About food banks- just a bit surprised really

[topbannana]

I have just come across a notice in the paper from church, appealing for donations for the local food bank.
Thankfully I have never had need for a food bank but I think they are a great idea and I was happy to buy extra and donate.
The list however was quite specific (understandable) but I was amazed to see requests for custard, rice pudding, biscuits and sugar. In my book these would be considered luxuries, in that if I was short on my grocery budget we would forego them.
Surely the food bank is there to supply people with emergency essentials not extras? As it goes I will simply buy loo rolls, pasta, powdered milk or something else off the list and ignore the bits I don't agree with. I don't really think I am but AIBU?

I don't think it's completely unreasonable to care why someone needs to use a foodbank. I used to volunteer with my local soup kitchen, and I was initially of the viewpoint that if anyone was hard up enough to want food from the back of a van in a local car park, we should feed them, no questions. But after a few years, it felt like in some cases we were making the problem worse, not better - enabling the same people to continue in their dysfunctional lifestyles rather than helping them to improve their lives. Obviously not all of the people who came fell into that category, but a large proportion did. So now I prefer to support the local food bank, and a local charity that helps resettle people coming out of prison.

Oh and just come back from Asda. Inspired by someone on this thread I put 5 of the small cans of character spaghetti in the food bank trolly as well as 2 cans of tuna. For some reason the idea of a food bank volunteer being able to let a child choose between dora explorer, hello kitty and peppa pig spaghetti pleases me I know it does not really work like that but hopefully it will get directed towards children

One thing that brought home to me how precarious some people's lives are was when our neighbours fridge freezer broke down. They didn't have the cash to buy a replacement (second hand) for a couple of weeks. We ended up storing the contents of their freezer in ours until they could get a replacement. Imagine if nobody could help them with storing the food. They would have had to find the money for the fridge freezer and have lost all the food they had frozen.

These aren't feckless people, they are just people who have no margin for error, if something goes wrong its easy for the problems to cascade.

Ok I havent read all the posts but I was reading about a lady who was moritifed to have to use a food bank and when she got a parcel with kitkats in she cried as it was so long since they had had any treats at all.

I am doing this this week. I will never fully understand what it is like to live like this day to day, but even after 3 days I'm wishing I had factored in some sort or treat or at least something sugary. It is by no means easy.

If this post has done anything however, it's raised awareness, it's got people talking and its changed at least one person's mind about food banks.

Until this week I had no idea that people were living like this in the UK and as one person said up-thread its is utterly disgraceful.

Well done for getting involved and taking an interest to everyone that has looked up their local food bank and donated and well done for the majority for seeing that its not just people that are unemployed or a case for ss that need this help.

wow reading that back it seems really patronising, like a little pat on the head.

Please don't take it like that I'm just really glad people are talking about it :)

we didnt have ketchup in the 90s when my children were small we couldnt afford ketchup melika would you like a breakdown of how poor people are do you really think the most deprived people are in hostels sipping soup with fingerless gloves, you seriously need to stop and have a look around you maybe volunteer if you have a spare hour and you will see poor people who are trying to do their very best with what they have and need a helping hand

y, I am not saying that. I just want to know it is going to the right people who literally haven't got anything in their cupboards or fridge.

you are actually clueless. yep cos that is what poor people do they take packets of burboun creams and pasta while they have a full fridge .

Thank you for this thread Topbannana, I glad you have rethought your position. This thread has inspired me to seek out my nearest food bank drop off point and donate some biscuits and puddings, and I hope to do this regularly from now on as this has made me realise how lucky I am that my family is not in a position to need this kind of help. I'm only sad that this wealthy country needs food banks to help the most vulneable in our population.

I donated £20 worth of food to my local one today.

I made sure to include biscuits, sanpro, shampoo/conditioner & deodorant as well.

I felt absolutely awful while doing it. I got a fair bit of stuff for £20 (mix of Tesco & Poundland), lots of stuff on offer, made sure there was treats as well as a good few meals. All for £20.

