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?

This is the wrong time to try to "educate" people to eat the way you think they should. It's not like you're being asked for booze and fags.

People who are sufficiently desperate to go to a foodbank want something that all the family find familiar, tasty and will eat. Parents don't want the stress of forcing kids to eat, when everyone may be miserable already.

They don't want to faff around with unfamiliar ingredients and worry about ruining it and throwing most away. Your food isn't more nourishing if it goes in the bin.

Most people - especially kids - prefer milk choc, not dark and white rice, not brown.
Also, small kids shouldn't have too much high fibre food. Even adults need to adjust gradually.

That's interesting Hedgehogs, I hadn't thought about it like that.

I have a mental picture of OP, down on her luck, standing at the door of the food bank wailing "What?! No oat cakes? No tinned kidney beans? How am I supposed to have my canapes??"

plec you have to buy your own loo roll in refuge as well. It's shit, because you have zero money initially and obv prioritise things like formula, nappies, then staple foods, loo roll is last on the list. This is going to be a bit for some of you sheltered types, but we all used to save our receipts and we had two pots in the shared bathroom. One was for clean receipts incase anyone couldn't afford loo roll that week, and the other was for used receipts as obv you can't flush that kind of paper. We took it in turns to be on pot emptying duty. We also used to rinse out tampons and dry them on the radiator, which is a smell I've yet to forget.

The same as jam on cardboard Dixie

Of course the op is on a wind up. But every other poster is either speaking sense/taking the piss out of the op's stupidity (because being in a wind up about stuff like this is stupid) so take heart :)

That's appalling Shadows. How can we donate essentials like tampons etc?

YABU they want food that's filling and non perishable and easy to cook. The thing about helping is its only helpful if u do what is asked otherwise it's very unhelpful and pointless.

Just buy a pot noodle. Tbh if I was starving I wouldn't care about the nutritional value more that I was grateful to actually be fed.

Thanks plec. I agree. Which is why it's bloody embarrassing to be given so much 'luxury food' at Christmas and to be contemplating throwing it in the bin . At a rough estimate, our unwanted jars probably cost around £50, total waste of the present-givers' money, and horrendous when you think how far £50 could stretch on pasta etc (maybe not kidney beans and oatcakes though ).

Now need to find a FB. Even more embarrassingly, we normally just add a bit to the Ocado order or take to school when they're collecting... so I don't even know if there's one near us.

Shadows

How would I donate to a refuge? I'm assuming by their nature they're not easy to find.

www.trusselltrust.org/

You can check on here to see if there's one local to you.

Do food banks want pet food? (for pets obviously, I'm not suggesting poor people be given pet food to eat).

I'm a bit confused by the request for sugar in 500g packs - I know its so they can share it out to several people, but in Asda, 500 g costs 49 p but 1 kg costs 59 p. But I suppose its because you can't easily divide a big bag of sugar.

Blackbirds post has just reminded me that before Christmas I sorted out our food cupboard and found I had a bit of a habit of buying Poncy Shit In Jars (TM) that I never use.

One resolution is to use this up this year (about 15 jars worth of wonders such as miso paste, pickled chillis or artichokes and ginger jam) and I'm thinking of sending some of the less 'out there' stuff to a foodbank (just the slightly unusual flavours of jam for example) providing that it is in date, as I know they won't accept anything that is out of date, which is a shame because there really isn't any need to put such a short BBE date on tins and jars as they will be absolutely fine for years to come.

Top tip for instant mashed potato fans or potential converts. Sainsburys own brand is the best by far (better than Smash) and I quite like it.

If you google your local women's aid there should be a contact us email or a how to donate link ... I can't find it myself ATM as am on bus but can have a look when get home later if anyone can't find the link.

There were people from our local foodbank (a Trussell Trust) in the supermarket pre Christmas asking for donataoins. I asked them about toileteries & san pro and they said they didn't want them. Don't know if it was because they had enough or that they just concentrate on food.

I usually put in coffee, sugar, tinned meat & then some biscuits and/or chocolate.

Friendly, I've looked into it and Refuge and Women's Aid take online donations on the website. I'm going to set up a DD when I pull my finger out, I'm a bloke and I really had no idea about refuges before I read MN. Shadow's post has helped me focus my mind too.

This is the "shopping list" on ours - it's pretty much this all the time.

Milk (UHT or powdered)
Sugar (500g)
Fruit juice (carton)
Soup
Pasta sauces
Sponge pudding (tinned)
Tomatoes (tinned)
Cereals
Rice pudding (tinned)
Tea Bags/instant coffee
Instant mash potato
Rice/pasta
Tinned meat/fish
Tinned fruit
Jam
Biscuits or snack bars

If you DID have other ingredients, THEN chilli is ace.

But that's the point, people in dire poverty are extremely unlikely to have the other ingredients, a selection of cooking utensils or the money to have two hobs on full whack for forty minutes.

It is like saying 'they've two potatoes, if they've got some beef, vegetables, gravy, carrots and peas they could make an ace roast dinner.' It is completely impractical and shows no understanding of the lives of the people who will be relying on the foodbanks.

To be sharing your 'cheap' recipes used when the credit card bill is bigger than expected or it is the last Thursday of the month and things are a bit tight shows no understanding of the situation people using foodbanks are in and this is what has got people's backs up.

It's in bad taste, isn't it?

And I don't even mean the kidney beans.

I'll do that shadows. Thank you.

Thanks Alice (and others who replied to me and didn't flame me - glad lemon curd would be appreciated!)

I'll do that shadows. Thank you.

Link for anyone else wanting to donate or volunteer: www.womensaid.org.uk/page.asp?section=0001000100070026&sectionTitle=Volunteer+or+donate+to+a+local+refuge