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Show HN: CheapFoodMap – A map of good meals under $10

cheapfoodmap.com

221 points by jaep1 19 hours ago · 210 comments · 1 min read

Reader

I was recently laid off after 18 years, and gave myself 100 days to build soething useful in public. CheapFoodMap is a crowdsourced map of meal under $10, excluding franchises, local good eats only.

It's inspried by 거지맵 (Begger's Map) a Korean crowdsourced map students use to find cheap eats.

Ocverage is heaviest in Texas, since I live in Dallas, but have 1200 meals across 15 US cities. Seed data came from Google Review, 4.2 star or higher with at least 500 reviews, and verified price under $10 per menu item.

Things I would love feedback on : whether the price-freshness model makes sense, and what would make you trust the price on a site like this. How to encourage people to update prices, since inflation is making food price very frequent.

https://cheapfoodmap.com

Any and all suggestion will be super helpful. Thank you!

jawns 17 hours ago

This feels like GasBuddy, but for food.

One of the reasons GasBuddy took off was that it wasn't just based on community reports; there was an incentive for gas stations themselves to accurately report their prices and keep them up to date.

It seems like you're trying to discourage businesses from participating (e.g. by not accepting sponsored placements), and that will have implications for your growth rate. I think you should look for ways to give businesses an active role, without eroding user trust in the recommendations, of course.

Think of the possibilities:

- Business can add coupons to its listing, making cheap food even cheaper

- Business can confirm a reported deal, adding to its credibility

- Business can provide full menu and a link to order takeout

I don't think any of those features would make users feel like the business is "buying" a listing it didn't earn.

  • jaep1OP 17 hours ago

    Wow, thank you for this suggestion. This might be most sustainable way to update prices, as long as I set boundaries correctly. I will research how GasBuddy set up their data pipeline this week to see if we can benchmark.

    • Waterluvian 13 hours ago

      I could be wrong but I think you’ll want to consider changing the name. The parent post is on point, but companies won’t be attracted by the “cheap food” moniker. Even “budget food” is more palatable for a restaurant to associate with.

      • jaep1OP 13 hours ago

        This was our biggest concern as well. I already talked to few owners and negative connotation was making them reluctant to be on the site.. We thought about different name like "under10" "dimedrop" "Fooglemap" but none of them stuck. (We did like the name Fooglemap, but similarity to Google map will create risk of cease and decease letter if it ever becomes major.. so decided not to do it.)

        Still torn on name change.. We want cool / memorable name.

  • jaep1OP 17 hours ago

    Man.. I feel like I owe you lunch for making this suggestions. Noted and definitely taking this to heart

  • elo2000 15 hours ago

    Also good for time-based deals (for example, happy hour specials) where businesses really do want to get more customers in the door at certain times.

    • jaep1OP 14 hours ago

      Yes, rather than relying 100% on customers. Business will be better at updating correct cadence.

  • tantalor 14 hours ago

    Not really.

    GasBuddy has a standard: price per gallon

    But this is just a map of the lower-priced items, which are available everywhere. You can find a cheap sandwich, bowl of soup, slice of pizza, or taco virtually anywhere. There is no corresponding standard point of comparison (no "gallon").

    • 9x39 13 hours ago

      There's the calorie. Not always a good metric of health, but it's still a signal.

      $/cal varies meaningfully between home cooking, Costco, Chipotle, fast casual, sit-down, frozen meals, etc.

    • jasonfarnon 11 hours ago

      It's a little different, instead of maximizing gas/price they're maximizing community rating subject to 10$ limit. I have often wanted to query google reviews in this way. I think yelp might have let you do this back in the day. If this data is already being scraped continuously what I'd really like is a query interface.

    • ant6n 11 hours ago

      The unit should be a Meal. Not just an appetizer, a full meal. (Does it include drink? In US, many places give free tap water, but not others. Is it okay if it’s only lunch, or should it be available for dinner too? What about tipping?)

      • jaep1OP 9 hours ago

        Yes, adding this as default recommandation from now on, adding filter so user can filter out single item like taco and appentizer

      • rbanffy 4 hours ago

        > What about tipping?

        Please find a way to punish restaurants that don’t pay living wages and force staff to live from the tips. This is just wrong.

kmfrk 41 minutes ago

This would also work amazingly with https://beliapp.com which is a tool for - only - sharing restaurant reviews with your contacts to serve as a personal graph of trust.

