Food Rescue MAINE

After Pilot 3 was completed, we had many recipes to upcycle food, but no knowledge about what products would be feasible to sell in store. Mainers Feeding Mainers, a Good Shepherd Food Bank program, did a crucial study to see what items would be marketable in Maine stores. Goals To develop a resilient local Maine […]

After discovering how many surplus crops farmers struggled to sell (pilot 2), we knew we had to figure out new markets for their use. Upcycled food products are foods (often surplus food or produce seconds) that are repurposed through processing techniques. Goals To expand the available markets for surplus crops. To increase the shelf life […]

Goals  To help connect Maine farmers with surplus food to large, institutional customers. Methodology  Every week we reach out to Maine farmers and determine if they have any surplus food that they would like to sell. This list is sent to institutions that are seeking affordable food in large quantities. The institution can then pick […]

Goals  To reduce on-farm food loss by identifying profitable ways to use their extra food. The survey was aimed primarily at Maine’s fruit and vegetable farmers and sought to answer the following questions: How many Maine farms have a surplus? How much surplus do Maine farms have? How often do Maine farmers have a surplus? […]

Goals  To create a hub for all of our information and resources for Maine’s food system. Methodology  Food Rescue MAINE’s website was created in the Spring of 2021. In its beginning stages, the website was simply a page explaining the basics of food recycling and was linked to a QR code in preparation for our […]

Goals To educate and engage Maine communities in the common goal of improving their community food systems. To prevent, recover, and recycle food waste. Methodology  In order to best create educational materials for a community, we must first understand what their goals are. To do this, a meeting is set up to discuss their goals […]

Food Rescue MAINE has collaborated with teachers across Maine both to create and compile educational material for young students. We currently have material available for preschool and ages k-5. We will soon add the high school food system curriculum to our website as well. Goals To create a fun and engaging elementary curriculum vetted by […]

Goals  To reduce school food waste, volume, and cost. To improve nutrition intake. Methodology  Worked with the Maine Department of Education nutrition director and faculty team to identify the most effective food waste and nutrition interventions. Researched best practices for elementary school food waste reduction. Recruited and selected four (4) participating Maine elementary schools for […]

Goals To connect surplus food that is available with local people that need it. Methodology  University of New England (UNE) Dining, powered by Parkhurst, donated their surplus food. Through volunteers from UNE’s Hunger Committee, this surplus food was then delivered to the Bon Appetit Community Meal Program. Throughout this process, the volunteers used a software […]

Goals  To reduce the waste of good, edible food in Maine communities. To Feed more Mainers in support of Ending Hunger in Maine by 2030. To test a potential statewide Maine Food Rescue system (no wasted food) to locally connect all “available food” (Donors) with all “food needs” (Feeding Sites). Strategy  To dramatically grow the […]