DH is using community pantry for free food

Surely the pantry has the nous to change it to referral only or for those in need only if they want to?

Why are you worrying for them?

Despite myself , I can’t help but agree.
Frugality/bargain hunting in a man isn’t attractive to me scrabbling about in a pantry or yellow sticker section - not manly.
looking for the best mortgage /car insurance deal different matter.

@SheinIsShite the OP has confirmed that it is promoted as saving food waste and is open to everyone

He genuinely wants to show off the stuff he's picked up whenever he goes - which is usually once a week.

Is the issue perhaps that you're embarrassed by the thought that people might think your husband is a cheapskate, or that you can't afford food?

A community pantry is for people who need the food. It will cut food waste, but the name “community pantry” really does mean that this is for people who need it. It’s different to a food bank as no referral is needed. But it’s still meant for people in need. The word community very strongly implies that.

@tapaw you are wrong. Or at least in most cases. As I said upthread, I volunteer at one, and it, along with others under the same umbrella scheme, is for everyone. There's no pretence. The point is to save surplus food from landfill. We do keep a small amount food back, particularly if it has a long date, for families we know are struggling. But it's not part of our remit, it's just a casual thing on the part of some volunteers.

Yes they will vary with their rules etc.
But the fact the OPs husband has been using their local one just fine and hasn't been told not to come back by the volunteers then that one is clearly for everyone.

Well so he's not unreasonable then I suppose. But like you I would feel uncomfortable suspecting that he might take food that he can afford to buy but that another poor family would need.

@tapaw community pantries mostly get their donations directly from shops or food distribution places - not donations from the general public (unless it's excess home grown fruit/veg).
Sounds like you were donating to the wrong place.

Why cant people get their heads around the fact that there are obviously different pantries with different roles.

Out of interest I looked up if there was a community pantry here and there is, but it's for people of low income and you need to sign up for it, you can't just go to it. If that's the same for yours then your dh is being BVU.
However, if it is genuinely surplus food that will be thrown away, and it doesn't all go then it would be difficult to see it wasted. Maybe he could go there much closer to their closing time, so as to give other people more of a chance to get what they need, and he can get things that are even closer to being thrown away.

Our local community pantry make a point of reiterating its not just for those that are in need. It is purely there to prevent food waste and therefore anyone and everyone is encouraged to use it because the more people who go there, the less food is wasted

@tapaw but most aren't for those who "need" it.
They are for anyone.
That's the whole point.

Mince pies last forever!
I'm sure I've still got a Christmas pudding from 2020 somewhere.
My 75 year old mum ate a Fray Bentos pie from 2018 the other day.
She's still alive

Op has said repeatedly that the only aim of this particular pantry is reducing food waste. How you think they should be used, or how a pantry local to you is used is neither here nor there.

Funny you say that
I’ve told lots of the families I work with (social worker) about the free Tesco express food after 9.30 and very few avail themselves of that as an option as feel it’s too late to go out without a car or feel embarrassed, or have had a drink by then so wouldn’t drive, or nobody to leave the kids with
most the people I see (like me ) getting yellow sticker deals and the Tesco freebies at night are the same faces -relatively affluent/ middle class mums who love a bargain!

A Sexy Man goes to Tesco and pays full price. Didn't you know that ?

A community pantry is for people who need the food. It will cut food waste, but the name “community pantry” really does mean that this is for people who need it. It’s different to a food bank as no referral is needed. But it’s still meant for people in need. The word community very strongly implies that.

I have stopped donating to such causes after seeing several people like OP’s DH taking bags of food. I saw someone with a really fancy rucksack (£100 ish) and another pair of friends very fashionably dressed/makeup etc - all helping themselves to a local food scheme, the purpose of which is to “make a difference”. Not to feed tight wads who don’t want to buy their own food and would prefer well meaning strangers to donate it to them so they can buy themselves nice things or save their money.

We have only just used the last of our stash of 2024 reduced to clear finest/extra special Christmas puddings.

I run a food bank. Food banks are for people who are in crisis and have no food. All the food is dried, tinned and long life.
we signpost people all the time to larders or pantry’s where they can get fresh, frozen or tinned food. Pantry’s and larders are open to everyone and is all about not wasting food, and they are open to anyone no matter what their situation, they have all kinds of food, whether that be apples from someone’s tree or bread that Tesco’s can’t sell tomorrow
any one can use them but they are post code allotted . It’s a small fee to join up (like £1) and then you pay like a fiver and can can get all kinds of different stuff, often to about £20 pounds worth of food

Several people who think yellow ticket stuff is for the poor.

Maybe if he went in his underpants?

I have several 'Halloween' cheesecakes reduced to 50p from Aldi. I'll just unfreeze them and dress them up with 'christmas sauce' job done

What could this man do that you would find “sexy” in this situation?

Such an odd thing to say.

There’s nothing wrong with what he’s doing. Assuming, of course, that he’s real, because MN definitely wouldn’t make up a thread like this to drive engagement and ram fat jab adverts down my throat.

Crikey who on earth got worked up about that ??

Exactly 😂
Some Tesco's have started doing this as an alternative to a volunteer from a community fridge having to drive there to collect it.
But it's the same concept.