Or you could also implement your own on-site equivalent of it, if people are sharing their reviews anyway.

It's also excellent for vlogger content, if you want to get the word out, although influencers aren't historically known for tenacious attribution and credit in their content. :)

gffrd 16 hours ago

Could see this being useful for people who are on the road for a living, or regularly operating in areas where they’re not familiar with the offerings. Truck drivers, salespeople, etc.

That said, kneejerk after using it is: price is a challenging anchor, because food is not uniform. I’d be curious if users are more interested in “under $10, ignoring all else” or “a better deal than comparable” - though, there’s a lot of subjectivity in that.

Gasbuddy works because 1 gallon of gas = 1 gallon of gas, so price is a useful anchor.

$5 for sushi at one place could be a bad deal, while a great deal at another place.

An $8 steak would be cheap. An $8 hot dog would be a ripoff.

I’d be skeptical of restaurants luring people with a single cheap item, or about quality/portion changes.

All this said, Ikea is known for designing furniture _around_ the price their target customer thinks a table should cost. Restaurants are likely (hopefully!) aware of where these price thresholds are for their customers … and your site could be an interesting way of sending them a different type of customer than they’d historically targeted. Or, allow them to refine an offering to maximize profit at the $10 price point.

As others have said, engage restaurants and make them part of the equation. They’re not your adversary.

In short: cool! Do lots of experiments and research!

  • jaep1OP 16 hours ago

    Thank you so much gffrd.

    You know, my dream is to have some kind of movement where people rally to fight inflation and tipflation. Last few years, we seen some crazy food price increases and it seems like its gonna get worse.

    If enough people find value in affortable prices, and people go to those restaurants that offer good deals, either as lunch special or weekly promotion, more restaurant will try to offer these kind of deals. Win for customers, win for restuarant.

    Might be getting a head of myself there.. but that's the vision. (If you check "About" page, I put another dream which is to make this website turn non-profit later down the road if we make money lol)

    • mminer237 14 hours ago

      To really stop inflation, the fed would have to ramp up interest rates, stop printing money, and Congress would have to cut spending and raise taxes. It's worth it to reward businesses who offer cheap prices, but inflation is inevitable without severe austerity measures.

      • jaep1OP 13 hours ago

        Interest rate is killing me at restaurant, grocery and my my retirement accout T-T

      • 9x39 13 hours ago

        Could cut demand instead, if we're imagining things.

elevation 13 hours ago

Sam's Club Cafe sells $1 hot dogs and $2.50 pizza slices with a drink, and it doesn't not require a membership to visit.

Larger families (4+ kids) shop at Warehouse clubs because they need items in bulk, but they are also often cost sensitive because they have a higher multiplier. You might see a family of 8 eating for under $20. Talk to that family, and they will tell you all the other places in town that they can afford to take their family to. They will also know other families who would be interested in your site.

  • jaep1OP 12 hours ago

    Awesome suggestion. Marketing was biggest huddle during this launch. I have been asking on facebook groups, since head of families are there, might be a good out reach?

  • alexjplant 11 hours ago

    My favorite college food hack was the 1/4 lb Big Bite at 7 Eleven. The one near my house sold them for $1 and had an extensive bar of vegetables in addition to the machine that secreted warm nacho cheese and chili (!!!) out of a bag. My usual setup was onions, tomatoes, sauerkraut, mustard, and a pinch of the cheese and some cilantro if they had any hanging around.

    If I had to feed a family on the cheap I'd make lentil or barley stew. Saute a mirepoix and brown whatever protein is on sale, deglaze with whatever wine is appropriate, brown some tomato paste, then chuck the rest of the veggies and starches in with some spice mix and cook for 30-40 minutes. Once you've dialed in whatever time is appropriate for your ingredients it's the best meal prep hack there is. Gym bros slathering chicken breast and white rice in mystery sauce need not apply.

    • jaep1OP 9 hours ago

      O man.. Mine was similar except it was nachos.. It was similar $1 (1999) and I loaded up with jalopenos, onions, chillies and cheeze... that was a good cheap meal

stbede 13 hours ago

$10 isn't $10 everywhere. There are still places in the country where $10 feels expensive. You may want to add a filter for even cheaper meals.

On the other end, increasingly, even fast food combos are more than $10. It would be helpful to highlight franchise meals that are actually affordable. Just don't let people add dollar menus or non-combos.

