Hussain Qazaq regularly stops by The Eatery, which is the dining hall at University of Idaho’s Wallace Residence Center, to pick up foil pans filled with high-quality food that would otherwise go to a compost pile.
Qazaq is part of a small group of student volunteers within the Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) who label and repackage surplus food from campus to feed people in need — especially their fellow students.
In spring 2025, FCS students and Associated Students of University of Idaho (ASUI) leadership organized a local chapter of the Food Recovery Network, which is the nation’s largest student-driven movement against food waste. The nonprofit organization has programs on nearly 200 college campuses in 46 states.
“It’s a noble idea, and really as nutritionists, we are so happy to have such an initiative,” said Qazaq, a doctoral student studying nutritional sciences. “This can help students manage their food during their studies, and I think the demand is high for this.”
Volunteers gather twice per week in the school’s Carmelita Spencer Foods Laboratory and fill anywhere from 15 to 50 takeout boxes with entrees and side dishes such as beef stew, mashed potatoes, vegetables, refried beans, barbeque chicken, stir fry and assorted fruits. The boxes are dated and labeled with a list of ingredients.
Meals are available for pickup in a designated refrigerator provided by ASUI on the second floor of the Niccolls building weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Contingent on supplies, food may also be distributed from secondary locations, including the U of I food pantry within Shoup Hall and the CALS refrigerator in the kitchen of the E.J. Iddings Agricultural Science building. Students and other beneficiaries are usually quick to claim the meal boxes.
The chapter recently began circulating pamphlets and flyers and posting on social media to publicize its services. Chapter leaders also aim to expand the program to include regular volunteers from other U of I departments and colleges.
Though outreach efforts have focused on campus, free meals are available to anyone in the broader Moscow community facing hunger. More than half of U of I students meet the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s definition for being food insecure, according to the university’s Fall 2022 National College Health Assessment.
“This was an opportunity for our campus to make sure we could repurpose food and make it available to students and others who might be experiencing food insecurity to be able to consume some good quality, nutritious food that may otherwise go to waste that’s served by our campus dining halls,” said Ginny Lane, an assistant professor in community and global nutrition and the U of I chapter’s faculty advisor.
Lane anticipates the chapter will eventually grow to also accept leftovers from local restaurants and campus catering.
Lane is a member of the U of I Food Security Coalition, comprising employees and students dedicated to addressing food insecurity on campus. She started conversations a couple of years ago about potential opportunities with Idaho Eats, which runs the campus dining program.
Even I have had times I’ve had to choose between saving up for rent or purchasing my next meal. Food insecurity is a real issue in our community, especially among first-generation and international students.
Razan Ahmed
Recent graduate and former director of sustainability with ASUI
“As part of that, we’ve talked about food recovery because that’s one aspect of food security,” Lane said. “People at Idaho Eats became really interested and brought it up with their leadership, and they got the go-ahead.”
Razan Ahmed, a ’25 graduate who was the director of sustainability with ASUI at the time, took the lead in formalizing the new chapter. ASUI contributed funding to purchase take-out boxes and the new refrigerator in the Niccolls building.
“Even I have had times I’ve had to choose between saving up for rent or purchasing my next meal,” Ahmed said. “Food insecurity is a real issue in our community, especially among first-generation and international students.”
One of the greatest fans of expanding the Food Recovery Network to U of I is Carlyle Watt, the new campus executive chef with Idaho Eats. Accurately predicting how much food to prepare is a constant challenge for Watt and his team, as demand varies based on weather, meal popularity, competing campus events and other factors.
“It’s great for me to have this program in my back pocket — to know that if we can’t use the food, if we can’t sell it, if we make too much of something and miss the mark — it’s going to feed someone who needs it,” Watt said. “I don’t want to see it go in the trash can, and I don’t want to see it go in the compost bin. I want to see it go to people who appreciate having that and need our help.”