Yesterday I spent £25 on two candles.

Felt fucking awful.

For those who don't have a foodbank box at their local supermarket, it's very easy to donate money online or by phone, or set up a standing order. The Trussell Trust runs foodbanks around the country:

www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects

DD's Church run a foodbank. She says you shouldn't donate something you wouldn't buy yourself eg if you always have Heinz soup you should donate that not Asda value. I have stuck to this, so as I would buy value tinned tomatoes I donated them to foodbank, but I got the more expensive brand of rice pudding because that is what we have.
I can see the logic of this, but on the other hand with the 10 pounds I was planning to spend I could have got more if I had gone for only value brands. What do you think?
Thanks for starting the thread by the way OP.When we were on our beam ends I thought jam was a luxury so I can kind of see where you started out from, but DD told me that the parcels have been thought out properly.

I only buy tescos own stuff for home anyway and there is nothing wrong with it, in fact i prefer many of the products - beans and ketchup being examples, i much prefer tescos 23p ketchup to heinz, i think its wht you get used to, i find heinz much to tangy. If i was a recipient of a foodbank parcel i wouldn't care if my products were value brands but i would appreciate a few luxuries im sure. But yes, i think you shouldn't buy shitty food just because it is for a foodbank but you would be surprised how much more you get for your money if you buy stores own. Cornflakes is cornflakes whether they are kellogs or tescos. I often find myself looking at people who have branded products as i am so used to buying the shops own stuff. The only thing i have noticed is that the variety pack cereals in tesco are £1.05 for kellogs and £1.38 for tesco - can you tell im on a budget?

While doing a small shop in Sainsburys today i asked if they had a food bank donation box.
Yes so im taking some stuff in tomorrow.
Im currently on a diet and have 4 stone to lose. A few weeks ago i bought a box of dorset cereal (their simply nutty muesli. No raisins) At 11g of sugar per 45g i cant eat it.
I searched my cupboard and found 5 tins of veg ravioli (still 2 years in date) and some instant noodles (Mug Shots) So im taking this lot there tommorrow.
I figure that the dorset cereal will give someone some much needed energy.

Melika if i followed your 1970s "diet" i would gain a lot of weight. Ive had to cut right down on carbs hence why im giving them the veg ravioli.
And i pass an Iceland store on the way so i might pop in there to get some biscuits to go with this lot.

Wand I buy the same as I would for my family. So value rice/pasta as I have never been able to tell the difference between that and the more expensive ones, but soup I buy Heinz or Crosse and Blackwell, because they are generally thicker, more vegetables in than the value soups, which I find watery.

I know my food bank accepts gift cards for supermarkets. Not sure if they give to the people who need it for fresh stuff as you say or if they use it to buy food themselves for the bank. Maybe check with your local one and see what they say?

YABU

Rice pudding is hardly that bad! I am sure the food banks are trying to provide a balanced diet and that means a mixture of all the food groups.

OP actually agreed she was being unreasonable near the start of this!

Starving children surviving on a jam sandwich a day. Food Bank Britain.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/starving-children-surviving-on-just-a-jam-1546447#.UYFSe0TPR-k.twitter

I wonder if Urbane included the many, many people with disabilities in the government's compassionate agenda.

Nothing wrong with value foods. Nothing wrong with branded foods.

Nappies are needed, As are loo rolls, washing up liquid, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, lightbulbs, etc. So if you see these on offer and feel drawn to them then I'm pretty sure no foodbank would turn them away (we wouldn't).

Please, give what you can and congratulate yourself on making a difference - honestly every single item will be passed on to someone who needs it.

If you really want to treat someone it's pretty difficult to beat a tin of tuna for nourishment, health awards and ease of use!

Do Trussell Trust foodbanks take nappies, loo rolls etc.? I got the list of foods from their website and I send the goods back with DD when she goes home, but I didn't see anything about paper goods.