Posts should somehow only admit whole meals. If someone says their local taco truck sells a single street taco for $6.99, that's means a meal is more like $20.

  • jaep1OP 12 hours ago

    Yes on all three points.

    Added the $ filter, first action item this week is to add a filter to encourage only "real meal" not a single item like taco to be added as "meal"

    Maybe I should have named it cheapmealmap.com (I own this name as well.)

mft_ 18 hours ago

I love the idea, but a quick glance (randomly at SF) reveals entries that aren't "meals" (IMO, anyway) but rather snacks - like two spring rolls for $8, or a slice of pizza for $5.53. Also, the days of a $1 slice may have (long) gone, but $5.33 for a slice seems median at best, not "cheap".

Have you thought about either some guidance, or even a filter, for meal size?

  • satvikpendem 15 hours ago

    Too Good To Go has full meals under 10 dollars, but you can't choose what you're gonna get.

    • jaep1OP 14 hours ago

      Ah.. i thought Too Good To Go was a restaurant, couldnt post it.

  • mkw5053 17 hours ago

    Yeah a quick glance and none of the ones I saw around my office are meals. I'm honestly not sure a $10 meal exists in SF anymore...

    • andy99 14 hours ago

      Depends what you mean by meal, the parent didn’t like pizza slices but I believe one of the thick granny slices at Outta Sight pizza is still under $10, I’d consider that a lunch.

      It’s a fair point that generally it’s focused on single items rather than say a main, side, and drink for $10.

    • jaep1OP 17 hours ago

      It is becoming harder to find them. Just few lunch specials and hidden gems.

      I hope this app can help share these hidden gems.

      Maybe I should just delete bad data and just put few legit places only?

    • gnopgnip 9 hours ago

      El farolito is 9.75 for a big burrito

      Saigon sandwich is $5.50 for Bahn mi

    • jaep1OP 17 hours ago

      You're right, and it's on me — I seeded SF from published menus to bootstrap the map, and some entries are snacks, not meals. Seeded rows are labeled "Posted on [date]" vs "Price verified [date]" for ones a human actually confirmed, but the meal/snack line needs to be a rule.. This week: pruning the non-meals and adding submission guidance

      Thank you again for suggestion!

  • jaep1OP 18 hours ago

    thats really good point. I should put more guidance on the submission.

    Basic rules were no franchise, actual meals only. I was filtering manually in DFW area for now, but should actually add more features and guidance in general.

    This is actually critical point. Thank you for pointing that out.

  • foolinaround 17 hours ago

    maybe, the calories for that item, and a lower limit that counts as a full meal?

    • xandrius 17 hours ago

      I can sell you a nice spoonful of old vegetable oil for less than $1 and topping the chart calorie-wise :D

murphyslab 2 hours ago

Noticing all of the Costco hot dog listings on the map reminds me: There's also an incentive for businesses to pose as users and misreport prices of competitors. My local Costco gas station constantly has a set of users misreporting the price of fuel, reporting the price as several cents higher than in actuality, seemingly in order to prevent consumers from refueling there. Something to watch out for.

AdieuToLogic 12 hours ago

This is a great idea I fully commend. An additional option for meals under $10 is cooking them oneself too.

I know this might appear to be obvious, but is still a viable option IMHO. A used copy of the "Joy of Cooking" book and some creative shopping can go a long way.

  • jaep1OP 11 hours ago

    This is great idea. Auto populate recipe and link to fill in shopping list on Amazon Fresh.

    • AdieuToLogic 6 hours ago

      Or just find an appetizing dish in the book, jot down the ingredients, and visit a local market.

      This strategy also enables alternate use-case discovery by interacting with subject-matter experts.

sifarhub_com 2 hours ago

I checked and will stat from positive that it looks cool although it feels confusing seeing so much things on map. can it be like remove all other things than road . just keep road so only visible thing would be path and the food address. also I tried with email login but magic link never sent to email. also it would be great if you integrate with food delivery people and also show there rates od delivery . because they keep it hidden and than at the end of bill or invoice as customer I get annoyed to see much charges by them.

mncharity 10 hours ago

UX report: On desktop chromium, clicked on a "14 restaurants nearby" restaurant item, and... nothing changed on the map. Little idea where it is. Got address from popup and... map wasn't showing that street name. Zoom in, pan around, repeat. Struggle. Apparently cluster markers (like "(2)") don't visually indicate selection at all. And the unclustered restaurant marker selection indication was subtle enough for me to miss, at least when getting started. Especially given the draws-the-eye distraction of the popup, so the indication transition itself wasn't noticed.

