to have put a packet of penguins in the foodbank trolly?

[bubblesinthesky]

Our local asda has a foodbank trolly and I usually try to put something in when I shop there. Normally its tins or pasta but yesterday for a change I picked up a box of shreddies. I also saw penguins were on special offer so thought I'd get a packet of those too as I thought someone with children may appreciate them for a change.

As I put them in the trolly a woman walked up with a tin of kidney beans and another of mixed beans and said "haven't you read the sign they want nutritious food only, no point giving them unhealthy food". I muttered something about people needing a treat occasionally and went on my way.

Its still irritating me this morning so thought I'd put it to the AIBU jury

[DreamingOfTheMaldives]

I've just looked at the foodbank website for our area and biscuits are actually on the shopping list.

[catsmother]

There's food to sustain you - and then there's food for the soul. The people in dire straits who need to use food banks are probably more in need of the latter - due to the stress and strain they live under - than people who can manage without asking for that sort of help. So mean to begrudge those in need the odd treat in addition to the basics. Think about it - if the odd Penguin biscuit constitutes a genuine treat then how miserable must that person's life be like usually ? And yet that sour faced moo objects ?!?

[DinoSnores]

YANBU. I hate this idea of dividing everything up into "healthy" and "unhealthy" food. There is no such thing. Everything in moderation, including penguins! They can all be part of a good balanced diet.

(And before someone with some vague beliefs about nutrition (I read here a few weeks ago that someone was claiming that sugar was the only thing we absorbed in our diet and fat just goes straight through! ) comes to 'correct' me, I've done research in one of the world's top universities into this sort of thing!)

[dizzyhoneybee]

YANBU, everybody deserves a treat now and then.

[PeterParkerSays]

Our local food bank puts cakes into the parcels handed out, when they know it's a child's birthday etc.

Are poor kids not allowed treats as well?

Chocolate with nuts in, if you can eat them, are a good source of protein and calcium. Just saying.

[ClaraOswinOswald]

It sounds like you were doing something really nice. Why shouldn't poor people have a treat too? Just picture a family receiving the food and the smile on the mum's face when she gives her kids a penguin after tea. That is worth more than a tin of kidney beans any day.

[BlueberryHill]

YANBU, agree with everyone saying that a treat for the soul is just as important.

If it makes you feel any better I have looked up a local foodbank and will be donating food on a regular basis, they have asked for chocolate bars and biscuits in addition to lots of tinned food. I will definitely be including some chocolate biscuits in there.

[DeputyDeputyChiefOfStaff]

Yanbu. Our church runs a food bank and they do ask for things like biscuits as well as healthier food (and things like tea and coffee, which surely come under the heading of 'nice to have' rather than 'essential'). As pps have said, it must be pretty depressing to only have weetabix, bread, pasta and tinned food - I'm sure the occasional treat is much appreciated. Plus, we all need a bit of fat in our diets - particularly children. Chocolate biscuits may not be the healthiest option for fat but they're not so terrible in moderation.

[Squitten]

YANBU

We just donated a load of Easter Eggs to our local foodbank.

[Sirzy]

A balanced diet needs a bit of everything. A chocolate biscuit occasionally probably means a lot to a child who probably didn't get any easter eggs like her peers did and rarely gets anything other than essential food.

[bubblesinthesky]

Thank you.

I was having visions of some poor food bank volunteer trying to work out what to do with my spectacularly unhealthy donation.

I know they're not nutritious but I'd hate to HAVE to survive entirely on "healthy" food so I don't see why anyone else would want to. Its one thing to choose to but surely people are entitled to a choice?

[mrsjay]

Yanbu the woman sounds a right snooty do gooder and id rather eat penguins than kidney beans and I am sure the people your penguins go to will enjoy them,

[mrsjay]

I help make up Christmas Hampers and we always put goodies in can you imagine how depressing it is opening a box of food and only having rice pasta and tinned peas in it, the woman probably thought the 'poor people' should be grateful for what they are given,

[Titsalinabumsquash]

Stupid woman, many a times I've had to make up a food parcel and send it a friend in need, even if they don't have kids I always stick some treats in there! Everyone needs a treat sometimes.

Anyway our local foodbank shopping list has those tinned sponge puddings on it so ner to her

[LadyBeagleEyes]

Well I'd have turned up my nose at penguins too.
Why didn't you donate kitkats?

[MasamiAomame]

A lot of people who come in to our local food bank are on pre-pay electricity meters, therefore if they have no money to buy food they are also likely to have no money for electricity. Uncooked kidney beans are poisonous therefore in that context much less healthy than a packet of penguins! Good on you for making a donation to the food bank

[piprabbit]

I've donated biscuits, tea bags and coffee - because if I sometimes need them to cheer my day, I'm sure other people do to.

[Inncogneetow]

At our Foodbank lots of biscuits and treats are sent. The are all used: added to food parcels or given out (with soup and toast) when clients visit the centre. When we are inundated with treats (Christmas and Easter), or if we are given perishable food, we send it down to the local homelessness shelter.

Nothing is wasted and we are grateful for all donations. BUT we are never short of treats and we are often short of staples. We seem to always run low on Uht milk, long-life fruit juice, 500g bags of sugar, tinned fish and tinned fruit.

Thanks for your support and interest.

[TeWiSavesTheDay]

It was a nice thing to do, I'm sure the food bank and whoever gets them will appreciate a chocolate biccie.

Tinned fish is so expensive now - really difficult because it's great and really nutritious if you haven't got power to cook with.

[Longdistance]

You should have retorted ' if you give them those beans, they'll be farting til the cows come home'

[ModernToss]

YANBU. Of course people need the odd treat amongst the lentils.

[dotty2]

YY - I am also involved in running a foodbank and the Trussell Trust model (which most of the UK foodbanks follow) is to give a package of nutritionally balance food, but then invite clients to choose one or two treats to supplement the basic package. Honestly, are there really people who think that you and your family should never eat anything that isn't 100% healthy and nutrious? Food isn't just about nutrition - it's about socialising and being together, and for families in dire straits, being able to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea and a biscuit together can be a chink of light in a dark time.

But what incogneetow says is true for us too - we are always short of tinned meat and fish, and UHT milk. Thank you to everyone on this thread who donates to their local foodbank.

[EasterHoliday]

absolutely not BU.
Though I was rather amazed at my gym running a promotion whereby you'd get a free day's pass if you donated an easter egg to them to distribute on the children's ward at the local hospital. Not sure that chocolate eating is something for a gym to be promoting or that chocolate eating by kids in hospital is necessarily advised for those in for anything other than eg a broken limb. (still bitter at the memory of my dad bringing one of those packs of teeny tiny Cadbury's bars in when I had my appendix out and not being allowed any, and him eating them IN FRONT OF ME!)

[HoHoHoNoYouDont]

Cheeky judging bitch! I think it was lovely of you to even donate something. Penguins are lovely and I'm sure they will be a lovely treat for kids.

[ShoeHorn]

what a stupid woman. We all treat ourselves, why not treat others.