Maine farm surplus turned into ready-to-heat meals for the hungry

Maine Launches Pilot to Distribute 100,000 Frozen Meals to Those at Risk of Hunger

South Portland, Maine — In a coordinated effort to combat rising food insecurity across the state, two local nonprofits and a regional supermarket have begun a pilot program that will deliver 100,000 ready‑to‑heat, scratch‑made frozen meals to Mainers over the next year. The initiative, called Harvest to Home, began its first batch on Tuesday at Preble Street’s Food Security Hub in South Portland and is funded in part by a $150,000 grant from Hannaford Supermarkets.

Preble Street, an organization that has been supplying 700,000 meals a year to the Portland area, will cook and package the meals on a commercial‑grade scale. Using produce donated by Maine farms, staff and volunteers will blanch, blast‑chill and dehydrate crops that would otherwise go to waste, turning them into shelf‑stable frozen dishes. The pilot’s inaugural shipment of 2,000 meals—including miso chicken, pork and corn stew and beef bolognese—was dispatched by Good Shepherd Food Bank, which will haul the frozen boxes to its 380 partner food pantries throughout the state on a weekly basis.

“The end of the day, everyone deserves a good, comforting meal,” said Colin Freeman, executive director of Preble Street. “Hundreds more individuals and families across Maine will have access to nutritious, delicious food every single week.”

Good Shepherd’s president, Heather Paquette, highlighted the program’s focus on the state’s most vulnerable populations. “We are especially focused on our senior population, who are especially vulnerable as oil prices have gone up,” she said. “Some of them are going to the food pantry for the first time.”

The pilot is part of a broader strategy to create a statewide distribution network dedicated specifically to prepared, frozen meals. By combining commercial funding, surplus farm crops and nonprofit logistics, Harvest to Home hopes to provide an accessible solution for Mainers who cannot cook due to physical, geographic or financial limitations. The meals are designed to require no special kitchen equipment or storage beyond a refrigerator or freezer.

The project is estimated to cost $530,000, with the Hannaford grant covering a little more than a quarter of the budget. The rest will be absorbed by Preble Street and Good Shepherd through additional donations and their general operating funds. At roughly $5.30 per meal—including packaging, labor and utilities—the program aims to keep costs manageable for both the nonprofit partners and the end‑users.

Maine’s hunger crisis has sharpened in recent months. A Feeding America report released in July noted that more than 203,000 people in the state are at risk of going hungry—the highest number in a decade, based on 2024 data. Meanwhile, changes to federal SNAP benefits that began rolling out last fall have left thousands of Mainers without access to the program, further increasing the need for state‑level relief efforts.

“We’re especially focused on our senior population, who are especially vulnerable as oil prices have gone up,” Paquette added. “Some of them are going to the food pantry for the first time.”

Preble Street’s vice president of mission advancement, Ali Lovejoy, underscored the organization’s commitment to the program. “Ensuring hungry Mainers have the food they need is part of our mission, it’s part of our DNA,” she said. “We have confidence we can work with our partners, community members, and supporters to meet that need.”

While the 100,000 meals delivered by Harvest to Home will reach residents across both rural and urban centers, organizers acknowledge that the figure represents only a fraction of the broader hunger relief needs in the state. Nonetheless, the pilot is seen as a potential model that could be expanded in the future, offering a sustainable way to convert farm surplus into life‑sustaining food for those who need it most.

For more information on the Harvest to Home program, or to find a local food pantry that may receive the frozen meals, residents can contact Good Shepherd Food Bank or Preble Street directly.