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 tuna

@FeminismIsForALLWomen ah yes, the vanity volunteers!

The small food bank I helped at worked so well because I'd say 90% had used foodbanks ourselves. People sometimes felt really embarrassed the first time they had to come in and it really put them at ease when you said, look, I've been here myself, don't worry.

Cordial, kids might like a bit over Christmas rather than water, it’s not something people donate either. Boxed biscuits too, I wouldn’t buy pasta food banks always have enough cheap pasta. Can you give them the £10 instead of food, that way the food bank can spend it on what the6 think is best.

Canned veggies eg potatoes, peas, carrots are great (you can roast canned potatoes quite well too), stuffing, gravy. Also canned protein eg tuna, mackerel, ham, pies perhaps. Do look at the local food bank website as they tend to publish a list of requirements, ours is doing Christmas hampers so want selection packs etc but not all do

The small food bank I helped at worked so well because I'd say 90% had used foodbanks ourselves. People sometimes felt really embarrassed the first time they had to come in and it really put them at ease when you said, look, I've been here myself, don't worry.

Yeah it was really noticeable this year how many volunteers had underlying health conditions or disabilities (because they were off shielding) and had been in poverty because of that. Pretty much all of the volunteers who've stayed for a length of time have been in poverty and/or marginalised in some way. Also noticeable is the drop in donations, because as always the people with least to spare give the most (apart from Christmas when comfortably off people buy a bag of flour and some beans and post it all over social media tagging in the food bank ).

I always donate things like pot noodles or super noodles. They are easy to make, filling and kids will like them.

I've just left in the November reverse advent calendar donation for my local one - toothpaste, shampoo, baby wipes, tinned potatoes, sugar (but not big bags), custard (cartons/tins), gravy granules were their biggest request.

Foodbanks just make the problem worse in the long run

Our food bank always asks for tinned potatoes, peas, carrots or sweetcorn. Also toiletries and main meals In a tin.... Like a chilli or curry.
Definitely no mince pies.

Veggie meals that can be heated up quick. Our food bank always short of veggie/vegan stuff and it can also be used for halal clients. So Tina of veggie curry, ratatouille and sachets of flavoured cous cous/grains...

@Birdsandbeez

Foodbanks just make the problem worse in the long run

Can you expand on that thought please?

I went to the supermarket today so I bunged in the food bank basket a Fray Bentos cheese and onion pie, some jam, tinned fruit and tuna.

I suppose the thought is that people should be paid enough money via sufficient wages or safety-net benefits to buy their own food.

But sadly, that's not the case, and meanwhile we - people who donate - help out, because our government insists on not fixing a broken system.

Once you have a society that relies on foodbanks the government won't sort out the root of the problem.

We pay taxes to fund a welfare state, it isn't the job of charities to feed the population, it is the governments job.

The reason people are struggling on Universe Credit etc is because foodbanks are allowing the root cause of the problem to continue.

Ban foodbanks and you'll solve a lot of povert issues within weeks.

Well I went and did the shopping, felt sad and spent a bit more.

Would have been easier to donate cash but the kids like to take a bag of stuff in like their classmates.....

So to round off I bought in duplicate one child is infants the other juniors - A fajita meal box thing, tinned meatballs in sauce, cranberry sauce, some German Christmas biscuits, children’s mango shampoo and conditioner, Christmas tree shaped tortilla chips - turkey and stuffing flavoured, cereal bars and hot chocolate powder they are also some other bits in the bags from my cupboards.

I probably could have got more for the money volume wise, but decided to go for taste over sheer quantity.

As a previous poster suggested I bought chocolate baubles for the Christmas tree and asked them if they wanted to donate or keep them and after a bit of debate over whether they could open the packet and share them that way they both decided to donate.

@Birdsandbeez you've correctly identified that charities shouldn't be responsible for feeding people, but your conclusion that closing them is the solution doesn't follow.

Firstly, a government who happily allows 8 million people to rely on food banks is not going to cave in a few weeks when people start either starving to death or stealing food to survive. They are already aware of the problem. Them not dealing with it is not because of its not severe enough, it's because they don't have to deal with it when their daily fail reading voters believe that poor people are just essentially lazy.

It's not food banks who are allowing this to continue, it's the government. To solve the problem they need to understand that people won't stand for it, they need to be put under pressure, because removing the relief without having an actual solution like benefit reform in place is inhumane.

[quote FeminismIsForALLWomen]@Birdsandbeez you've correctly identified that charities shouldn't be responsible for feeding people, but your conclusion that closing them is the solution doesn't follow.

