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Original poster

To donate quinoa to the food bank?

233 replies

RaisinFlapjack · 08/12/2024 23:37

I realise there’s no way this won’t sound like the most guardian-reading middle-class question ever so I’m just going to own it.

i’m clearing out my cupboards before Xmas and I have a fair amount of in-date jars tins and packets which are taking up space.

Ibwas thinking of bagging it up for the food bank but while I’ve got some staples like tinned tomatoes and rice pudding which are more typically on the food-bank wish lists, some of it more along the lines of rocket pesto and polenta.

Is getting random bits like that at all useful for food banks or does it create a bit of headache or at worst get thrown out?

OP posts:
Bjorkdidit · 09/12/2024 14:43

ttcat37 · 09/12/2024 14:22

Tell me you’ve never left the UK without telling me you’ve never left the UK

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Or been on MN long. Round here everyone lives on organic protein, blueberries and massive salads.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall should a Mumsnetter fall on sufficiently hard times to need the assistance of a food bank to observe their reaction to being presented with a bag of spam, tinned carrots, own brand pot noodles, crackers, custard creams and canned soup.

My dad was a striking miner in the 1980s and I remember when German and Polish miners' welfare organisations sent us food parcels, in particular packs of long life rye bread and cans of liver pate. No it wasn't to our taste or what we were used to, but it was gratefully accepted because it was food that we could use to stretch the little money that was coming into the house from DMs part time wage

ttcat37 · 09/12/2024 14:22

fanaticalfairy · 09/12/2024 12:45

Pretty much everyone on the planet eat sandwiches and/or chips 🤣🤣🤣

Edited
Show quote history

Tell me you’ve never left the UK without telling me you’ve never left the UK

newrubylane · 09/12/2024 13:39

Polenta is gluten free, so could be useful for coeliac needing food parcels for whom pasta and noodles won't do?

CaptainMyCaptain · 09/12/2024 13:36

notacooldad · 09/12/2024 13:33

Pesto stired in to frozen veg, mash potato on top and baked with grated cheese on the top is a great meal!
Quinoa makes some great desserts with few ingredients.

If they have the vegetables and cheese. They won't get fresh or frozen veg or cheese from a foodbank. There isn't the storage.

FKAT · 09/12/2024 13:34

Not read the full thread but there's a very funny foodbank episode of Fags, Mags & Bags on BBC Sounds called Chickpea Landslide - which covers this very topic.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b07753hg

Fags, Mags and Bags - Series 6 - Chickpea Landslide - BBC Sounds

Ramesh's girlfriend opens a food bank in Lenzie, but she has got competition.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b07753hg

notacooldad · 09/12/2024 13:33

Pesto stired in to frozen veg, mash potato on top and baked with grated cheese on the top is a great meal!
Quinoa makes some great desserts with few ingredients.

TickingAlongNicely · 09/12/2024 13:29

Those saying contact the food bank...

Is it really the best use of a stretched volunteers time, answering mundane queries when a generic post somewhere like Mumsnet has provided a useful answer?

PhilosophicalCheeseSandwich · 09/12/2024 13:20

BuzzieLittleBee · 08/12/2024 23:45

My mum runs a food bank and things like this do hang around at hers for weeks or months, so it's not a daft question OP.

I'd ask your local branch. They'll know what will get picked out and what won't.

I was thinking along these lines too. It's not that people using food banks wouldn't know what to do with less mundane ingredients, it's whether that would be anyone's choice and it'll just be shifting an unwanted item to the food bank.

A friend volunteers in a food bank and often asks around if anyone wants something that they can't get rid of - huge boxes of powdered milk at their best before, and a catering box of dried rosemary spring to mind.

It wasn't a silly or snobbish question to ask, it's a practical consideration.

30percent · 09/12/2024 13:05

RaisinFlapjack · 09/12/2024 13:02

Between various donation drives I've given the food bank loads on their wish list this month.

My issue is that I need to clear cupboard space in the short term. If doing so provides some bonus items for the food bank then it's a win-win. If I'm just off-loading my problem of unwanted food onto them, then not so much.

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It's fine don't overthink there will be someone happy to take it. Fair point from previous posters that homeless in a tent wouldn't be able to cook it but not everyone at the foodbank will be homeless. Or if there's a community fridge near you you could donate to that instead

Original poster
RaisinFlapjack · 09/12/2024 13:02

irregularegular · 09/12/2024 12:28

Food banks tend to have a list of foods that they want. I would stick to those. I'm sure it's more helpful.

Cant you resolve to make an extra effort to use up this stuff and donate the money saved. Or buy other requesed food with it.

Between various donation drives I've given the food bank loads on their wish list this month.

My issue is that I need to clear cupboard space in the short term. If doing so provides some bonus items for the food bank then it's a win-win. If I'm just off-loading my problem of unwanted food onto them, then not so much.