Also on the "restaurants nearby" list, every card said "New York, NY". Unhelpful ink. I wished it was showing the address line, at least when all the city lines were the same.

A relieved word of thanks for not using the frustrating Google Maps "Search this area" yes-really-please button.

I saw someplace interesting, then realized, "oh yeah, I tried to go there, but they don't open until <after my window>". Also, "that looks interesting... I wonder when they're open?", then checked GMaps via button, which didn't have hours but did have popular times (it's a truck).

Fwiw. Has given me a couple of places to try - thanks!

  • jaep1OP 9 hours ago

    Wow, this is really helpful user experience issue that I did NOT know about!

    Thank you thank you thank you!

fibuladev 15 hours ago

The leaderboard with acorns is a smart touch. gamification might actually solve your price freshness problem better than anything else. If updating a price earned acorns too, your top contributors would keep the data current for you. Nice project, and the 10% to food banks commitment on the about page is a good look.

  • jaep1OP 15 hours ago

    Thank you! Yes, updating prices give you acorn and badge as well. I might expand more incentives to update prices, like suggestion from comments, for restaurants.

    Food bank commitment is built in from start. I plan to display transparent donation amount if we ever make money. (fingers crossed!)

gabrielsroka 15 hours ago

Neat idea.

I don't like giving my location, zip code should be good enough. I think if I tap List it kind of works but not really. I'm in SoCal for what it's worth.

  • jaep1OP 14 hours ago

    Yes, I should make that easier for people. You can enter zip code or city name on search box and it should take you there. (Under List in mobile)

    • gabrielsroka 14 hours ago

      You can, but it gives me New Mexico and NorCal.

      I'd prefer to sort by location or filter more closely.

      • jaep1OP 13 hours ago

        Great suggestion, I will add that feature to this week's to do list. Thank you boss!

chirau 14 hours ago

How do you vet 'a meal'? Manually? I ask because some places will have say fries, or sides or $1 oysters or others will have $2 wings but with a minimum purchase of 6.

Otherwise, great job. I like it.

  • jaep1OP 14 hours ago

    Thank you, This is biggest take away from everyone's feedback today. I will add filters and option to define if item is a "meal" or "snack/appetizer"

    It is really amazing to get such a great response and feedback from this group.

madhacker 10 hours ago

I’d like to see something similar to Spain’s menú del día. Also, please indicate whether guilt-inducing tipping is required.

In Dallas, you can eat affordably at any 99 Ranch supermarket hot deli—think Panda Express, but with larger portions and lower cost. You can also get low-cost dim sum items at 99 Ranch.

Many Dallas food halls, such as Legacy Hall, are fairly overpriced, so I’d avoid them. The cost at mall food courts varies.

Some fast-casual restaurants offer a free kid’s meal one day a week or with the purchase of an adult entrée. But usually, an Asian supermarket’s hot deli offers the best value, especially if it’s located in the heart of an Asian neighborhood. Avoid any asian food located in downtown as that tend towards high prices.

website name: eat2live, dailyeats, affordableeats, weeat, eatdaily,

  • jaep1OP 9 hours ago

    Thank you!! Currently, only restaurant was allowed, but I think we need to change it so that groceries are allowed. (like Ranch 99 chinese specials and Ranchero Market 99 cent taco deals.)

    weeat! I like that name!

mitchbob 9 hours ago

> It's inspired by 거지맵 (Beggar's Map) a Korean crowdsourced map students use to find cheap eats.

This sounds great; really hoping it takes off. I'm curious: would Beggar's Map work pretty much as-is in other countries, or if not, why not?

I'd suggest making whatever price cutoff you decide on the price for a meal, not a dish. One dish, like a great bowl of tofu stew, can be a meal in itself, but let submitters decide.

Students in college towns are an obvious audience, and I can imagine plenty of low-cost ways to reach out to them and get them to seed the site. Be sure to include Berkeley in your outreach!

