DH is using community pantry for free food

Our local one is to cut waste. I’ve seen ham in there with that data date. Bread and cakes. It’s mainly perishable stuff that the food bank (separate) don’t take.

Yep my well off uncle does this too in his village! He thinks it’s great that he comes back with so many goodies. He also stalks the reduced section at Waitrose for stuff too. He wouldn’t be seen in any other shop than Waitrose! Then it gets stuffed in their huge freezer. He retired early from his well paying job after paying off their mortgage years early. Really winds me up.

It is a really important distinction. A community pantry or any waste food initiative is not like a food bank. These initiatives are generally intended for anyone to give food and anyone to take anything they can use - regardless of personal means. There is nothing shocking or disgusting about anybody using this resource, so much food is still wasted on a daily basis, it is great if we can use it up. Make sure your partner knows about Olio and Too Good to Go as well.
If people dont support these initiatives they will fail. As others have said there should be no stigma around these things. If you still feel squeamish about this, make sure that you don’t waste food at home and send any food you don’t want to the pantry or put your unwanted stuff on freecycle/ freegle etc.

But that’s not the point, surely? It’s not a food bank. In France, it’s now the law that supermarket excess/waste MUST be donated to community banks or food banks.

There’s one local to us which sadly has to close because it’s become too huge for the volunteers. Anyone can take however much they want.

It' not a food bank! It's a pantry set up to prevent unnecessary food wastage.
Their purposes are completely different.

He's not doing anything wrong.
We have one in our town. Even with a big queue of people there's loads of stuff that doesn't get taken.
It's all things past sell by dates so its the last chance for it to go.
If he's steamrolling people out the way that's different.

This
If it's a food bank, I'd say no as people who are struggling for food are in need of them.
A community food pantry that's about cutting waste though? Surely that's for everyone?! Better people use it than waste food and have it thrown away.

The one nearest to us is not for poor people, it’s for anyone who wants it.

I think people really don’t get it. So as someone whose OH does some volunteer work for both a local food bank and a local community pantry (& a bike recycle place & play streets actually) the two both have very different aims and generally offer very different items.

At our local food bank people come with a referral and it’s all about supporting those who are struggling. Users get a bag with a fixed set of food and toiletries based on household size. The items are not identical but food it mainly tinned/packaged dry goods, skewed towards things you don’t need to cook or can make up with hot water/cook in a microwave and any fresh food they buy from donations, with as long a shelf life as possible. On top of their bag people are welcome to supplement by helping themselves to some items that are close to their due date. The food bank don’t give away things past their best before dates.

Community Pantry people just turn up and it’s all about reducing food waste. In ours over 50% of the product is supermarket bakery food on or after its best before date. The remainder is mainly fruit, veg & flowers. They do have eggs, a small amount of dried goods and some toiletries/cleaning stuff. Everything is priced with the fresh food being very cheap (typically 10-50p for everything) where the longer life food and toiletries are often priced around the supermarket value range cost but are typically branded. They also break up large packs of loo roll/washing powder and similar and sell at cost, which allows someone struggling or just someone in a small household to pick up a small quantity of product with the usual bulk buy discounts.

We buy most of our bread there. I get a couple of loaves most weeks for toast and then if we want tortillas to make our own chips I usually have some from the pantry in the freezer. If people don’t use the food it gets thrown away and it can even end up costing the charity money if they can’t fit it all in their usual bins. People leaving it all for someone in need are not being that kind or helpful really.

Good for him. Initiatives like this end up closing if people don’t use them. It’s good to cut down on waste. He’s going once a week at the end of the day so no excess use is happening.

Also people who avoid yellow stickers in supermarkets to give poor people the chance to buy them seem crazy to me. You get all kinds of items reduced, like the finest range etc. You think poor people are going to buy the fancy stuff because it’s a £1 off?

I agree with this! If I have throw meat or fish out, I give it to the dog, even if I have to cook it first. I hate the idea of something dying only to go in the bin!

I dont think the OPs husband is doing anything wrong at all.

I run a service like this one and I think it’s quite a subtle thing – we market ourselves as being about alleviating food waste and being open to the community, but in practice the crux of our work is around avoiding food poverty, and a lot of the wording we use is to minimise stigma. In my case I think we get the balance right – the people who use our service are those who need it, and we have a handle on how much we bring in every week so that food waste is minimised – but I think it is really on a case by case basis. If I were in the OP’s shoes, or her husband’s, I would be trying to step back and look quite carefully at the service to understand if it was really open to all, or if there are certain members of the community they are trying to prioritise.

A pantry won't ban him for helping reduce food waste. They aren't food banks!!

I dont buy reduced items if I can afford full price

Batshit.

I love a bargain but I think where food is concerned I wouldn’t have the nerve to pick up massively reduced items if I didn’t actually need to. I hope he makes full use of his haul
and doesn’t end up throwing any of it away.

Why not suggest he joins the volunteers then he can pick up even more bargains at the end of the day? Or is he not that committed to saving food waste?

If its a community pantry like ours it's open to all but they ask for donations to help with running costs. In your position I'd either make him donate or I'd donate and let him keep going and getting his "bargains".

The one in our village is to reduce food waste and raise funds for the community centre who do a fantastic job of supporting elderly in our community. So the supermarket donates the food that would otherwise go to landfill to the community centre. If you are struggling then help yourself but if you can afford it then pop a donation in the box towards the community centre. They are always posting on fb to come and use it so I assume there’s plenty to go round. It’s a win win situation. Provides food, raises money and stops waste but it will only work if people use it and support it otherwise it will go.

It's not a food bank. It's a community pantry and the object is to reduce food waste. If your husband was clamouring over queues of starving and struggling people to get to that food, that would be different. But I also think you'd have mentioned it were this the case.

The pantry is open to the entire community. I would be careful not to take more than my fair share, but I don't see anything inherently unethical in your husband making use of a service marketed to the community.

Where you stand on higher tax payers taking advantage of yellow sticker food items, 3 for 1 offers or charity shops, OP?

It doesnt sound like it is a food bank. Why don't you go along one day with him and have a chat with the people there.
It sounds like more of the freegan movement than a food bank for low income families. You might find that there isnt any low income people using it, that it is a genuine green movement type thing. Equally, you might find out it is a lifeline for people on the breadline, in which case you can make a strong case for him to stop going there.
I think, unless you go along and see for yourself then you will just go round im circles.

@PyongyangKipperbang but the "moral" is that food that's perfectly fine for consumption doesn't get chucked in the bin.

Its not about not understanding, its about being aware that especially right now there are a lot of people who need it more. Its the moral issue.

That said, if the OP is in a well heeled area where there aren't many on or below the poverty line, they probably aren't saving much from waste as I dont suppose many are using it so the DH isnt going to be hurting anyone. But if they live in a place similar to where I live, where there are extremes at both ends, then no I dont think that a family with two high earning parents should be using it.

But who is the "someone else"?
Seriously.... they are for ANYONE.

lol at the people who don’t understand the difference between a community pantry and a food bank

I love that app, but what you get can be so random.
I once had a 3 trays of cake from a Costa bag. 12 pieces of Rocky Road cake was one lot. I did actually go round town and hand them out to people.
I had a Greggs bag... walked out with 2 massive bags.

You could check if they often have plenty to go around. If not then leave it for someone else.