Food bank for Christmas

[Didicat]

In usual primary school style they have told us late yesterday they are collecting for a food bank items to be in school THIS Friday.

My brain is already spent, Christmas holidays break needed already.... so I have a tenner to spend in Aldi....

What would you buy?

Tinned mackerel in tomato sauce. It's very nutritious and stirred through pasta makes a dinner. (All food banks get a lot of pasta.) You'll be able to get about 20 tins or just spend £5. When DS school collects they suggest 5 tins of anything so as not to stretch people.

Cheers I will add that to the list, normally I would take my daughter shopping and she would choose for herself what to give. But under the circumstances I don’t take her into the shops at the moment.

If your DD has input chocolate coins?

Small pack of nappies, washing detergent, toothpaste, shower gel, maybe? The food banks round here always seem to be short of those sort of things. If they only want food items, then I'd go for tinned meat or fish, instant coffee, granulated sugar.

Our food bank always ask for tinned meat and fished, tinned vegetables, cereal. I think they’re inundated with pasta!

Yes definitely tinned fish and meat, no more pasta! toiletries as well.

UHT milk and juice, tinned vegetables/meat/pies/potatoes, pasta sauce, cleaning products, tea, packet noodles, variety packs of cereal

There will also likely be a list of what that specific food bank needs more of on their website.

Also the individual sachets of smash, pasta, soup, etc that can be made with just a kettle, a lot of people are struggling for money for fuel or in emergency accommodation without proper cooking facilities so it's always good to have these.

Our foodbank are always desperate for tinned potatoes, packet mash, and tinned meat (stewing steak, meatballs, fray bentos pies, chicken in sauce).
In their current weeks list, which is to make up hampers, they particularly need custard, tinned ham, tinned salmon, chocolate, treat type biscuits, and christmas cakes.

The food bank will have a list on their website if what foods they are most in need of

I'll second anything that can be made with a kettle. So many people struggle with fuel costs just keeping the house warm at this time of year.

Chocolate and biscuits always nice to get too.

(As an aside, I volunteered at a food bank for years and always put together the list for the local schools. Every year we would get the same awkward fuckwits donating bags of lentils, chickpeas and seeds saying "these will stretch and last longer, healthy and filling!" 🤦🏽‍♀️)

Also meals in a tin (spag bol, Mac and cheese etc) that don't even need to be heated.

My local food bank is currently asking for tinned tomatoes again.

These can cost as little as 23p at the moment.

Check if the foodbank is on FB or has a website. Ours is asking for chocolates and biscuits, as a local business has provided lots of everyday foods for Christmas.

Tinned mackerel reeks, and is not that popular. I suggest tuna or salmon instead.

Our local foodbank is particularly asking for tea, coffee, long life milk, spreads, tinned meats, tinned pies, tinned fish, tinned fruit, tinned veg, tinned soup, tinned custard, tinned pasta, crisps, chocolate.

They have said milk, snacks and tinned meat are the things they are shortest on.

Tinned casserole/curry/chicken in sauce. Microwave rice. Flavoured noodles/noodle pots.
Tins of Rice pudding/custard/steamed puddings.
Instant mash. Packets of pasta and sauce.
Biscuits and crisps. Cake.

When I was growing up we occasionally had food parcels and this was what was in them. Tasty hot meals that are easy to make. And some easy/nice snack foods.

I grew up in a family where we occasionally had to have food parcels and this is the food that always helped us have full warm bellies that tasted good too.

Tinned soup, tinned tomatoes, tinned tuna, pasta sauces, treats.

I volunteer with a food bank and those are always useful.
As pps say, go for stuff which is easily cooked and widely eaten with a reasonable shelf life.
We collect fresh fruit and veg too (but not all food banks do). Things like potatoes, apples, carrots, onions, are good as they have a reasonable shelf life and are quite robust. so less likely to get damaged in transit than squishy berries, and less likely to go slimy than bags of chopped veg etc.

Don't forget people who are struggling need treats too, especially at Christmas! Our local food bank is particularly asking for nice boxes of biscuits, Christmas cakes, mince pies, chocolate bars, sponge puddings.

Obviously the basics are essential, but I remember reading an article about food banks once where a user said they got some Tesco Finest jam one time, and it made them feel worth a little bit more every time they used it. Now I always try and pop the occasional luxury item in too!

At this time of year food banks are actually inundated with advent calendars/chocolate etc. I try to send things like cute children's toothbrushes/paste, facecloths, etc so that parents can wrap them and pop them in a stocking if they want. Other than that I go for expensive things like tuna, because you can make a meal pretty easily, it's lots of protein, can be eaten hot or cold, so save on gas/electric costs, most children like it, and the price usually puts it out of reach for those that are needing food banks.

Biscuits, whatever is on offer, a mix of chocolate and non chocolate.

I understand the food banks never ask for 'treat' foods in case of a backlash but I figure, if I were eating worthy food, a packet of biscuits might just be a comfort.

For your DD to really learn a great message, you could ask her to 'donate' a treat from your cupboards that she was looking forward to eating. My mother taught me that sweets taste better when you share them.

@FinallyHere they do.... ours (trussel trust) was recently asking for Harribo

They always say they have plenty of biscuits actually so I wouldn't necessarily buy that

Please check their website. It really is the most helpful thing to do rather than guess and they get loads more of what they already have

As an aside, I volunteered at a food bank for years and always put together the list for the local schools. Every year we would get the same awkward fuckwits donating bags of lentils, chickpeas and seeds saying "these will stretch and last longer, healthy and filling!"

I've found this has largely stopped this year, not sure why, but maybe some people have had to budget for the first time and realised how patronising they sound (I hope so anyway)! We've also had a stop to the 'vanity volunteers' who want to turn up once a month, not do any work but just sit and drink tea with the underclasses because they're convinced that poor people could manage a bit better on £50 a month for an adult and 3 kids if they just budgeted . Shame really because we all could have done with the laugh.

For example this is our most wanted and most already have plenty of lists.
Easy to find on their website