  • jaep1OP 8 hours ago

    Thakn you! Beggar map > even their url is korean only and does not have English URL. (beggarmap.com is owned.. by me actually, I offered it to transfer to Korean website owner for free, sent him an email)

    Yes! College kids are my first audience. Reason behind having mascot like chipmunk was to target younger audiences. I will make sure to our reach Berkeley area!!!

    O yes, I am definitely adding filter and option to trigger meal vs single item/appentizer

L-patpat 4 hours ago

Would you mind sharing where you got this food data? I wanted to create maps labeling free parking areas, yet I can’t get access to the required geospatial data.

pipkopapko 3 hours ago

I would be interested in adding some slovenian spots for the love of the game if you are looking for a europe branching :)

effnorwood 17 hours ago

Define "good" and "meal"

  • jaep1OP 16 hours ago

    Good question! Good : Google Review 4.2 with 500+ reviews Meal : Proper meal that can qualify as lunch or dinner

    But honestly... not fulfilling all the requirement just yet >_<

    • ssl-3 15 hours ago

      FYI: When looking around my favorite spots for decent, cheap food in the small towns in Ohio where I hang out, it's easy to find plenty of them with a score of at least 4.2 on Google.

      But it's somewhat difficult to find some that have over 500 reviews, even for places that have been there for quite a long time.

      I agree that barriers are necessary, but might there be a way to soften them?

      As it is, it looks like my choices will remain pretty limited even if the website does gain popularity, unless I'm willing to drive further out to a "real" city where places have more traffic. (And by that point: It's not cheap anymore.)

    • effnorwood 16 hours ago

      now do French Laundry and glyphosate

  • ge96 16 hours ago

    Succulent... Chi... Meal?

  • Theodores 14 hours ago

    This might be the better application. Some of us from outside the US do not want to eat ANY American food unless it has come from the actual ground or a tree, seen actual daylight and not been processed in special American ways.

    So all that artificial food is off the menu, yet Americans consider this stuff to be food. Nothing in any of those fast food places is food to anyone from the old world, unless they are under five.

    Hence an 'actual food map' would be useful, not least to people not from the U.S. and wanting more than this nonsense Americans call 'food'. In short, a cheap burger is of no use to my nutritional needs and is neither 'food' nor 'cheap', just a waste of money on a non-food item.

    • jaep1OP 14 hours ago

      Oh, you are giving me another idea for a webpage called "RealFoodMap" or "GoodFoodMap"? Health / Nutrient scored map?

      • Theodores 14 hours ago

        It could be just a filter, along with dietary requirements. In this way the one webpage can be made to work for everyone.

        Honestly, although fast food is normalised in America, there are lots of people that would never be seen dead, chomping into an American burger with fluorescent beverage, to consider it 'food'. Do they even have vegetables in these places?

        Also, cooking is not what some Americans do, whereas some people outside America cook from scratch every day. These visitors need to know dining options, which can mean eating out or finding somewhere with ingredients that are not overly American.

        America developed differently to the rest of the world regarding food, an app is needed to help tourists find something vaguely edible rather than utterly soul destroying.

        • jaep1OP 13 hours ago

          Vegetables, salads are usually more expensive compare to burgers and pizzas in US. I think people gotten used to this fact. I can see why people outside can get shocked by how things are here. Don't blame you for a bit.

          When I travel abroad, I am usually shocked how good food are compare to how much it cost, especially in Asian Countries. European countries, I get shocked at both good food quality and price haha

sshanky 14 hours ago

it's not working for me. probably just slammed.

it'd be nice to be able to actually just click on a restaurant listing in the map rather than having to search for it.

also, happy hour options might make sense -- maybe some way to filter out (or see) results that are only available during a happy hour. Users could check "happy hour item" and enter the times for the happy hour.

finally, if people enter cheap items that aren't large enough to be a "meal" (like one taco for $3.50) this might become less useful.

  • jaep1OP 14 hours ago

    Man, that is brilliant idea. Adding "Meal" or "Snack" as mandatory field should help solve noise submission out.

    Happy Hour filter option will be added soon! Thank you for your suggestion!

  • jaep1OP 14 hours ago

    It should work now, so many people trying this out, never had this much traffic since we started haha

    Upgraded server so it should work now

    • anticorporate 12 hours ago

      Still having issues here - maybe with the address lookup API?

      • jaep1OP 12 hours ago

        It works on my end, still not good?

