What's the etiquette of sharing food with neighbours?

[Munchcrip]

Do you give them food in a container or on a serving plate?
Do you call them prior to dropping off the food?

Some detail would help. Why are you sharing food with them ? Are they going through hard times and you want to help them ?

I don’t offer mine food. They offer me quite a lot - mostly bread, freshly baked and wrapped in a tea towel. I launder the tea towels and drop the clean ones off regularly.

The simple answer is.
It depends

Much more detail is needed.

The context would be a normal day, you just made a lot of food for dinner and want to share with a neighboor

I would ask if they want it and then put it in a container or a plate with some foil

I would think it was weird if you turned up with food especially if I don't know you well. Some people might be wary of accepting food from strangers due to covid and hygiene reasons.

Also, people might have dietary requirements that you may not be aware of. If you have cooked too much then either invite a friend for dinner or freeze it for another day.

I bought those foil containers from amazon. My neighbour brings things in foil, or tupperware type containers, or just plates. We never phone ahead, we are neighbours/friends. I bloody love getting food from them, they are excellent cooks.

My neighbour drops round pizzas, cookies, etc in cardboard takeout style boxes. If we have something to give to each other we message and arrange to pass things over the fence or if it's not something edible we sometimes leave it on the fence or each others gates and message to say that it's there.

@Munchcrip

The context would be a normal day, you just made a lot of food for dinner and want to share with a neighboor

This seems like a really odd thing to do, unless you’re friends and do it regularly - in which case, you’d already know exactly what the etiquette is.

Are you going to go door knocking until you find a neighbour who wants the food?

The lack of detail is preventing people from giving meaningful advice.

I use foil platters and trays for this. I used to use tupperware but the lids always seemed to go missing.

The context would be a normal day, you just made a lot of food for dinner and want to share with a neighboor

I can't think of a situation where I had made too much food for dinner and deciding the best solution would be to go knocking on peoples' doors and offering it to them?

I wouldn’t share too much dinner with a neighbor. Unless there is a massive drip feed here (eg neighbor is a lonely widow who recently had an accident and can’t cook etc)

My neighbors sometimes bring cakes or other bakes on weekends on their plates with a tea towel and I return both washed.

I would find it so weird if a neighbour tried to give me their leftover food.

If you've made too much, can't you just reheat it the next day?

It would be a bit weird as if you've just had your dinner (and cooked too much) then chances are they have probably cooked their own dinner by then too.

The OP is being a massive hold-our detail-wise…

I would be delighted. I think its very thoughtful. But then I grew up in a village where we knew the neighbours. Tin foil on a plate I'd have thought.

I used to share with a neighbour who liked eating homemade meals but didn't like cooking. She lived alone and would tend to get ready-made meals normally.
Sometimes I'd make extra if I knew what I was cooking if I knew it was something she particularly enjoyed.
However, we were very good friends and I would always check first if she wanted the meal and, if I could, let her know what time I'd be bringing it round.

When growing up, we lived next door to a Muslim family who often cooked loads for big family events. They would sometimes ask my mum to borrow a large cast iron casserole dish and then return it full of a delicious spicy chicken dish. It was such a treat. My mum and the woman next door used to give each other cooking lessons and swap recipes.

The neighbours on the other side were an old couple who my mum used to give bags of apples from the apple tree. The woman on that side would send an apple pie back round sometimes!

It’s nice to be neighbourly.

The context would be a normal day, you just made a lot of food for dinner and want to share with a neighboor

Ask if they’d like it first, message to inquire

Then take round in container

But surely the neighbour would have already cooked and eaten or be part way through preparation? Why would they want a neighbours leftovers?
If it’s an old person living alone that you want to help out surely you know them well enough to ask them rather than randoms on the internet?

@Alrightqueenie

I would think it was weird if you turned up with food especially if I don't know you well. Some people might be wary of accepting food from strangers due to covid and hygiene reasons.

This

This is really weird. There’s absolutely no way I’d eat anything dropped off by a neighbour unless I knew their kitchen was clean or knew them very well. I once worked with a woman who used to bring leftover food into the office on a regular basis. I went round to her house one evening to drop something off only to see her 6 cats sat on the kitchen worktops and licking spoons and bowls etc while she was cooking dinner. Yuck!

I do, but we all moved at the same time (new estate). I have neighbours with allotments, they give me products, I sometimes make extra food and give it to them. I bake on a Sunday and take cake around to the ones who have kids etc. I love baking bread, but I’m on my own, so it would go stale if I didn’t share. Most of them are English.
At work, I have lots of foreigners, we actually share most of our food most days.

I would be a bit if a neighbour brought me food just because they'd cooked too much for dinner.

A show of support after a bereavement or illness or to welcome you to the neighbourhood, fair enough. But cooked too much? No.

It's weird.