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?

I've just been looking at where our nearest foodbanks are, as from reading this thread I am interested in donating.

As we are fairly rural they are unsurprisingly in the nearest larger towns and city. But I am wondering how people access foodbanks if they are struggling to also pay for public transport to get there.

Are there rural outreach points where people can collect?

whistlingpot could you ask at your nearest church, whatever? Bet someone there would know or maybe even be operating as a collection point themselves.

Our local church uses their hall and also uses it as soup kitchen type place. Agree that public transport costs puts using buses outside their use by hard up ordinary people.

gymboy Well done :)

Before Christmas we did a bumper foodbank shop and told a friend what we were doing - she wanted to do the same, so we gave her the list we'd been shopping from. She went round B&M stuffing a basket with essentials and treats, decided she'd probably got about 30 worth of stuff and went to the till. When the cashier told her the total was only 13 she rang and asked if DH or I would go and help carry some of the stuff so she could buy some more

I would get what they ask for on the list. They will need to make up packs to last three days, and they know what they need.

If you are not happy and want healthier things, then get long life milk and fruit juice. They will be able to use those.

For treats I sometimes put packs of jelly in as they only need hot water.

as someone who volueers at a food bank I can say without hesitation that the average. customer has never had any interaction with benefits in their lives. they are people whose partners are self employed with the other spouse working on a top up wage an find they are not entitled to anything and spiky know more. consider feeding their dcs processed craps than would you or I. they want pasta, rice, frozen mince and tinned tomatoes... hth .

Sorry. If my life has hit the point of needing a food bank I think the thing that would break me would be getting bloody oats and seeds. I'm not a pigeon.

I give to food banks. I give what you need to get you through which I believe is quantity of filling food as nutritional as possibly but ultimately calorific because you can go a few weeks without specific vitamins but to be hungry? Every day? That would break me.

Thanks RumbelowSale, I will ask.

If you've heard of Cracked you probably think it's only for silly things, but this article is very powerful (if mainly based in America where the author grew up): Habits you develop growing up poor

SG - the foods I eat are things like tinned tuna, sardines, raw carrots - that kind of stuff. Raw uncooked food can be a lot better for you than cooked by the way.

If someone can't afford to heat their home, they need a hot meal, to help them feel warmer and more comfortable.

And unless they are already into a basically raw diet, they are not going to adopt one when they are at their lowest financial - and probably emotional - ebb, are they, FlowerFairy?

These people need help that suits their current circumstances - they don't need people to try to re-educate them on their diet - they need calories that will be easy for them to prepare (if they can't afford to use much electricity cooking, don't have anywhere to store fresh food, don't have access to cooking utensils and equipment - maybe only have a kettle), food that will give them pleasure as well as pure calories and nutrition, that will warm them in a cold home.

This is the point you have utterly failed to comprehend. Tinned tuna is fine, but isn't a hot meal on its own.

Maybe, just maybe, the food bank people and their dieticians know their clientele, their needs, wants and circumstances better than you do, and so their ideas of what to donate to a food bank may be more practical than your 'raw food is better for you'.

I find it hilarious that those who are privileged enough to decide what sort of diet they want to follow, think they should decided what those without enough money to feed themselves should be eating.

The foodbank knows what is in demand. They know what these families need. Do not even think you have the right to question their diets.

Oh and 30,000 people don't die from cold Ffs.

Yabu and a twat.

In the cases being discussed here, it's not just nutrition they need, it's warm food. If you can't afford to put your heating on, a warm meal will help you.

I like raw carrots, but they won't keep me warm in the middle of winter.

(Can't believe we're still repeating the same things)

Some great ideas on what to give. My local FB seems to only have 4 items on their list and I wonder if there's a standard longer list I can access

Flower Fairy - doesn't canning involve heat treatment? I get that a raw diet is good but food that requires little effort or calories to digest (ie processed) is good for someone who may not have eaten a lot recently.

My neighbours have one less bedroom than me, and I have a converted cellar kitchen. Due to a quirk of the architecture, the house next to us in the terrace has five rooms and no central heating while we have eight rooms, central heating and are profligate with stuff like computer use. I spend roughly the same on gas/electric as they do because I am on a direct debit and they are on a prepay meter - and that is now they have double glazing. Before their windows were repaired it was a lot higher! They would have issues with long cooking, and their kitchen is very small to hold stuff like a slow cooker. They certainly don't have room to bulk buy or stock up on bargains and not much room for herbs and and spices. I don't envy their challenges.

Tinned tuna and sardines are most definitely cooked.

Violetta. .. I had a look at our local food bank's website. They have a pdf shopping list of basic items they accept but they also have a section in their "About Us" bit where it lists other things you can donate if you want to like toiletries etc.

Thankyou nomore. I've found it

I was asked about food you could buy without needing a cooker and that was the examples. It is not so easy to get hold of raw fish on most council estates of course although those of us who have lived by the sea in clean areas of the UK know where you can get plenty of shell fish from the shore and seaweed.

I don't agree that junk and processed food is best for people who have not eaten much recently. What you need is very high nutrition and to eat less. that is what keeps [people healthy and happy. The old liver and onions combination and kidneys and the like - full of good stuff although i accept most of us would want to cook them and not everyone has access to an electric hob over which they can cook food. Lard is another good one which people sadly gave up - animal fat is one of the best things for you.

It might be feeding the body, but a meal of cold sardines and raw carrot does not feed the soul or cheer you up when at your lowest. Food is about more than the optimum levels of vitamins and minerals.

'The old liver and onions combination and kidneys and the like - full of good stuff although i accept most of us would want to cook them'

That's magnanimous of you. Shame though. Raw liver and onions would have won the thread, hands down.

Imagine the number of people you could kill off by supplying offal to all those poor people with no fridges and limited cooking facilities. It's one way to solve the problem.

Oh and getting the inexperienced to forage seafood. That would work too.

What you need is very high nutrition and to eat less

Given the context this is one of the dumbest things I've seen today. People needing food banks are already eating less. That's their whole problem.