Join the Leftovers Recipe Challenge!

An Invitation For You To Join!

Did you know your next delicious meal could already be sitting in your fridge?

We’re inviting Southbury residents to take part in an exciting community Recipe Challenge — and help turn food scraps and leftovers into something amazing!

🥕 What’s the Challenge?

We’re creating a community cookbook filled with creative, tasty recipes that use:

Leftovers from last night’s dinner
Surplus ingredients you need to use up
Wilting veggies
Extra dairy or eggs
Food nearing its expiration date
Scraps you’d normally toss

If it saves food from the trash — it belongs in this cookbook!

Together, we’ll share practical, budget-friendly ideas that help neighbors:
✔ Reduce food waste
✔ Save money
✔ Discover new favorite meals
✔ Make a positive environmental impact

Your recipe could inspire someone else’s next delicious dinner.

📖 Why It Matters

Food waste is happening in every home — often without us realizing it:

🗑️ Households waste over 35% of the food they purchase.
🥦 Fruits, vegetables, dairy, eggs, and prepared foods are the most commonly wasted items.
💰 The average family of four throws away about $1,600 worth of food every year.

According to ReFED, poor food management, overbuying (especially bulk deals), confusion about date labels, and not knowing how to repurpose ingredients are major drivers of household food waste.

But here’s the good news: a little creativity changes everything.

📝 How to Participate

It’s simple!

👉 Click the submission link to share:

Your recipe
A short description
An optional photo of your finished dish

That’s it! We’ll compile submissions into a community cookbook to share with everyone.