DH is using community pantry for free food

Totally depends. There is a big difference between a food bank and a charity that aim is to reduce food waste -ours specifically says that they need people to use it who wouldn't need a food bank as they have so much stock from supermarkets etc. eg currently multiple pallets of squash etc..

There’s an app for this - TooGoodToGo. Works pretty much the same, to reduce waste.

Tell him to voluntèer there. I volunteer at ours. It's a foodshare. It's for everyone. He is right to go, but wrong to brag. Is he normally this unpleasant?

Hmm, I would not like this. Is he tight in other ways?

I dont buy reduced items if I can afford full price. There have been times that reduced stuff has been the difference between a decent meal and not.

There was a guy who came in to the supermarket I worked in during Covid and would moan at the staff if the reductions hadnt been done at exactly the right time and then he would wait as we did it and buy it all. He is a very multi millionaire as he sold his large national business in 2000's, the sale made the national news. Another local told us that he gives it to his family if he doesnt eat it and a lot of it gets binned (think she was friends with his son or daughter or something) Got to the stage were we would put a little bit out and then when he had gone, put the rest out. Nothing got wasted but it was a small place (larger than a Tesco express but not by much) and we knew that a lot of our regulars were on low incomes. Yes he had as much right as anyone else to buy it, but fuck me he could buy my house in cash and not notice.

If the goal is to reduce food waste then I think it's fine for him to use it. Anyone who needs it is welcome to go and get it too.

I'm assuming it's fresh food? So a bit like I use Olio sometimes - they quite regularly struggle to give the food away! If you use the food, keep going! If nobody takes it, it goes in the bin.

This is on co-op website. It states that anyone can use community fridge. Assume OP’s food pantry is similar

https://www.coop.co.uk/communityfood

You say "us taking the food" which suggests you're eating it. It's not about being "uncomfortable" - he shouldn't be taking food from those who actually need it & if youre eating it too - you should be ashamed if yourself too. Have a moral conscience.

Half ends up going to waste every time because people are 'too proud' to take it which defeats the whole point.

It's part being too proud, part this misguided nonsense about leaving it for the "needy".

Our community pantry is both to alleviate food poverty and also eliminate food waste, it does say for everyone but in reality alleviating the food poverty is key,

I’d not take food from it, as I wouldn’t wish to deprive people in need and there are more people in need than there is food. And if he’s in there taking the good stuff, I find that shameful. So yes technically absolutely he can, but would I, no and I’d look dimly at anyone who could afford to buy their own food doing so, unless it was stuff that really was about to go to waste, anyone rushing in and grabbing like your husband I’d feel dimly about.

I’m a bit on the fence with this one. The more support and use these places get the more likely they are to remain viable.

We are wealthy and use the community fridge in exactly the way for which it is intended. For everyone to use with the sole purpose of cutting food going to landfill.

He goes once a week and presumably after work so other people have had a chance to take food first. We do this around Christmas when they are given more food than they can use and it would go to landfill otherwise, there is only so much bread and veg even the poor can eat.

We donate often to the food bank and also to cover the cost of electricity for the fridge. If you feel bad about your husband doing this then donate to the running costs. If you buy your eggs in half dozens then both food banks and community fridges appreciate donations of egg boxes. They may receive eggs in trays when they get any.

Its not a food bank its an eco anti waste initiative as the OP describes it. We have several round here and they all clearly state they are NOT food banks. My sons best friend mam runs one.

They basically have to keep begging people to come get stuff, they set up tables on the high street with signs say 'FREE' and 'PLEASE TAKE' because unlike food banks everything is about to spoil and they are trying to get it used up before it does, its usually bread and milk on offer. Its nothing to do with income or 'poor people' its purely environmental and to cut down wastage.

Half ends up going to waste every time because people are 'too proud' to take it which defeats the whole point.

I think I would feel weird doing it even though it’s the intended purpose.

I have used a free orchard thing before and I donate each time. My goal is reducing food waste and I am fortunate enough not to need to save the money just now so my theory is that if I use the food ‘and’ donate I can cover both issues at the same time.

I volunteer at our local food bank and that’s an entirely different thing and you need a referral.

I do see that if it is against food waste that he can do it. But morally it stinks. I think I would be making a cash donation. Or at least insist he takes a donation of nappies and san pro to your nearest food bank.

I like getting Too Good To Go bags. Im
a high earner. Should I not get one then? What is the cut off for being ‘eligible’ to buy one?!

It's not a food bank. It's for anyone, to avoid waste. Why is he depriving the less fortunate but you're not when you buy reduced food from a shop?

Food pantries are for everyone. They are about reducing food waste.

Sorry but that is really awful of him. There are plenty of people who need that pantry and taking from it when you don’t need to is depriving someone else less fortunate.

I’m all for looking at offers in the supermarket and buying bargains but taking free food from a community pantry is adjacent to dishonesty for me. Sorry but that would give me the permanent ick.

Yes, this. My mum has a job that shares a car park with a local Tesco Express. The amount of food waste in their skip is unreal.

The whole point is that it's open to everyone.

It removes any stigma - as well as reducing food waste. That's important in helping to reach people.

He should make sure he only takes what he can use though.

Agree with this, I think those who don't do not understand the difference between a community pantry ( reducing waste) and a food bank (helping those who are in need). Anyone can help to save waste and should. So much food goes into landfill it's dreadful.

"Food is there to stop it going to waste so we should leave as much as possible to go to waste" 🤔