This paper illustrates the work of creating, infrastructuring, and organising a food-sharing community from the ground up. Drawing on Participatory Action Research (PAR) and long-term engagement with FoodSharing Stockholm, the paper shows how the processes of starting up a grassroots initiative are shaped by participants’ direct experience and knowledge of other related initiatives. The analysis draws attention to: (1) how central activities such as recruiting volunteers, choosing digital tools, and establishing partnerships with food donors are conceived and organised, (2) the concrete challenges of sharing surplus food, such as adopting a distribution model and negotiating fairness, and (3) how governance and decision-making models are adopted and (re)negotiated over time. The paper shows the impact that previous experiences can have on communities' efforts get up and running and re-orients design visions towards the appropriation of existing sociotechnical practices, rather than digital innovations. The paper continues the cycle of learning by contributing practical guidelines to build, sustain, and infrastructure surplus food-sharing initiatives where configuring capacities, configuring sociotechnical practices, and configuring participation, are discussed as central matters.