.
7. How does Fresh Lids help me reduce food waste?
Part of the reason we waste so much food at home is because we lack food visibility. We buy food or store leftovers, we put them in the back of the fridge and 6 months later we remember we stored them in there. With Fresh Lids you have a list of thing in your fridge with potential expiration dates, you can then be notified about these perishable good before they go bad, allowing you to have the visibility and reminders you need to better utilize these goods you've paid for with your hard earned money.
8. What is the money raised for?
We are asking for $8,000 to help cover remaining design, development, printing, legal, API, equipment and server costs. We are using a series of APIs that are not free, the high quality smart labels we use are not cheap either. Additionally we still need to meet with a lawyer to write up several legal documents such as terms of service and liability documents. The rewards will help cover all these costs.
9. Can I print my own stickers?
We are working on an option for anyone to print their own stickers, after all it's all about reducing food waste. This feature will be implemented in the near future.
10. How will the iPhone App be distributed.
Our distribution strategy will consist of releasing the application in the App Store at a lower price than what it would normally cost. Once the app is released backers will be notified to obtain the application and Fresh Lids, LLC will reimburse the reduced App Store cost to all the backers when the Smart Label rewards are sent via regular mail.
11.Do you Take Feature Requests for the App?
Sure we do, we certainly would love to hear feature ideas for the Fresh Lids App.
11.What kind of information can I store per food item?
- Item name
- Expirations Date
- Food Type
- Calories
- Price
- Scan Time
- Picture of item
- Portions
- Notes
- Turn Notification On / Off
Rewards
Smart Food label example
Plastic container Lock-and-Seal Food Storage Set with Lids
- 10oz. (300ml) bowl with lid
- 21oz. (640ml) bowl with lid
- 39oz. (1.1l) bowl with lid
- 64oz. (1.9l) bowl with lid
- 102oz. (3l) bowl with lid
- Safe for the freezer, microwave, and dishwasher
- Made of BPA-free plastic
Note to International Backers: Because of restrictions in the Apple App Store, we are only able to gift an app to someone with a US iTunes account. If you would still like to back the project, by all means, but know that we won't be able to give you a download code when the app is released.
Timeline
- We would like to thank Icon8 for providing us with our wonderful icons, visit them at: https://icons8.com/
Risques et défis
The biggest challenge is the fact that the backend service (database etc) we are using, Parse, has gone open source and the hosted service we were using will cease to exist February 2017. That said, we need to setup a new backend server environment, this is no problem but it will take time. With that in mind, the app is in a good state and usable although not all the features are implemented. About 75% of the basic functionality in the app is done but there is still more polishing and work to be done, for example the date suggestion engine still needs to be implemented as well as the data points section regarding usage. Another big risk is not having everything finished by February 2017, this is a software project and software projects have a tendency to go over budget and not be on time, we have however tried to account for this possibility in our monetary and time estimates.
As with any service that requires a backend, issues can arise, however, the app is in good shape and should be in the App store by February. Thank you for believing in Fresh Lids.
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Période de financement
- (35 jours)