Helping busy people simplify weekly grocery planning with AI and automation.
Smartbite
Timeline
2.5 weeks in March 2025
Role
Product Designer and No-Code Builder
Tools
Softr, Airtable, Zapier
THE PROBLEM
Busy professionals often feel overwhelmed by meal planning and grocery shopping, leading to decision fatigue and last-minute unhealthy choices.
THE GOAL
Design an AI-powered assistant that creates weekly grocery lists by cross-referencing users' pantry inventory with chosen recipes, highlighting missing ingredients for efficient shopping.
MY ROLE / RESPONSIBILITIES
✏️ Defined product scope and MVP
✏️ Mapped user flows
✏️ Built a functional prototype using Zapier, Airtable, and Softr
✏️ Designed UX/UI flows and tested with 3 users
✏️ Iterated based on feedback
🔍 Research
MY PROCESS
People felt overwhelmed by decision fatigue.
Current apps felt too rigid or overly complex
💡 Ideation
Users input pantry items and desired recipes and system identifies missing ingredients, and generates shopping list.
🔁 Testing
I ran tests with early users and users loved the automated shopping list, but also wanted easier ways to input recipes.
SOLUTION
Step 1: Smartbite starts by getting to know the user — capturing dietary needs, cuisine preferences, and allergies to personalize meal suggestions from the start.
Step 2: Based on “Get Started” inputs and preferences, Smartbite suggests quick, healthy recipes — helping users skip the endless search and get straight to cooking.
Step 3: After users select a recipe, they start adding their pantry essentials. Smartbite then cross-references this data in Airtable to instantly identify what’s missing for the week.
Step 4: By combining pantry inventory with selected recipes, Smartbite instantly generates a streamlined shopping list, making meal prep and grocery runs faster and smarter.
REFLECTION
This project deepened my understanding of building human-centered, AI-powered tools and apps. I gained valuable hands-on experience with various tools such as Zapier, Softr, and Airtable, which allowed me to manage workflows efficiently. Most importantly, this experience strengthened my ability to think like a product designer, emphasizing a focus on user needs, testing of assumptions, and the importance of building an MVP to save time, money, and resources.