to go off piste with food bank donations, as they only list wanting junk food

[haveatarday]

At the shops now. The local food bank is only asking for junk food on their list (crisps, biscuits, pot noodles, pasta and sauce, corn flakes).

Aibu to not get these but get healthier stuff, like tinned fruit in natural juce, oats, mixed seeds etc?

Oh dear......

and for those with no means of heating things other than a kettle?

I'd get what the food bank asked for. It's not junk food necessarily, just treats probably, and maybe their shelves are jam packed with worthy food.

Yabu. They want non perishable stuff that's easy to cook and eat.

Pasta and sauce isn't necessarily unhealthy; tinned fruit in natural juice isn't particulaly healthy. Mixed seeds and oats will need cooking, if only to make porridge.

YABU, and a bit patronising, and not terribly well informed.

People need Carbs especially if they have no heating, walking instead of using transport etc.

Tinned fruit will give a sugar spike.

What's wrong with corn flakes anyway?!

Ours has tinned fruit on the list, so I'd say that was fine. Ours sometimes drops things from their list if they are fully stocked. It's usually tea bags and tinned beans which drop off the list.

There must be more on the list than just crisps, biscuits, pot noodles, pasta and sauce, corn flakes, surely?

I donate to two foodbanks. They don't ask for junk. They need a range of things. Its not about what you think is nutritional. Donate tinned fruit and veg if you feel that way.

Since when has pasta been junk food?

aww bless....

go hand in some artisan scotch eggs and a few nice loaves of sour dough. Add in some squid ink pasta and some quail eggs.

Is there a point in looking at their list if you're not going to actually follow it?

Are the poor not allowed biscuits? Only for those who are not dependent on food banks? Here's yours then.

"What's wrong with corn flakes anyway?!"

They're not gruel.

There were lots of threads over Christmas about food banks and what they want and why. If you want to donate I'd stick to what they are asking for.

Their customers may not have equipment to cook or heat food. Also mixed seeds are hardly filling, comfort food. Imagine you were on your uppers and got given a back of mixed seeds... It wouldn't go very far would it.

Rice pudding is apparently the best and most nutritional 'cheap' thing to give. (within the confines of the person receivings needs and situation)

if you want to give different to the suggested list give Rice pudding.

Tinned fruit is carbs! Good point about the oats. Are oatcakes acceptable then? I'm just concerned with buying food that I wouldn't feed my family with.

Tinned fruit in juice absolutely - be wary with things like oats, seeds etc. They need things that can feed a low income family for three days, without necessarily having access to an oven, or being able to afford the fuel to cook things for a long time (so a lot of dried pulses like beans and lentils, although healthier than instant mash, are fairly useless).

Oats are great, but try and include powdered or UHT milk so that they can be used without having to buy fresh milk and pay to run a fridge to store it in.

I usually put in tinned potatoes, carrots, peas, fruit, UHT milk and jars of decent peanut butter as standard donations, then top it up with things like jam, jars of pasta sauce, tinned fish etc.

It is just possible that they're asking for the stuff that's on their list because they know their 'target audience' and how best to keep them going in an emergency!

Pasta, sauce, cornflakes- junk?

How about donating some pulses. After all, the poor don't have anything to do but sit in while they take 2 hours to cook. Oh, wait.........

Friendly-

What's wrong with tinned fruit? I realise it's not as healthy as fresh..,,,but as non perishables go I thought they were okay,

The point is that you are NOT feeding your family. Different people, different likes/dislikes, different food related allergies, different situations (like availability of cooking equipment).

Its best to stick to the list op. Cornflakes are widely liked by most and have iron and vitamins added.

Op you forgot the lentils.

The other threads said most foodbanks are low on toiletries so if you don't want to donate food you could give things like nappies, sanitary towels, shower gel, toothbrush and paste etc.

What do you think they will do with mixed seeds? These are people in need of easy to prepare food that doesn't take long to cook (to avoid costing more money in fuel) and will be popular.

A friend posted on FB that she'd been in Waitrose and the food bank donations included two enormous bags of plain risotto rice. The kind that needs 45 minutes of careful attention and lots of things adding to it to make it edible. Cos that's what you need when your brassic and need a foodbank; having to make a sodding risotto.