Managing and keeping food fresh

Introduction

FreshHold tracks your food, so you don't have to. Don't be stressed; we'll keep it fresh!

FreshHold is a smart container system that helps people see what's in their fridge, eat it before it turns, and throw less of it away.

Our research revealed that managing food at home quietly consumes more time and mental energy than people want to give it. While users aim to reduce waste and simplify cooking, they forget what they have, lose track of expiration dates, and feel too overwhelmed to stay on top of it all. The issue isn't motivation—it's that daily life leaves little room to think about the fridge.

So we set out to build something that isn't another chore. Using embedded sensors, FreshHold does the background work: it tracks freshness on its own, speaks up only when something needs attention, and keeps groceries safe even through a power outage. The fridge stops being one more thing to remember.

Key Insights

Survey

We surveyed 70+ young adults about managing food at home.

Survey results with young adults showed that the biggest barriers to managing food are decision fatigue and the burden of daily routines.

Diary Study

We ran our diary study with four young adults living in their own homes, across four consecutive days. Participants responded to prompts on a Google Form each morning and night. Each diary entry covered things such as:

• What and when they ate
• What tools or reminders they used
• Any barriers that got in their way

Diary entries showed that participants struggled to keep track of what food they had, what was still in good condition, and what actions to take to preserve their food.

User Enactment Scenarios

We tested five scenarios with 11 participants to evaluate different automation concepts for helping people manage food. We tested these concepts through low-fidelity paper prototypes.

Scenarios

Our user comes back from work and wants to make dinner.

The power goes out and the fridge loses power.

Our user is traveling and out of town.

Final System Concept

After testing several automation concepts, we refined our smart container and companion app to the following key features.

Video Demo

Prototype

Key feature 1: Connecting Containers through Bluetooth

• Real-time syncing ensures fresher information without manual input.
• Multiple containers connect simultaneously to build a full "smart inventory" of your fridge.
• Designed for effortless onboarding! Just open the container and it appears in the app.

Key feature 2: Automatic Food Recognition

• A compact internal camera detects newly stored food when the lid closes.
• Computer vision identifies food type and portion size to auto-log items in the app.
• Users no longer need to type, scan, or take photos—the container does the work.
• Users can manually edit the descriptions for additional accuracy and customization.

Key feature 3: Consistent Status Updates

• Automatically recalculates expiration estimates using time + temperature data.
• Sends alerts when temperature becomes unsafe (fridge power outage, door open).
• Auto-updates serving estimates as portions decrease.
• LED indicators and push notifications communicate changes without overwhelming users.

Figma Prototype

Reflection

Our solution was named Most Innovative Product. This was my first time designing beyond the screen, and the hardware brought constraints a screen never does: the container, the LED, and the app all had to tell the same story, and tell it at a glance. Despite all the moving parts, we kept aiming for something that slips into a user's life rather than adding to it.

It also showed me how far a product's implications travel past the user you designed for. A classmate pointed out that the emergency freezing function could matter most to people who can't afford a fridge at all—a use case we never set out to serve, but one that reframed what we had built. That's the kind of wider impact I want to keep designing for.

Thanks to Elissa, Mida, and Hannah for being the most creative and driven groupmates!