Where to donate food in Johnson County:

• Table to Table is a local non-profit organization that rescues edible food and delivers it to organizations in Johnson County that can use it.
• CommUnity Food Pantry located in Iowa City
• Coralville Community Food Pantry
• North Liberty Community Pantry
• Food Pantry at Iowa located at the University of Iowa in Iowa City

Understanding dates stamped on food:

• Food Product Dating Information (USDA)  

Meal preparation tips: 

• Guest-imator from Save the Food: This tool helps with large meal or party planning to better estimate how much food you will need before heading to the grocery store. 
• Meal Prep Mate from Save the Food  
• Meal preparation tips from the EPA  

Shopping tips:

• Shopping tips from I Value Food 
• Shopping tips from the EPA   

Storage tips: 

• Storage tips from the EPA  
• Storage tips from Save the Food
• Cold Food Storage Chart (FoodSafety.gov) 
• Safe Food Storage Resource List (USDA)  
• Shelf-Stable Food Safety (USDA)  

Freezing and preservation tips: 

• Freezing tips from Save the Food  
• Canning resources:
  • Farmers Almanac  
  • Clemson University  
• Blanching tips from Clemson University  

Tools to help you use up leftover ingredients: 

• Supercook 
• BigOven 
• 10 Meals for Almost Any Excess Ingredient  

Food revival tips: 

• Food revival tips from Sustainable Connections  
• Food revival tips from Save the Food 
• Table to Table offers solutions for old bread  

Local food resources: 

• Field to Family Online Market 
• List of Johnson County Farmers Markets
• Guide to Iowa CSA Farms
• Container gardening tips
• Iowa City Community Garden Plots
• Iowa State University’s Vegetable Planting and Harvesting Times

• What is Gleaning?
• Know Your Best By, Use By, & Sell By Dates
• Understand the Types of Food Waste
• Shop to Reduce Food Waste
• Keep Your Food Fresh Longer
• Freeze & Preserve Your Extra Food
• Eat It, Feed It, Compost It
• Rethink & Revive Your Food
• Deep Dive Into Composting
• Why Local Food Matters

Table to Table, Johnson County's food rescue non-profit organization, accepts all food and personal hygiene items that are accepted by our pantry partners and distributes them equitably across the Johnson County Food Access Network. That means your donation will go to more than just one pantry in the community, extending your impact even farther.

Most needed items and donation drop-off instructions for the three major pantries in Johnson County and the Food Pantry at the University of Iowa:

• CommUnity Food Pantry
• Coralville Community Food Pantry
• North Liberty Community Pantry
• Food Pantry at Iowa  

Our Johnson County community celebrates a diversity of holidays, and one thing most of them have in common is food.

While feasts and large meal preparations can run the risk of producing food waste, they also present an opportunity to be proactive and creative in our approach to food in an effort to reduce waste. As food wasted has immense social, economic, and climatic impacts, choosing to reduce food waste is a great way to have a positive impact on your local community. 

Before grocery shopping

• Shop your kitchen.
  • Inventory which food items you already have in the refrigerator and pantry to avoid buying duplicates.
• Make a shopping list.
  • What meals or dishes do you plan to make? How many guests do you plan to host? Asking these questions helps to identify types and quantities of ingredients you will need. Making a list for holiday meal shopping keeps you on track at the grocery store and lessens the chance of overbuying. Plus, it may reduce stress during a busy shopping season.
• Eat a snack or meal.
  • It is important to avoid grocery shopping when hungry as you are more susceptible to impulse purchases and overbuying.

At the grocery store

• Think realistically about items on sale, such as “10 for $5”.
  • It may seem like a tempting deal, but will you actually be able to consume ten? If not, you could end up with food waste, which results in money wasted.
• Control quantity.
  •  To have better control of quantity when purchasing produce items, opt for unpackaged fresh fruits and vegetables. (Added climate benefit: you reduce packaging, too!)

During holiday gatherings

• Share leftovers.
  • Having guests over for a big meal? Send them home with leftovers packed in to-go containers. 
    • Reuse tip: Save up empty and clean plastic containers to pack leftovers (such as cottage cheese tubs, deli meat containers, or take-out containers). 

After holiday gatherings

• Use up leftover ingredients.
  • Four recipe types that help to use up leftover ingredients are soups, sauces, casseroles, and smoothies! These categories allow for a lot of flexibility in terms of ingredients, which is great when we don’t always know what we might have leftover.
• Freeze food.
  • Not going to eat it right away? Freeze food to preserve freshness. 
• Keep an eye on the refrigerator.
  • It can be easy for a container of strawberries or carton of milk to get unintentionally pushed to the back of the refrigerator and forgotten about. On a weekly basis, reorganize your refrigerator and move items that need to be eaten soon to the front to ensure they get used up.
• Compost the unavoidable food waste items. 
  • We will always have turkey bones, eggshells, coffee grounds and other types of food that we do not traditionally eat. Handle these materials in an environmentally-friendly way with composting.

 Video Title: "Freeze and Preserve Your Extra Food"

You can save food for months – like hitting a “pause” button on it – by freezing or canning, and it just might surprise you how many different types of food can be preserved for long periods of time. Learn more by visiting the Table to Table website.

Video Title: "Why Local Food Matters"

How far did your food travel to get to your plate? Reduce your carbon footprint and benefit your health by choosing local food. Learn more by visiting the Table to Table website.

Video Title: "Deep Dive Into Composting"

Banana peels, watermelon rinds, corncobs, eggshells, coffee grounds – the list goes on of food scraps that we don’t traditionally eat. Once we’ve eaten the banana, scrambled the eggs, and drank the coffee, what can we do with these non-edible scraps? Compost them! Learn more about this topic at the Table to Table website.

Video Title: "Shop to Reduce Food Waste"

Moldy bread, sour milk, and wilted veggies — these are all common outcomes of buying too much food. Reduce food waste at home and save money by following our easy, simple tips on how to shop to reduce food waste. Learn more about this topic at the Table to Table website.

Video Title: "Keep Food Fresh Longer"

Avoid playing the “what was that?” game while looking through your fridge. You can make your food last longer by storing it in optimal conditions and organizing your fridge and pantry. Watch this program for helpful tips. Learn more about this topic at the Table to Table website.

Video Title: "Rethink and Revive Your Food" 

Bread, fruit, and vegetables are just a few food categories at risk of getting wasted when items appear stale, bruised, or wilted. Embracing food imperfections with a little culinary creativity can significantly reduce food waste and save you money! Learn more about this topic at the Table to Table website.

Video Title: "Reduce Food Waste for Your Holiday Gatherings"  

Food waste significantly increases from November to New Year’s. Why? Several major holidays take place during this two-month window that involve gatherings and celebrations oftentimes centered around food. Learn some simple tips to be proactive and creative in your approach to food in an effort to reduce waste. Learn more about this topic at the Table to Table website. 

Video Title: "Know Your Best By, Use By, & Sell By Dates"  

This video takes a look at “best by” and “sell by” dates on food items and what they actually mean. You might be surprised to learn that, except for baby formula, those dates are not food safety recommendations. Learn more about this topic at the Table to Table website.