I need my own plate?!

Most other food establishments give away thousands of food take-out containers each day, all of which end up in the garbage. We ask that you bring your own dish and cutlery to Community Eats lunches, because eating from reusable containers is a really simple way to start making more sustainable food choices.

When we cook Community Eats lunches, we usually don’t leave the SUB until about 11:00 at night, when almost everyone else has gone home. We’re always shocked by the number of disposable containers littering the building, and we’re glad that our project isn’t contributing to that waste. Our hope is that people who come to Community Eats lunches will make a habit of bringing a reusable food container with them even when they eat elsewhere, so that they’ll never need to use a disposable one again.

Where does this food come from?

In an effort to decrease the amount of edible food that goes to waste, Community Eats lunches are cooked with food that would otherwise be thrown out due to appearance (i.e. blemishes, bruises, etc), quality, or damage (i.e. broken or punctured packaging). During the week, volunteers collect all of this food from grocers and distributors and bring it to campus to be turned into a delicious meal.

Who is Community Eats?

Community Eats is its volunteers! As you might imagine, it takes many, many hours to collect, prepare, and cook the food served at these lunches – all this time is donated by a team of dedicated volunteers.

We’re always seeking more eager people who are interested in helping out. If you have some time you’d like to spend with us, send us an email at communityeats@gmail.com or introduce yourself to us at one of the lunches to find out how you can join us.

Get Involved: Volunteering with Community Eats

Community Eats lunches are only possible through the efforts of some wonderful volunteers, and we always need more folks to help us out.

Volunteers aren't required to make an ongoing commitment. We're happy to see new faces each week, so even if you only have a few hours to spare every now and then, we encourage you to get involved. Volunteering is a fun way to "pay" for your lunches - you'll find out what it takes to make the lunches happen every week, and have an opportunity to engage with both the food, and some of the other great people who've been eating it!

Food Collection
Takes place on the Wednesday and Thursday before each lunch. If you have a few hours to spare on either of these days, let us know. We will coordinate with your schedule to find a time that you can help us pick up food from the distributors who regularly supply us. All the pickups are done on the bus, so make sure you bring your U-pass.
If you're interested in helping to collect, email us with the times that you're available and we'll fill you in on all the details.

Cooking
It takes a lot of chopping to feed 200 people! Cooking takes place on the Thursday before each lunch, from 12:00 - 6:00. If you have any amount of time to spare, do come down to the kitchen to help us out - the more the merrier! Don't worry if you've got no cooking experience - one of our cooks will be overseeing it all. We have all the knives, aprons, and cutting boards that might be needed. Bring some music if you'd like.
Send us an email if you're interested in cooking, let us know what time you think you can stop by, and we'll fill you in on the details of where to find us.

Our email address is: communityeats@gmail.com

We look forward to meeting you!