Foodbanks

[Flatasapancakenow]

I have only just started donating to our local foodbank, I really had no idea what type of stuff to get, so I just got some extra of the tinned and dry stuff I was buying for mysellf.

Does anyone have experience of volunteering or working in a foodbank, and can you give me some advice?

Can you take toiletries too? Things like shampoo and face cream?
Is there certain food items you get loads of and some you're in desperate need of? For example do you get loads of tinned tomatoes but no olive oil?
What about longer life fresh foods like potatoes?
Are there any one or two items in particular foodbanks really need?
Is there anything that I definitely should not donate that will just get thrown out?

Thanks

Most food banks have lists online of the things they will or won't accept and those things they are short of ( and also the things they have a surplus of)

If you Google the name of the food bank that you are donating to, many have a list online of things that they are short of and things that they have plenty of at the moment. Some accept things that others don't so you really need to look at your local one.

That's great, thanks. I haven't noticed any charity or anything printed on the trolley. I'll have to have a closer look and see who is organising it.

Hi! I volunteer for a foodbank, thanks for asking this.

Yes, toiletries, personal care and cleaning products are a godsend, we’d all love more of these and they’re what I always suggest when people ask me. When money is tight people will get food first of course, but being able to clean your family, clothes and house are important too.

We always have an abundance of soup, people donate loads and we’re grateful, but when we give out weekly food parcels we can’t just give out soup. The packages we give out aim to do 3 meals a day and snacks if possibly for the family for the week.

Tinned fruit and veg, and tinned meals like chilli or curries are really great and cheap to pick up. We give them out with dried pasta and rice. We try to give out things like biscuits, custard, rice pud etc when we have it. Also long life milk, tea and coffee are always appreciated.

Most foodbanks can’t take fresh food, even things like bread because we can’t store it and can’t guarantee when it’ll be be given out, there’s also food safety restrictions. Dried or tinned things only please.

Thank you for thinking of us

Their website will list the things they are currently in need of.

Ours needs men’s and women’s underwear, toilet rolls, rice pudding, tinned fruit, tampons/pads.

They get stupid things donated like cook-in sauces which are obviously no use to someone who can’t afford to put the oven on.

They get too much pasta and too many tins of beans!!!

For our one, the only up to date list week by week of what they need is the church newsletter. They always have loads of tinned tomatoes and beans, but are almost always in need of small boxes of tea bags, small bags of sugar, microwave sponge puddings, uht milk, and tinned meat.
Nothing fresh, and I put in christmas treat stuff from now on as it lets them plan for christmas

If ever in doubt ( or their list isn't up to date) put in full fat UHT milk and chocolate. Mine is always desperate for milk, and chocolate because it's a treat.

I manage a Foodbank and in addition to the responses above I would add try to just give small and standard sizes of items. People need to carry home the food and bags can get heavy.
Food moves out so quickly and all replenishments are so appreciated.

Strong carrier bags are also needed all the time.

And buy things that are easily splittable if you can, so clothes washing tablets as opposed to liquid

I had a look there and although they have a few suggestions online they don't seem to keep an updated list of what they need the most from week to week.

Thanks for all the tips, I didn't want to spending money only to send in the wrong type of thing.

I volunteer at Foodbank in London and here’s my list:

We always need:
Washing powder (we split it into small bags so a box is fine)
Washing up liquid
Salt
Small bottles of oil
Sanitary towels
Tuna
Sugar (again we split this into small
Bags)
Juice/squash
Shower gel
Shampoo

If you donate on the morning of the Foodbank session we accept bread, vegetables and fruit. Onions, garlic, carrots apples, satsumas are good.

We always have enough:
Pasta
Tea
Sardines!! No idea why but we get so many of them

We have so many tampons and no one wants them, especially the non applicator ones. We now just put those in a box saying help yourself as no one wants them.

We also struggle to get rid of dried lentils/chickpeas etc.

Hope that helps.

Ps we also always need larger sizes of nappies (4 to 6) and wipes. Full fat UHT milk too as a PP mentioned.

I picked up on the strong carrier bags..madness I've never thought of this
thanks.

I'm so glad I asked. I felt a bit silly this morning, but my initial reaction was to basically just send in endless rice and pasta. I hadn't considered half the things people are suggesting.

Ours always needs long life milk, toiletries, cleaning stuff, toilet roll, diluting juice & small pks tea bags & small jars of coffee

I'm wondering why squash juice, biscuits and face cream are seen as things they'd like more of at Food Banks?

Surely they aren't essentials?

I mentioned face cream purely because my Mum keeps leaving me Oil of Olay but I find it breaks me out, so I have 3 or 4 unopened ones I thought I could donate if they were happy to take them.

I know some medicines need juice to be disguised in (one very common in SN children)

Custard creams are good for bulking out the number of calories eaten when you might not otherwise be eating enough

I'm lost on the face cream

They get stupid things donated like cook-in sauces which are obviously no use to someone who can’t afford to put the oven on.

Sauces can be used in a pan on the hob, on pasta or something else, it is not obligatory to put them on chicken or meat in the oven. They only need to be heated, same as the sauces that are donated for pasta.

I clarified on the face cream above. It's just something I happen to have lying around that I thought someone else might benefit from.

I have donated face cream and hoped that someone was able to use it that otherwise wouldn't have had anything for dry skin or a little luxury. Have also put in biscuits, toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap, shampoo, bags of mini chocolate bars or bags of sweets, handcream, pet food because people don't want to have to give up part of the family. Is this wrong?

Our foodbank has no mention of where it is or who runs it, just a tatty old list that has been stuck on the basket for the last 5 years asking for the same basics. I shop somewhere else now and haven't seen a list on that one at all.

Things like face cream might make a difference to someone who has reached the point where they have to use a food bank. It isn't just about fulfilling an immediate need for food, there is also the need to help people maintain some sort of dignity and maybe feel a little less worthless.

I volunteer at a food bank and we would take face cream etc. We already have a good stock of things like shower gel, shampoo etc, because it's hard to feel any sort of basic human dignity if you can't even clean yourself. Face cream is really just an extension of that.

I kind of thought it might make someone feel better and what's the harm in it? It's donated in addition to essentials like tinned food, sanitary pads etc and not in lieu of them.

Toothpaste, toothbrushes, cat and dog food. I spent one summer volunteering at our local food bank. I used to love picking the 'treats', chocolate etc.