Tired of seeing tons of fresh food go to waste, a Lawrence-based food pantry has done something unusual: It’s opened its own kitchen to turn surplus food into ready-to-go meals.
Many food pantry programs provide bagged groceries to those who need a little extra help so they can prepare their own meals, but when faced with customers wanting more fresh produce and prepared meals than would fit in a grocery bag, the nonprofit Just Food came up with a novel solution: a program called “Chop Shop,” which transforms fresh produce that would normally be sent to the landfill into meals in a dedicated kitchen.
Photo by Zach Baumann.
“There are a lot of people out there working three or four jobs and still not being able to make ends meet,” says Andrea Walker, executive director of Just Food. Food pantries traditionally deliver raw produce, but many families and individuals struggle to find the time to cook in their busy lives.
Just Food staff had been toying with the idea of an in-house kitchen even before the pandemic, and in 2022 they conducted a “shopper survey” to find out their shoppers’ biggest needs: an overwhelming majority of respondents wanted to offer ready-to-eat meals like pasta dishes, sandwiches and main courses.
“Chop Shop is a program that takes items that might not otherwise be usable, like six-pound bags of rice, vegetables and produce that are nearing their expiration date, and creates ready-to-eat meals for shoppers,” Walker said.
In its first six months, Just Food rescued 15,500 pounds of food headed for the landfill and transformed it into meals, and its Chop Shop program allows large or unusual donations to be broken down in certified kitchens and packaged into portions for individuals and families.
Photo by Zach Baumann.
Before Chop Shop was established, Just Food was able to rent local space and offer a limited number of prepared meals. “With the constraints of renting commissary space, we quickly realized that having our own kitchen would enable us to exponentially increase our production without being constrained by inventory and storage constraints,” says Chetan Michee, who helped develop the program.
Logistical issues such as the time and effort required to move equipment in and out of rented space, and a lack of overnight storage, were costly and proved to severely limit Just Food’s ability to produce large quantities of meals.
This year, the group finally found a space of their own, complete with a commercial kitchen, a pseudo grocery store area for customers and even some tables and chairs where people can sit and eat pre-made meals from Chop Shop.
Just Food has received just under $800,000 in donations from grocery store food recovery, local food drives, public donations and farm harvests. But demand remains high, especially for fresh essentials like chicken, milk and eggs, which are donated less frequently. The Chop Shop spends about $40,000 a month on groceries to serve all its customers. “Our food recovery efforts have remained stable, but we’ve seen a significant increase in demand and customer numbers,” Michie said. Now, more than 400 households a day are served, he said. A few years ago, they served only half that number.
As an organization, they strive to offer a variety of options to shoppers, Walker says. Unfortunately, the cheapest foods are often not the healthiest, so Just Food strives to provide healthy eating for its customers. According to Feeding America, a major food bank network operator, hungry people are at higher risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and mental illness. “Providing nutritious food is important to us,” Walker says. “People have a right to good, nutritious food, too, and it’s not just for the privileged.”