        (I upgraded both server + Google API allowance)

        • anticorporate 11 hours ago

          Oh, I see, it's filtering by business type. A lot of the best places for cheap food around here are in a multi-purpose business, like a gas station or a tienda that have an awesome taqueria or panderia or something like that as a part of their store, often with their own separate entrance and eating area but no separate Google listing.

  • chirau 14 hours ago

    give it a minute, it will load. I am sure it is slammed right now. That's what I had to do.

    • jaep1OP 14 hours ago

      Yes, just upgraded my server so it should be able to handle it haha

momena 7 hours ago

I like how cute the design is! What tech stack did you use and how did you design the website?

Signed, Backend dev struggling to have good designs for a mobile app I’m making

  • jaep1OP 6 hours ago

    Thank you! Next.JS + TypeScript + Tailwind on Vercel.

    1. Tailwind with a deliberately tiny palette. One accent color, system-ish fonts, defaults for almost everything else.

    2. A mascot covers a multitude of sins. Chip the chipmunk shows up everywhere — badges, avatars, empty states, link preview cards.

    3. I iterate UI with Claude Code in a tight loop: describe what feels off, look at the render, adjust, repeat. My job is judging the result, not pixel-pushing.

    4. Steal layouts shamelessly from apps you already like. For utility apps, original layout is a liability — users want familiar.

throwup238 13 hours ago

One thing I’d recommend is somehow separating a la carte versus full meal type items if theres a way to separate them on the data side. You should see this in Texas where you might have a taco place with a $4 taco or Vietnamese with a $9 banh mi, the latter being substantially more food.

Also the map viewport does’t restore when click back from a restaurant/menu item page and it throws me back to Texas.

  • jaep1OP 12 hours ago

    Wow, that is a genuine error. I will add that fix on next release for sure!

fitzroy 13 hours ago

Would love a gluten-free / dietary restriction filter, or at least a filter where gluten/wheat is not an ingredient (separate from cross-contamination). Unfortunately, cheap-ish food is harder to find with dietary restrictions. Even filtering by Asian, Mexican, Italian, Mediterranean, etc., would be helpful.

Also, a way to verify or link to the menu item, hours, etc., at a place would also be helpful.

  • jaep1OP 13 hours ago

    We added direct link to Google maps since many would be preferred way to get full detail about the restaurants. (You can either click google review or dedicated Google Maps button)

    We will add more filters this week!

chesscoachx 17 hours ago

I like the idea. It would be nice a worldwide map. I mean, not only across the US.

  • jaep1OP 17 hours ago

    Wow, I am surprised to see so many recommandation for global app. We will definitely work on this soon.

    • chrysoprace 32 minutes ago

      The first thing I did was zoom way out and drag it all the way to Australia. You can get a user's approximate location by looking up their IP against a geolocation service and center their map on there in case they deny permission.

      I think there might also be ways to look up purchasing power, for what the equivalent of "under $10" (i.e. a cheap meal) is relative to the local currency.

    • ye1le 16 hours ago

      +1 wanted to add some for Germany (would require additional currency)

fl4regun 18 hours ago

Would love to see restaurants in Canada included

kennethallen 4 hours ago

Australia support, please! AUD15 limit?

Neff 17 hours ago

I like that I can filter by a specific area, but I wonder if people would be better served to get down to regions instead of a city. Dallas is pretty big, and I don't want to drive from Love Field all the way to Lakeside for lunch...

It would be great to somehow either

- Get to the map from a city list

- refine the city to a neighborhood level

dotancohen 13 hours ago

I just tried to add a place in Rahat, Israel, but the site seems US only. Go ahead and open it up internationally. I only know two places with under-$10 USD meals, but I love them both.

  • jaep1OP 12 hours ago

    Thank you for checking it out! Yes, we just launched and mostly in USA, especially Dallas area. After today's suggestions, definitely modivated to go international!

chasd00 16 hours ago

At the bottom of the lists, after you've scrolled through and clicked on some restaurants, you should have a "I'll do it myself" button that uses some llm to create a $10 meal recipe using the restaurants you clicked as inspiration.

  • jaep1OP 16 hours ago

    Like you can create similar meal yourself? That might actually help get more engagement from users.. not sure how much it will cost me though, AI API costs a lot these days T-T

    • ssl-3 13 hours ago

      Clever caching?

      There's only so many different ways to build a single item like a hamburger, or a chicken salad sandwich.

      Eventually, ~all of the necessary recipes will be created naturally just by using the thing, and these results can be cached forever and categorized with keywords.