OP posts:
30percent · 09/12/2024 13:01

Donate it. I've never actually had it but it's a bit like rice isn't it? Long shelf life and can easily be boiled and eaten. Ideal thing to donate

SuperfluousHen · 09/12/2024 13:00

What are you going to do with it if you don’t donate?

Hotflushesandchilblains · 09/12/2024 13:00

At ours it would not go into the regular bags but there is a cart which people can help themselves from, and things which are more unusual go on there. And go really quickly usually.

NetZeroZealot · 09/12/2024 12:59

SmalllChange · 09/12/2024 11:10

Hopefully you're self-aware enough to realise you're coming across as far too try hard.

No-one here knows or gives a shit what 'class' anyone claims to be.

The glaringly obvious thing to do would've been to contact the foodbank in question anyway.

Are you new to MN?
it is utterly obsessed with class.

fanaticalfairy · 09/12/2024 12:45

ttcat37 · 09/12/2024 08:07

Is that what you think people who use food banks eat?

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Pretty much everyone on the planet eat sandwiches and/or chips 🤣🤣🤣

CaptainMyCaptain · 09/12/2024 12:43

Mirabai · 09/12/2024 12:41

An air fryer is fine for quinoa. Equally, if it’s the precooked packets you only need a kettle.

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If they want it they could but, as I've said, some reject even rice and pasta. I had a man this morning looking at the extras table and pondering what anyone could do with tinned pulses. I did tell him but he didn't want them.

Mirabai · 09/12/2024 12:41

CaptainMyCaptain · 09/12/2024 12:39

I have mentioned those things and I know quite a bit about foodbanks and their clientele. Some have the full range of appliances but many don't and we have to suit what we give them to their needs. We have homeless people living in tents and others in hotels with only a kettle in their room. For those in a poorly equipped flat a kettle and an air fryer is quite common. There is a whole strata of society out there some of you are not aware of.

Show quote history

An air fryer is fine for quinoa. Equally, if it’s the precooked packets you only need a kettle.

CaptainMyCaptain · 09/12/2024 12:40

Mirabai · 09/12/2024 11:55

Exacfly. I don’t know why posters don’t think coeliacs and vegetarians don’t use foodbanks.

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They do and we have boxes of suitable items to swap in for them

CaptainMyCaptain · 09/12/2024 12:39

GreenTeaLikesMe · 09/12/2024 11:28

Well, let me rephrase that: if she mentioned donating to a foodbank and mentioned quinoa as one of the list of things she donated without apologizing or asking questions.

A lot of people on here seem convinced that virtually everyone using a foodbank has no fridge or cooking facilities whatsoever and has to feed themselves on things ready to eat from the packet; I know that's true of some FB users but I bet it's not the majority.

Show quote history

I have mentioned those things and I know quite a bit about foodbanks and their clientele. Some have the full range of appliances but many don't and we have to suit what we give them to their needs. We have homeless people living in tents and others in hotels with only a kettle in their room. For those in a poorly equipped flat a kettle and an air fryer is quite common. There is a whole strata of society out there some of you are not aware of.

irregularegular · 09/12/2024 12:28

Food banks tend to have a list of foods that they want. I would stick to those. I'm sure it's more helpful.

Cant you resolve to make an extra effort to use up this stuff and donate the money saved. Or buy other requesed food with it.

GridlockonMain · 09/12/2024 12:25

SmalllChange · 09/12/2024 11:10

Hopefully you're self-aware enough to realise you're coming across as far too try hard.

No-one here knows or gives a shit what 'class' anyone claims to be.

The glaringly obvious thing to do would've been to contact the foodbank in question anyway.

Such a needlessly mean way to talk to someone. Absolutely baffles me why some posters on this site are so absurdly hostile for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Namechange2768 · 09/12/2024 12:05

I work in a food bank. Quinoa and pesto are fantastic and would go in parcels sent out to people. As said by pp, quinoa would suit people on special diets and would be welcomed. If things come in which are in date but a bit "weird" they are put in the package as extras.

Toddlerteaplease · 09/12/2024 11:59

@Mirabai @MaggieBsBoat I didn't know that I have absolutely no idea what you do
With it!!

Mirabai · 09/12/2024 11:55

MabelMaybe · 09/12/2024 11:46

Quinoa is gluten free, so may well be useful for someone who needs GF free meal options.

Exacfly. I don’t know why posters don’t think coeliacs and vegetarians don’t use foodbanks.

Mirabai · 09/12/2024 11:53

Toddlerteaplease · 09/12/2024 11:51

My mum volunteers for a food bank. They want things that can be made with a kettle, in a microwave or on a hob. So I'm not sure quinoa would be much use.

You cook quinoa on the hob or microwave.