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.

@00100001 I wasn't classing Penguins as a luxury! I was thinking eg if you were buying hot chocolate, you could buy a huge Cadbury's tub compared to half the size Green & Black's. I'd class the G&B as luxury in this instance and would buy the Cadbury's instead.

It depends on the food bank - for us we have a current shortage on semi skimmed milk, sweetcorn and orange juice. We don't want soup or baked beans. A couple of weeks ago we would have given our right arms for larger nappies.

If there is a list take a look at what is in the collection box and buy something else off the list.

We find it really difficult to send out things that can't easily be made into a meal without something else eg branston pickle has no use without cheese. Cranberry sauce is bad jam until you pair it with a turkey. We have donations of truffle oil and lobster bisque which are at risk of going over their BBE dates. If you have little it is not the time to be experimenting with unfamiliar things - you don't want to waste energy (gas electric) cooking something the kids aren't going to eat.

On sizes - huge family size versions limit the number of people it can go out to. Big tubs/ packs will only go to a family, but small sized packets can be used for single person households or a couple of packets for a larger household.

My supermarket had no biscuits yesterday! Nor loo roll. Bread was almost all gone, no soap/hand wash, toothpaste was empty, no kitchen roll, no chicken, barely any other meat, no pasta, hardly any rice. Goodness knows where food banks will get stock from at the moment.

Mine was short on loo roll, pasta, handwash, the cheapest soap, some types of biscuits, uht milk and flour. Fortunately instant noodle type packets, and most tins were in stock as were long life juices and the slightly more expensive soaps. Maybe some supermarkets will donate loo roll directly like some do with fresh food if they know stockpiling is an issue... I hope so at least.

Hi OP,

I just wanted to say you sound like such a lovely caring person. It's so nice to think of others especially in times such as these.

I'm not bigging myself up here so please believe me when I say that when I was going around last week panic buying I bought a bag full of stuff for the food bank too because it made me think of others that are not in a position to stock up.
I bought UHT milk, tinned potatoes and other veg, tinned fruit and tinned meals like chilli.

Tinned meat, potatoes and veg that isn't peas or sweetcorn are often the items that are needed most by my local FB, especially as with the meats they are often a lot more expensive.