      After that: Subsequent hits look to the cache for a good match rate on keywords, and present an already-existing recipe if it exists.

dewey 15 hours ago

I tried to add some spots in Berlin, but when I'm looking at the spot on the map and then click "Drop a spot" and type the restaurant name it's not finding it.

  • jaep1OP 14 hours ago

    Currently it is limited to US spots only. (In US, restuarant and places auto populate for you) I see this will be userful in Europe as well, so we will get to work!!

BrandoElFollito 16 hours ago

When visiting the US, I lerned that a meal that costs 10$ is actually 10$ + some random tax + a tip = 20$

  • jaep1OP 16 hours ago

    Yes, tip use to be around 15%, but now default close to 20%. We call it tipflation.

    We added tip + tax calculation on the page so you know what you are getting into as well =)

  • jerlam 15 hours ago

    It depends on the type of establishment.

    A full service restaurant where you are directed to a table, someone takes your order, then brings food to you, and then you pay would require a tip, because that is considered service.

    A counter service restaurant or cafe where you walk up to a counter, give your order, pay, then pick up your food and find your own table would not require a tip.

    • jaep1OP 9 hours ago

      Yes, it might be just me, but sometime I feel like I am strongly encourage to tip, even on a togo order these days..

    • BrandoElFollito 3 hours ago

      True. Still showing 10$ when it is actually 11.75$ because there is a random tax is really, really insane. I truly wonder why the US does this when the rest of the world does not.

timack 14 hours ago

Tried to add a spot in New Zealand and couldn't select the address.

Bahn Bi at Miss Saigon in BNZ Centre, Christchurch if anyone is looking!

8bitsrule 9 hours ago

> The map couldn't load. This usually means an ad blocker or privacy extension is blocking Google Maps... > Try disabling blockers for cheapfoodmap.com,

Try disabling your goofy expections that I'll spend a minute to learn if your page is worth it.

  • jaep1OP 9 hours ago

    Wow Thank you, but I don't have any ads running on my page, that's really weird... Let me know if you see any issues!

conqrr 15 hours ago

Nice! I've always wanted something like this clubbed with Coupons, Offers and combos that can be a steal deal sometimes.

  • jaep1OP 15 hours ago

    Yes! Food and saving money is two of my favorite things so this project is fun =)

trnsprnt-pgss 15 hours ago

I wish this had existed when I was a student. Please support non-US locations as well.

loco5niner 17 hours ago

Dropped a couple spots in my area. I like seeing the deals in the community section.

shadab_khan_127 6 hours ago

any plans on expanding it internationally?

mcfdoesdev 12 hours ago

Love this. Great idea.

It would be cool to drop a bounding box.

OsrsNeedsf2P 16 hours ago

거지맵 meaning beggar is a generous translation of the word

  • jaep1OP 16 hours ago

    yes, beggar map, I thought about using beggarmap.com but didn't sound right in English. I plan to give that domain name back to Korean founder. (I sent him an email already offering free transfer)

  • tekla 14 hours ago

    There aren't that many interesting ways to translate 거지. I suppose you could use bum, vagrant, lowlife, but beggar is close enough.

    • jaep1OP 13 hours ago

      Yes, we had 100 different name for this project, but nothing really stuck. cheapfoodmap is as close I can get =)

eightturn 14 hours ago

neat site. just added a spot for Savannah, GA. I submitted my email for a magic link, but nothing arrived (yet) fyi.

ghkdqhrbals 8 hours ago

Wow! I like it even if Im living in South Korea.

mandeepj 16 hours ago

Do you filter out snacks/appetizers?

  • jaep1OP 16 hours ago

    I do for Dallas area, which is our launch city. I will add filter to remove all the appentizers and snacks, and only post proper "meals" adding guidance as well. This community gave me so many good advices!

    • chasd00 16 hours ago

      For places like Fuel City in Dallas you may want to add an icon for "don't go alone after dark" ;)

gghootch 18 hours ago

I love it, but I want EU support!

  • jaep1OP 18 hours ago

    YES! Would love to expand internationally! If you visit, look for good lunch on the map =)

esafak 17 hours ago

Why wouldn't you just use Google Maps with a single-$ price filter?

