Foodbank buying items from shops?

What is the logic that people who need help with food should be given out of date food that other people would not want to eat?

Should charity be a process of additional humiliation for people who must be in a very challenging situation in the first place to be referred for the food bank?

If I had something out of date in my fridge, and I had decided to help someone who was hungry, I would be ashamed to give them what I wouldn't eat myself. I'd rather give them the nicest food I had.

Good buyers.

well, I was very grateful for the food bank during ian duncan smiths reign of terror, when my husband was denied his disability benefits and we had to appeal and for about five months were down by more than the cost of our rent.
if his parents weren't in a position to support us, we'd have lost our home

May vary from food bank to food bank, but they get donations in numbers of ways, which could include (in no particular order).

People donating food directly to the foodbank
People leaving food donations in drop of points in supermarkets (and elsewhere)
People making cash donations to the foodbank
Grants or funding that they can apply for
Collections done in places such as schools, churches etc, especially at times such as harvest (eg at harvest schools may ask for a food item in exchange for a non uniform day).

If they get donations, grants or other funding they use that to buy, often in bulk the items they need the most. People donating items may not know what is needed the most, so they could end up with lots of certain products, and not enough of others.

The food given out is in date - food banks usually request items will a long date stamp on, and often date the top of the tin/carton before putting it on the shelf so things are given out in date order.

Some food banks also offer fresh items, but it will depend on how that food bank works and where it gets its supplies from.

Still a support to people, but in a different way, some work more like a community pantry where people can pick a certain number of items from different types of products - sometimes paid for at a reduced rate other times free.

There are some organisations that use things that may otherwise be disposed of by supermarkets, but sometimes they cook meals with things that they are sure can still be used.

The foodbank I support is organised by those from a local church. Some of the volunteers are also from the church, others from the local community. The food bank is given food donations, and cash donations. They order food items that are needed -from the cash donations/funding. Knowing the people involved means I can ask exactly what they need most before purchasing.

Another foodbank I know of has a few drop off points local areas (a few houses, and a church in one village a few miles away from the foodbank). They collect each week from those drop off points. They also have a shop and sell second hand furniture, both so it is more affordable to people, and to raise funds.

There is no one way that food banks get the food - it all varies.

we got pesto, anchovies and olives from our "oddities" table. gave my friend (Who also often needs a food bank) the olives as a christmas present.
people don't realise what real life is like for so many people. especially if someone in the household is disabled.

Thankyou, I will have a look for it tomorrow when I do my shopping.

Where did you get this from? Do you have any sources for this?

Lucky you are here to explain the realities of current poverty in the UK , consequent on 50 years of neo liberalism. IE political choices for the slow ones at the back

It’s about time the shirkers and skivers laid down in ditches and showed gratitude for hot gravel and rickets

That's absolute nonsense, you can only use food banks with referrals. They don't just hand free food out to anyone.

We often donate through the church in our village to the food bank even though we aren’t Christian. They ask for cans of meat, fish, fruit and veg. I usually get sausages, tuna, sweet corn, peas, pineapple, peaches etc. They say they have enough rice, pasta etc.

donations. they can't give out out of date food.
do you think people needing a food bank deserve out of date food?

people donate in date food and toiletries, and people donate money so they can specifically buy what they are short of to supply to people. and they can usually get a better, bulk deal for goods

I've had to use a foodbank before. should I have been pathetically grateful for mouldy food?

My arsehole ex (primary school teacher) used the food bank in the same deprived town as his school.
He was a cocaine addict at the time.
Stopped him having to waste his drug money on food I suppose.....

I used to volunteer at our local foodbank. I'm retired now but when l can afford it, l ask my friend who runs the foodbank what they need, rather than just buy random stuff.
When l asked in November, she said "Everything, except beans and pasta. We run out of stuff every week now."
So l assume they buy (what they can afford from cash donations) what they need most. A storeroom full of surplus beans is okay, but not if they've got no other staples.
A while ago we got coupons for free sanitary items/incontinence pads through our front doors. The foodbank posted on our local Facebook page asking people to not just throw them away if they weren't going to use them, but to please either redeem them and put the items in the foodbank container in the supermarket, or hand them in at the foodbank so they could redeem them.
I worked in a supermarket, and l never saw any kind of incontinence pads in our foodbank bin. I don't think it occurs to people, it didn't to me, until then.
I imagine that's just one of the items they'd buy if they knew a foodbank user needed them.

My company donates very large amounts of food to the local food banks so some must get it that way. I also donate sanitary products via my local supermarket as I heard they were needed.

We go to a community shop sometimes where they leave unwanted surplus and out of date supermarket food out for people to take. We're not very hard up so don't take any good stuff just if they have kilos and kilos of parsnips we'll take a bag to make soup for example. It's not the same as a food bank though as you have to pay to access the non surplus stuff.

I'm so tired of these threads. Nobody could possibly be genuinely wondering how a charitable concern has obtained money. And as usual it has brought out all the people who love nothing more than to cast as much doubt as possible on the genuineness of food banks and their clients, with a clear agenda of discouraging donors dressed up as faux concern.

There are two types of Mumsnetter/people in this world.

Those who donate their time, money, or goods to food banks when able, and can display empathy and understanding of the society they exist in even if not able to donate.

And miserable buggers who wouldn’t give you an out of date biscuit if they thought you were beneath them.

donations and donators etc or people offering their time and resources etc to assist

@SantaBakula I saw it yesterday and just edited our current shop to check where it was. You can choose your own amount to donate too. It's on the very last page after you've paid for your online shop. My computer is a bit slow to load all the elements on the page, and it's one of the last ones, but it's blue and appears at the top. The text says it's part of Tesco's winter food collection for the Trussell Trust, so presuming it won't be there all year round.

You can also donate Tesco clubcard vouchers too (for anyone who's interested).

I eat out of date food... I also only donate cash to the food bank. I hate fundraising for the food bank though. It's the only type of volunteering our local foodbank wants

How ignorant.

I know many people who use food after the marked use by date, including myself.
Some dates are more accurately 'best before' dates.

I wouldn't donate items past their use by dates however I would trust large charities to use their own expertise to decide how to utilise donations of large batches of just out of date canned food. They might bulk cook nutritious meals to freeze.

@girlfriend44 we donate £1k to foodbanks before christmas to enable them to buy what is needed. many people and businesses do this! also will buy the whole list in tesco occasionally

“You… you… you mean things cost… money? It doesn’t all just appear as if by magic?! Delivered by little pixies? But… but… I don’t understaaaaaaand!!!”

All, I'm sure @RegulatorsMountUp must be on a wind up.

I refuse to believe anyone is that ignorant of the working poor in this day and age.

I struggle to understand how anyone doesn't think that this a bot posting.