Firstly, a government who happily allows 8 million people to rely on food banks is not going to cave in a few weeks when people start either starving to death or stealing food to survive. They are already aware of the problem. Them not dealing with it is not because of its not severe enough, it's because they don't have to deal with it when their daily fail reading voters believe that poor people are just essentially lazy.

It's not food banks who are allowing this to continue, it's the government. To solve the problem they need to understand that people won't stand for it, they need to be put under pressure, because removing the relief without having an actual solution like benefit reform in place is inhumane.[/quote]
The government will cave if there is sufficient civil unrest.

Ban foodbanks, get everyone who has been staffing them or donating to protest instead of adding to the problem

Once you have the doctors surgeries full of ill people you'll get something done.

Foodbanks are a disgrace in the 21st century - they need banning.

Some chocolate advent calendars, tampons, baby wipes. These are really well received at our food bank, any treats for the kids are really appreciated. Not baked beans xxx

@Didicat

Well I went and did the shopping, felt sad and spent a bit more.

Would have been easier to donate cash but the kids like to take a bag of stuff in like their classmates.....

So to round off I bought in duplicate one child is infants the other juniors - A fajita meal box thing, tinned meatballs in sauce, cranberry sauce, some German Christmas biscuits, children’s mango shampoo and conditioner, Christmas tree shaped tortilla chips - turkey and stuffing flavoured, cereal bars and hot chocolate powder they are also some other bits in the bags from my cupboards.

I probably could have got more for the money volume wise, but decided to go for taste over sheer quantity.

As a previous poster suggested I bought chocolate baubles for the Christmas tree and asked them if they wanted to donate or keep them and after a bit of debate over whether they could open the packet and share them that way they both decided to donate.

Lovely OP. Well done xx ps to the person saying ban foodbanks, in our food bank many people come to us having being giving a voucher from the local church or mosque, etc. These people are often desperate but working and not on any benefits. So if food banks were to close then it is those people who go under the radar who would also suffer. They are often in abusive relationships, have addictions that are unseen, have recently been left by their partners. They may not be eligible for benefits or would not claim on principle, it is a shame but not a new problem. This allows them to gain support 'anonymously' as it were.

Once you have the doctors surgeries full of ill people you'll get something done.

Okay, how many people getting ill or dying is acceptable to you while we implement your strategy (that we don't know is going to work)?

I realise sweeping simplistic ideas can seem like good solutions, but they don't tend to work for complex problems. All you would be doing is punishing innocent people for the government's incompetence/negligence.

I usually put in tins, crisps, chocolate bars, dried fruit, fruit in tins and I always pop a couple of baby jars/fruit pouches/ baby pots as well as some rusks in there just in case there are families who need them with little ones. If not they have a good expiry so can be stored.
Also cereals and long life milk.

I've just done my food bank shop and put in some gluten free and lactose free things with everything else. I figured people with intolerances also need food banks.

These are vegan and gluten-free, long life and easy to heat up. Has anyone tried them? I'm wondering if they're worth buying and donating.

groceries.asda.com/product/cooking-ingredients/ashoka-dal-tadka/1000052709814

There's a whole range.

I'd suggest Robinson's triangles instead of cordial/squash as they are very small and light which is useful when carrying heavy bags home

@FeminismIsForALLWomen

Once you have the doctors surgeries full of ill people you'll get something done.

Okay, how many people getting ill or dying is acceptable to you while we implement your strategy (that we don't know is going to work)?

I realise sweeping simplistic ideas can seem like good solutions, but they don't tend to work for complex problems. All you would be doing is punishing innocent people for the government's incompetence/negligence.

You won't kill anyone - it's foodbanks that kill people.

We had these Dickensian charities in Victorian times and the creation of the welfare state ended that. The government his hell bent on destroying the welfare state and people giving to foodbanks help the government. I appreciate people giving to foodbanks do so with good intent but they are making the problem worse.

A significant number of people reliant on foodbanks are the working poor, systemic reduction of wages has been allowed to happen as the government provided top ups to wages. Now the government is cutting the top ups (with Universal credit) people are relying on charity to fund tax cuts on the wealthy.

The reality is if you give to foodbanks you are contributing to the inequality while giving aid to the wealthy and not the poor.

Don't run away that mass protests work - they do if enough people protest or if people in the public eye make noises. Look at the work footballer Marcus Rashford is doing on his own - the government will listen with enough pressure.

You get 1 million people writing to their MP and presenting themselves to the doctor or A&E and you'll solve the problem in weeks.