Food bank donation -"something to make our clients smile"

[shuffleofftobuffalo]

This is on the list from the food bank my DD's school is working with for harvest festival - what sort of items do you think it means? Love the idea of putting something treat-y in addition to the food we'll donate.

Re gluten free, yes we have a small but decent stock of gluten free food

We put a pack of little Kinder bars in for our Harvest Festival, so there's a bit of something that can be divided up between a couple of families' kids or given as is to one family, along wit the squash, tins etc. that they've specifically asked for.

It's not really a treat but I always put in jars of baby food. Obviously you can purée your own vegetables for babies but I always think if someone is really struggling they might appreciate just being able to quickly warm up a jar.
Years ago I read that some people relying on food banks may only have a kettle and no fridge to keep milk in so anything that can be made with just boiling water is appreciated - cappuccino/hot chocolate/chai latte sachets, ramen or pot noodles, cup-a-soup, those instant porridge pots/sachets that you make with just water.

Not being facetious but would food banks accept wine? Lots gifted to us but we don’t drink wine. I have about 7 bottles x

Erm, no. We can’t give out alcohol and I’m pretty sure no Foodbanks will. But it might be used for the volunteers Christmas party!

We get a lot of jam throughout the year- maybe it's just us? I do think something specifically Christmas and frivolous once a year is good.

No, even liqueur chocolates and most things claiming to be gin/other booze flavoured will not go to clients.

Instead they might be used as gifts to staff/volunteers (if there is an appropriate occasion to mark), given to staff volunteers in return for a cash donation, or as ours is based in a church hall, they'll probably go to the next fund-raising fete/tombola. (yes, I know they were given for one cause and the church is a different one; but somewhere along the line someone decided that our using their premises, and their fundraising directly contributed to keeping those premises in good nick was a sufficient link)

My local community shop accepts it as a raffle prize, I did check because I didn't know if they had a no alcohol party.

As someone else said you could donate it to the volunteers.

Thanks all. Yes I did think it could be included for tombola prizes at church fetes or gifts for volunteers. I’ll check with my local church which runs a food bank x

But do you get the really good ones or the value ones? There's a difference between supermarket own brand cheapest and a Bonne Maman (or similar) conserve. The latter would make you feel much more valued as well as being more of a treat to eat.

I always wonder about that. Bonne Maman is a bit extreme, but I do think I can afford two of the cheapest brand but only one of the dearer and surely giving two is better?

If you can, set up the local foodbank address on your Amazon account,when you see something they could use, send it straight to them. Even better sign up to somewhere like hotukdeals or similar, and get a bargain sent.

Mine did a shout out for bags, I ended up buying a cheapish pack of a thousand, not great quality but better than no bags. Arrived day after order, right where they were needed. Rather than my house and me finding time to get them there. Which could easily take a week given my schedule some weeks.
You can also send larger packs of foodstuffs than you would normally buy in the supermarket. Like say a tray of rice pudding, ring pull ones, were ages ago about 4 quid on Amazon, I sent over 4 or 5 trays.

Much easier to just do it all online, my foodbank has an Amazon wishlist so it's all covered. Then any other charities you might like to donate stuff to, my local dogs charity that takes dogs in for rehoming I send dog food sometimes or blankets once when I saw a great deal on them.

This way stuff isnt sitting in my house, taking up space while I figure out how to get it where its needed.

Generally, yes.

But this thread is about a one-off where the aim is to make the clients smile.

I'd go for the better brand for this specific initiative

I think this is probably relative to the budget of the giver. I budget carefully for my own food shop, we don't usually have non essentials such as chocolate spread or biscuits. So for me a jar of supermarket chocolate spread is something to make them smile as I know it's something we don't have and they will have less than us - whereas for others here it seems to need to be a luxury brand.

I donated to the food bank for the harvest festival. Normally, when I am in the supermarket I get the usual pasta/tins or soup/pasta sauces and cereal to add to the foodbank trolley but for the harvest festival collection, I tried to do something different.

I got those sticky golden syrup cakes, ginger cakes (very long-dated) with custard and rice puddings, biscuits, shower gels, shampoo, conditioner, jams, honey, Nutella and tins of fruit. I tried not to buy the usual pasta but did end up getting a massive bag of rice as I wanted to do something a bit different.

I'd recommend checking what your local foodbank wants, they know their service users.

My local one is a Trussell trust and they always have a list on their website. At first glance it would seem bizarre as it mostly consists of 'store cupboard'/toiletries/cleaning products and treats than actual food. I generally buy the slightly better items than the cheapest (like a pp I'd buy a pears soap over the basic soap) but there's some limitations our foodbank always asks for laundry detergent and own brand is less than half the price of person etc so I'd rather buy teo own brands in that situation

I’ve volunteered at our local Foodbank and we love putting a little “treat” in. Chocolate, fancy biscuits, sweets or nice body wash/ moisturiser.

Dont forget that most food banks can’t give out anything with alcohol in so no chocolate liqueurs or fruits in alcohol.

The poster I had quoted had said she could afford 2x cheap or 1x more luxurious

Those were the specific circumstances (in the light of the specific ‘smile’ appeal that this thread is about.

It was never intended to be read as covering all possible circumstances

Because yes of course all donations are welcome, from the widow’s mite to Lady Bountiful in full flow (but that’s going rather beyond the issue that OP was about)

@AuntieStella Sorry, I wasn't meaning to sound critical or snarky, just musing over the differences and I'm prone to going off at a tangent.
But yes, I'm sure it is all welcome...well maybe not the opened jars and half empty things that we get donated for the school fete 😆

Opened? Half Empty?

Good grief! It makes my pet peeve of "after the use by/BBE date" pale to insignificance
(Yes, we know that expired BBE is still safe, but we still don't give out anything that could be below standard).

And YY to checking online when giving more routinely (as opposed to a specific appeal) what your local one actually needs - it really can vary a lot!

Mozza77 · Yesterday 21:15

Seasonal smelling shower gel (Aldi did a fab Lush Snow Fairy dupe and Radox ones are lovely too - always told it’s a tiny luxury and not everyone can afford to heat the water for baths)
aldi are doing a dupe for sanctuary shower gels at the mo- gorgeous smelling!!

but… it’s a food bank
most of these are non-food ?

Treats for kids like Halloween sweets and stuff like that? Boxes of biscuits, stuff people could use as a gift like tubs of choc?
Nice-ish shower gel, body wash etc? Bath salts/bubble bath?

I actually do have a question about food banks, if anyone knows? Can they take vitamin tablets? Like B vits, Thiamine etc? They were prescribed but are just normal vitamins you could buy from a pharmacy but a bit stronger I think. It seems a shame to waste them.

alphabet spaghetti
apple pie

Every food bank I've come across also provides toiletries, basic household cleaning and laundry products, plus sanpro and nappies.