Distribute and serve recovered meals to neighbors in need

Our network supports organizations serving families across New Jersey

Share My Meals specializes in the safe, sustainable recovery of prepared meals from corporate cafeterias, schools, universities, and hospitals.

We have built a meal recovery program that is simple for food donors and follows high-standard food safety guidelines. We work with organizations who distribute the meals we recover to individuals and families in need.

How it works

Share My Meals connects food donors with surplus meals to community organizations serving families in need.

Food service teams pack surplus meals.

Volunteers and drivers transport meals to community recipient partners.

Recipient partners distribute meals to guests.

Meal recovery in action

Community recipient partner FAQ

Questions? Here are answers to some of the most common questions our community recipient partners ask.

What are the eligibility requirements to become a recipient partner?

Recipient partners must be registered nonprofits or community-based organizations that serve individuals experiencing food insecurity. They must also be able to safely receive, store, and distribute meals according to our program guidelines, specifically: ensuring that donated meals are consumed or frozen within two days of receipt by the organization and ensuring that food is being held in appropriate temperature until that time.

Is there a cost to participate?

No. There is no cost for eligible community recipient partners to participate in the Meal Recovery Program.

We recover prepared, surplus meals from commercial kitchens such as corporate cafeterias, schools, universities, hospitals, and similar facilities. Meals are nutritious and safely handled.

Can we choose the types of meals we receive (e.g., vegetarian, allergen-free)?

As we work in food recovery, meal variety depends on what is available during a given week at each donor site. While we cannot guarantee specific dietary options, we make every effort to match each recipient partner with a donor whose food donations are suitable and well-received by the recipient community.

Where do the meals come from?

Meals are donated by a network of commercial kitchens across New Jersey, including corporate campuses, hospitals, K12 schools and universities.

How are meals packaged and delivered?

Meals are packaged in reusable, dishwasher-safe trays and delivered in conditions that ensure food safety.

What size are the reusable trays?

Meal donors have multiple options for trays and select the one that best suits their site’s volume of surplus. Most donors’ meals are recovered in 2.5” depth half hotel pans. We also work with donors who choose to use 2.5” depth full hotel pans. 6 quart soup containers are also available to meal donors should they choose to donate soups and stews.

Our community recipient partners assume full responsibility for washing our reusable trays with hot water and soap or a dishwasher after food has been served/re-portioned. Trays must be safely stored on site at the partner organization until the next meal recovery, at which point they are returned to the meal donor.

How much food will we get?

The quantity varies depending on donor availability and your organization’s capacity. We aim to match the number of meals delivered with the number of meals you serve on a regular basis.

How often will we receive meals?

Meal delivery frequency depends on alignment with donor schedules, your organization’s needs, and our logistics. Some partners receive meals one or two times weekly; others may be scheduled for one-time or as-needed deliveries.

How far in advance will we know what meals are being delivered?

We work closely with donors and recipient partners to establish predictable schedules when possible. Specific meal volume may be confirmed closer to the delivery date.

What data or reporting is required from us?

Similar to our community partners, Share My Meals is a 501(c)(3) organization and relies on grants for a portion of our operating budget. To that end, we ask at the outset of partnership that our partners share with us the following information about their services to the extent that our partners can do so without infringing upon their guests’ privacy: typical number of individuals served, typical number of meals served, typical demographics of guests served (e.g. mostly families, mostly seniors, etc.). We do not ask for any personal or other identifying information about our partners’ guests.

How do we track meal donations and delivery history?

All donations and deliveries are tracked in our Salesforce platform. Upon request, we can provide reports detailing quantities, meal types (e.g. trays of prepared meals, prepackaged meals, soups, etc.), and delivery dates.

What happens if we need to pause or cancel a delivery?

Please notify your Operations Team partner as early as possible. This allows us to redirect meals and minimize waste. Clear and timely communication is essential for smooth operations.

How do we get started?

Once we confirm alignment, we’ll ask you to sign our partnership agreement. From there, we will coordinate logistics and begin scheduling your deliveries based on availability.

Can we start right away?

Start dates depend on donor availability and delivery schedules. We’ll work with you to onboard as quickly as possible once the partnership is confirmed.

How are meals transported to our organization?

At present, Share My Meals is onboarding new community recipient partners that have the capacity to pick up their site’s meals from their partner meal donor(s). Our program team provides a thorough training to anyone transporting our meals focused on using our smartphone app and on basic food safety.
Our volunteer team also actively works to engage community members who are interested in transporting meals. As we have volunteers in your area who are able to assist with meal recoveries, we will begin matching them to your organization’s route to support your pickups.

Safe, sustainable recoveries, efficient redistributions

At Share My Meals, the safe handling of recovered meals is our top priority, as we know it is for our community partners. Our STAN (Safety, Allocation, Tracking, Navigation) platform supports the safe recovery, allocation and redistribution of the meals that we rescue. It also measures our impact as an organization and allows us to report to our partners the impact of their work, whether meals and pounds of food donated, volunteer hours provided through meal transport, or CO2e offset.

Hear from our community recipient partners

How working with Share My Meals makes a difference

Nourish.NJ’s partnership with Share My Meals has provided much needed budget relief while giving an opportunity to serve our guests diverse, fresh, and flavorful meal options. The…weekly food distributions save our kitchen team time in preparing 200 additional meals for our home delivery program. Share My Meal strategically partners with food service agencies who prepare more healthful and higher quality products than is often associated with food rescue. The professionalism and coordination of the entire process in working with Share My Meals has been a net positive for our organization”

Dave Bein

COO at Nourish.NJ

Thanks to this wonderful partnership and resource our families benefit from free meals every week. This helps our families so much with food planning, budget and food security as well….The Share My Meals delivery process is very straightforward and easy to follow. We are proud to say that we are part of this wonderful program here in PNS!”

Sacheska Fuentes

Family Engagement Associate at Princeton Nursery School

The emergency shelters are an underfunded program and the meals you provide help us continue to serve the guests with dignity. It has been wonderful to be able to serve them consistently with your contributions. The guests are very thankful for the meals and that they are quality meals”

Bernice Guzman

Kitchen Team Leader at United Community Corporation

Ready to learn more?

Questions? Reach out to Flavia Mulungi, our Outreach Associate.