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.

they bought loads of cheese, as they know cheese is one of my favourite things about Christmas, and there was a tesco gift card for meat and fresh veg too. (they'd looked up which supermarket was closest to where we lived)
to this day I am so touched at how kind and compassionate they all were, and how MUCH they got for us with what everyone chipped in

That is so lovely!!

As well as supporting your local food bank, please support this campaign to eliminate the need for them.

https://www.trussell.org.uk/support-us/guarantee-our-essentials

And this campaign to eliminate childhood hunger: that children go hungry anywhere, but especially in one of the wealthier countries of the world, is a scandal. It’s a political choice.

https://www.mothermanifesto.com

It used to infuriate me when at our harvest festivals the posh mums at our school brought in tins of beans and Angel Delight.

People down on their luck like good food too you know.

Buy something as luxurious as you can afford. I always buy for the mum when I donate.

sometimes, when I look at what people donate, it seems sort of preachy. wholegrain this and low fat that, and usually the cheapest range.
it feels like the donors are viewing it purely as fuel. not something to be enjoyed.
now I DO buy mostly cheaper range own brand stuff, but when I donate, I would never pick something of a lower level than I would eat myself. I like the cheapest beans. if I want beans and sausages, I get the next step up, as the cheapest range one, the sausages were a bit grim. things like tea I am fussy, and for a donation I'd buy either one of the big popular brands, or the brand I buy myself, as I know how bad an inferior cup of tea is if you like your tea (and I have TRIED the cheaper ones. I always do, it's one of the things I decided it was worth getting my brand instead of saving money)
I always get tinned fruit, because one of my highlights was a tin of peach halves. it was never something I used to even think about buying, but after getting it in our bags, it was an absolute joy to just sit there shoveling sweet, juicy fruit into my mouth. I've always had a few tins of peaches in my cupboard ever since. I don't have them often, but they are an instant hit of sweet juiciness.
I also usually get things like tinned chilli con carne, tinned chicken in cream sauce etc. because if you're trying to save on your electricity use, it doesn't take much to heat up, and in a really bad situation, they're already cooked and can be eaten cold.
also, things like the chicken in cream sauce can be seasoned to make it into a curry to have with rice, or mixed through pasta. easy, low energy use (mental and electrical) meals, that can be bulked up with things like pasta or rice, which you usually get given too.

while I wouldn't normally get myself things like tinned processed meats, we got some tinned reformed chicken, and we put it on one of those very thin, cheap plain pizzas from tesco (think they were about 20 or 30p back then) and some tinned sweetcorn, and it made a very cheap and boring pizza more satisfying.