  • jaep1OP 17 hours ago

    I guess we are trying to remove couple of steps. single $ sign mostly gives you fastfood chain restuarants. You wouldn't be able to find killer lunch special deals or local hidden gem menues. You can still find them, but it take efforts through trial and errors. I felt difficult finding killer deals, and having a website that shows these killer deals can bring value. But this is just me.. maybe this is my hopeful thinking?

mplanchard 12 hours ago

brb gotta add literally every pizza place in NYC

But seriously, this is great, and has already given me some new spots to try for lunch. Hopefully it takes off! I’d imagine it’ll be easiest to get a good engagement loop going in the big cities, so maybe worth focusing on them at the outset? ~80 places in NYC is a good start, but it’s the tip of the iceberg.

Edit: oh yeah I know we all love the web, but this would be nice as an app

  • jaep1OP 11 hours ago

    Yes! I just have it as PWA icon, android is coming soon, Apple app will take bit longer to make.

    Thank you so much for adding favorite spots!! Vote for your good spots if you see something you like =)

bellowsgulch 12 hours ago

Can you give us negative filters? Literally nothing but Mexican food listings in my area.

  • jaep1OP 10 hours ago

    ok! multi select and negative filter will be added by end of this week!

Zopieux 13 hours ago

(US only)

nonameiguess 13 hours ago

I also live in Dallas and had a feeling Fuel City would be #1 or close to it. Apparently, there's a taco place a few miles away in Bishop Arts that is 2 cents cheaper, but I bet they don't have outdoor block parties with live DJs, longhorns on site, a swimming pool with a statue of a velociraptor, or a huge neon sign over a gas station saying "Where Dreams Come True." I'm sticking with Fuel City. There are downsides hard to account for with price alone, though. Riverfront Blvd has been under construction for 7 years and hasn't had usable sidewalks in longer than I can remember, so you have no choice but to drive there. Plenty of other places I can walk to, so in practice, that's usually what I do.

  • jaep1OP 13 hours ago

    Good to see you! I justed added Fuel City as part of the list. I will actually go there to try them myself and shoot a video as well. I have been eating out and filming everyday and posting it on Instagram and Tiktok as promotion, best food deals in Dallas. Check it out if you are interested =) (@cheapfoodmap)

zuzululu 14 hours ago

Great app. Not a great sign for global economy.

madhacker 10 hours ago

eat2live dot info

thrownaway561 15 hours ago

What about just linking their Google Business instead of filling out a submission and uploading photos? That actually helps the business rank more.

  • jaep1OP 14 hours ago

    Google API costs way too much to scale. (photos and location info cannot be cached per their rules, so you need to fetch it every month)

the_real_cher 17 hours ago

A lot of things aren't healthy like pizza and fried chicken.

They should add the cost of future open heart surgery to the cheap meal.

stalfosknight 19 hours ago

No results in my particular metro area, but I love the idea!

gnopgnip 9 hours ago

I tried to add Corti bros in Sacramento but it’s not considered a restaurant. It’s a grocery store with a sandwich shop and deli inside. 8.50 for a big sandwich.

https://orderonlinemenu.com/CortiBrothers

  • jaep1OP 9 hours ago

    Yes, I will change logic so grocery stores are allowed. Some of the best deals seems to be at grocery shops

satvikpendem 15 hours ago

See also, Too Good To Go, which has full meals at the end of the day and often comes under 10 dollars. I use this quite a lot as you basically get the same food, you just can't choose what you want, they just give you whatever, but it's supposed to be 3x worth the sticker price ie an 8 dollar TGTG meal must be worth 24 bucks retail.

  • jaep1OP 14 hours ago

    o man, this is in San Francisco? I will add that to the spot =)

    • satvikpendem 13 hours ago

      It's a service for restaurants not one itself, it allows restaurants to give away uneaten food at the end of the day so as to reduce food waste and make some marginal income.

tamimio 14 hours ago

It will end up like this:

- $9.99 (slob food that much cheaper if you bought it from any grocery store)

- $5.99 delivery

- $7.99 tip

- $2.99 service fee

- sales tax on all that

Total: ~$30.

  • ssl-3 13 hours ago

    I may be an outlier, but: It has been years since the last time I had food delivered.

    It always seems better, cheaper, faster, and more definite to just go get it myself.

  • jaep1OP 14 hours ago

    Man, this has been story for me lately, eating out.. so hopely greater group intelligence by crowdsourcing can find hidden gems that are actually good??

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