Making a food bank donation

[JasperRising]

The BBC are reporting food bank donation shortages (not surprising really given current events) so I was going to pop to the local supermarket today and was wondering what to put in for the current climate? I thought soap would be sensible. Food wise there hasn't been much pasta in stock recently but maybe instant noodles instead?

I know some food banks post wanted lists online but round here it is just a standard list and than a piece of paper stuck on the trolley with current needs but that doesn't get updated very often.

It just seems a good idea to donate now while I can as I suspect things could get a lot worse soon for those who rely on food banks if there is a combination of economic decline and a drop in donations.

I’d go with their standard list in that case then. Maybe with a couple of luxury items too.

Just go with the standard list. Red jam, tea, coffee, sugar ( granulated not caster ), pasta, sauces, biscuits, cereal , tinned fruit, custard, beans, tuna, ketchup, mayonnaise are always popular.

Please be careful on “ luxury items “. These can be very personal - our local foodbank still has things like jars of mincemeat, olives and herbs from Christmas . Not everyone likes these things.

If you want to add something, go for chocolate Easter eggs/ sweets for kids. Or jars of chocolate spread.

I would stick to the recommended list. Food boxes have pretty similar contents (varying in quantity for family size) so they will always need and use what's on the lists, maybe with a focus on actual meals or meal ingredients (soup, beans, rice, noodles, tinned goods).

By luxury I meant some nice biscuits and chocolates.

You can probably donate money online, then they can buy what's needed.

Contact the Trussel Trust online.

They will be able to advise what is best to donate.

By luxury I meant some nice biscuits and chocolates

That sounds perfect! I was just trying to be tactful.

Every Christmas there are threads on here with people insisting that they are going to donate weird and wonderful foods to their local foodbank because they feel the stuff on the lists is “unhealthy” and people in need should be forced to comply with their personal idea of “ healthy “.

Our local food bank is asking for long life milk.

If things do get worse and we start to shut down wouldn't food banks also close down?

I volunteer in a food bank. We are, unsurprisingly, very low on toilet roll. We actually have plenty of soap and shower gel at the moment, though other places may well be short. We always tend to need sanitary products, incontinence pads and pet food for the non-food items. Food wise the most popular items tend to be tins of veg, chopped tomatoes, fish (mainly tuna), beans and spaghetti, cereal, tea, coffee and sugar, spreads for toast/sandwiches (peanut butter, jam, marmalade) and the type of snack items that go well in kids lunch boxes like the small soreen loaves and fruit winders types of things. Instant noodles are a good choice as well, they tend to go down well.

I donated online which was very easy to do. I don't have a car and wasn't sure about the logistics so I thought that would be ok.

consider giving non food items e.g.

deodorant, toilet paper, shower gel, shaving gel, shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, tooth paste, hand wipes
laundry powder/liquid/tabs.
washing up liquid and brushes/sponges/cloths
sanitary towels and tampons
nappies, wipes and baby food (but not formula)

Quite a lot of food banks get rather a lot of pasta, beans and soup, so if you can buy something else they will be very grateful.

Instant noodles and pasta are always good because not everyone in poverty has access to a cooker.

@BigFatLiar I've just spoken to our food bank this morning. They are planning for increased need - people on zero hours contracts not being paid, the elderly and immunocompromised in lockdown, FSM kids not getting main meals if they aren't at school. They will deliver packages if necessary and are recruiting volunteers for that.

We had an email this morning from school asking for donations for food bank.
They asked for a few specific things: tea, coffee, uht milk, biscuits, sugar, cereal, tinned custard, rice pudding, ravioli, macaroni (tinned), tuna, toilet roll.

and 'free from' foods too

you can get long life soya milk

gluten free breads

Dairy free treats etc

The best option is to donate money if at all possible. The food banks can then buy what they need most.

I wouldn't buy luxury items, tbh. If a nice pack of biscuits costs twice the price of ordinary, surely you're better off buying two packs of ordinary ones?

Donate money

That way they can buy what they need

If you prefer to give things, then give anything off their list, no matter how generic it seems,.

I've just done a foodbank shop, and our one (the only place you can find the list is on the churchs FB) is asking for tinned meat/fish, cooking sauces, long life milk, tea, sugar and shampoo. TBH, these are always on their list along with tinned fruit, tinned pudding things, and dog/cat food

re money. Try and do it online so you can do Gift Aid (if applicable).

Also Trussell Trust don't just provide food so financial donations are welcome.

Thanks for the suggestions. I popped in and bought a selection of mainly food plus a small amount of soap just in case - no toilet roll to be had so hopefully they are able to source that elsewhere. I may donate money too...

I've just spoken to our food bank this morning. They are planning for increased need - people on zero hours contracts not being paid, the elderly and immunocompromised in lockdown, FSM kids not getting main meals if they aren't at school.

This is what I worry about. People who aren't able to build a buffer of savings/stockpile food and loo roll and then get hit by work/school closures. And if food bank donations are down as well people could really struggle to cope for the next few months.

@HollowTalk

Because being able to give your kids a penguin instead of a rich tea might make you feel a bit better, because the kids don't realise what financial difficulty you are in.

It might make it all a bit bearable and less 'humiliating'.

Plus, if you buy nice biscuits for yourself, why wouldn't you buy an extra pack for someone else?

It's a bit.... off to buy yourself a £2.99 pack of biscuits and then bung a 30p pack of digestives in the food bank...

I volunteer in a FB and one of our concerns is that most of our volunteers fall into the 'vulnerable over 65s' group so making home deliveries is not going to be easy.

Agree with other suggestions, check what your local FB needs - all FBs are different and will have different requirements. We were actually donated a lot of toilet rolls this week .

@00100001 or buy fuve packs of Tesco's own brand chocolate digestives for 60p a go and help 5 families instead of one

...or buy 5 packs of tesco finest cookies...