Managing Food Purchase and Food Waste for Post-Secondary Students in Toronto

A large number of post-secondary students choose to live independently, or study at distant schools, so they have to move away from their permanent residence. There will be many problems they are likely to encounter when performing daily tasks, and the problems will affect each other. In this project, I want to address issues related to food spending and consumption, as this is an area where many students struggle. Research shows that when students are too busy, they will often choose to shorten the time for tasks they consider unimportant. They are likely to shorten cooking and eating time, relying more on processed and take-away foods. Time constraints cause them to neglect managing the food they have in the house, leading to food not being consumed on time or being consumed incorrectly. Moreover, the lack of understanding in planning food spending and shopping makes them susceptible to problems in food management. These lead to unnecessary spending on food and reduced meal quality, impacting students' health and well-being. By creating and developing a solution that includes both the physical and digital aspects, we hope to create a foundation for the students to begin their journey to better manage their food purchasing and consumption. The physical aspect of our solution is a toolkit that provides everyday items and a small guidebook to practice easy food management methods. The digital aspect, which we will focus more on, is a series of additional features to an existing mobile application that supports the overall food planning and purchasing process for students.