Foodbank for the Summer Holidays

[GloGirl]

The summer holidays might be a financial stretch for a lot of families who are losing out on their child's breakfast clubs and free school meals for lunch.

Just a thought for people to donate to their local food back and add in a few items that would be appreciated by children in the summer.

Posting in AIBU for traffic - so feel free to debate the topic whilst I am here!

I disagree with the poster who said that the government doesn't understand that people need extra help in the summer. The government does understand - they just prefer not to do anything.

I put tins of ham and tuna in the foodbank box, usually.

It seems inflammatory to put Pringles on a foodbank list. I know treats are important in the midst of poverty, and I put Easter eggs in at Easter etc. But living on a little above average income there is no way I ever waste food money on Pringles for our household! Might buy the cheap Lidl version for Christmas.

Some people need to learn abit about how things work.You cannot just rock on up to a food bank and demand a trolley load of luxury goods.

Almost most of them only allow 3 visits in a rolling 12 month period, you get enough food for your household for 3 days usually it is in pre made up boxes with a recipie card dictating what goes with what. And these are correct portion sizes NOT what most people think of as a portion.

If you are lucky you will get to pick a treat of a shelf.

You cannot access this without a professional referal amd a legitimate reason.

The most frequent (and checked by the professional) reason is government error with payments or sanction.

The second most frequent reason is high housing costs due to temp accomadation or other vulnerably housed situation.

There is a different process for getting support for children from families where parents are 'getting high on their kids money' and that involves social care.

Oh and which ever poster was doing the Mumsnet chicken thing. Can you buy a chicken and veg for £2 with no need to use any other ingrediants and no requirement to use a cooker for a lengthy time.

No.

So don't put Pringles in then Barmy it's a we need list not a you must provide every item on it list. Pick what you are happy to provide from the list and leave the other stuff off.

I however am quite happy to donate bulk cases of treat items from the list because I'm happy with that choice nobody else has to be.

Things like that are intended to be donated by people who can afford to.

Some people are happy to provide treats some people arnt

Don't know what people's problem with Pringles are. They're on offer for a pound or so more or less everywhere, 90% of the time, so no more expensive than any other crisps. Paying more than about £1.50 for a tube of Pringles falls firmly in the 'more money than sense' category.

Maybe they're preferred to other crisps because they take up less space, or the packaging is more durable or something?

Great sentiment OP. Well said

I'd agree with previous advice to stick to the local foodbank list. It's surprising what they need or don't have. Eg ours said they get lots of formula, baby food and pasta but were really short of powdered milk and instant mash. As they can't store fresh food the milk and mash are really useful for making up full meals with limited facilities. These items don't get donated because they're seen as poor quality.

Our local foodbank doesn't update it's "we need" list often enough.

At the moment the only thing they are asking for is John West tuna lunches.

I tend to put in the following when they don't give an updated shopping list:

Orange squash
Strawberry jam
Pasta
Baked beans
Multipack of crisps
Cereal
Heinz pasta shapes
Packet of biscuits
Multipack of chocolate bars

I'm going to start putting in more toiletries and ask if there is any way I can help keep the shopping list updated at the foodbank.

Maybe they're preferred to other crisps because they take up less space, or the packaging is more durable or something?

I think that sounds highly likely. They store far more easily than bags of crisps. I also would have thought that the Aldi/Lidl equivalent (something like 89p) would be just as exciting as the branded - well, it is for my children anyway.

I remember on a previous food bank thread someone came on who had been a food bank recipient. The way she spoke about how much joy a chocolate biscuit/jelly pot/luxury hot drink can give you when you've been living on unflavoured pasta and oat cakes for weeks ... well it stayed with me and it's why I'm firmly in the Luxuries Aren't A Luxury camp.

Realistically a three-day food parcel isn't going to solve anyone's long term problems. It's a sticking plaster; a symbol; a respite. Yes, of course recipients need nourishing food, but a packet of biscuits will also nourish their soul in the way a bag of dried green lentils just won't. It says "you're worthy of the same comforts as anyone else."

Totally agree with Mrs Hathaway, People who are completely down on their luck need treats. And so do their children.
I'll never forget packing up some food for two young mums and then leaving the food bank and discovering them sitting on the ground with the food spread out in front of them, as excited as children on Christmas morning - picking up treats and squealing about them. They looked so embarrassed when I came by but I wanted to hug them. It was such a pleasure to see how happy some of this food had made them.

Whilst I do agree some people do need to budget better, there are people who budget right down to their last £1 and manage just fine on a day to day basis. However, the 6-7 week holidays come they've suddenly got to find an extra 1 or 2 meals a day (lunch and possibly breakfast) for however many children, and that very quickly adds up! So I can really see why people would need to turn to a food bank to be honest.

I'm in a situation where my tax credits were suspended and I'm now waiting for my overdue payment so I can't afford to feed my dd in the meantime. The tax office don't seem bothered by the fact I don't have any money due to their error. I've spent the last 2 days listing lots of things on ebay so fingers crossed I'll be ok, but if I didn't have anything in the house to sell in the first place, then I guess I would have to try and access a food bank. I can see how easily it can happen tbh. I agree with pp's - the kids sometimes deserve a treat too. Why should they lose out because their family is down on their luck?

I give to our local foodbank fairly regularly, they are inundated with dried pasta and UHT milk, but crying out for sugar, tinned soup and tinned pies.

For inspiration the last few items I've donated are:

Ice poles (the boxed kind you can stick in the freezer, not already frozen) as I know it'd be a nice treat for kids in the Summer.
Biscuits
Tinned spaghetti hoops
a few packs of those 'mug shots' soup things.
Some tinned pies
tea bags
sugar
tinned peas, sweetcorn and carrot slices.

Hi Butterfly- oh great, I will research my area, I think it's a god idea. My DD's uniforms are still in really good condition and she'll be having new stuff next term.

I dont care if some of those using foodbanks are feckless parents, they will be the minority and their kids still need to eat.

I imagine most people needing to access the foodbanks are just fucking swimming against the tide and need to catch a break, or have lost their jobs, or had unexpected bills and it must take an awful lot of courage to go there the first time.

There is always posters on here that assume using a foodbank equals lazy, workshy, benefit scroungers smoking 40 a day and knocking back Lambrini, thats fine if they want to think like that, but I don't know why they bother posting on supporting foodbank threads.

I also add in sweets, chocolates, juice, crisps, ready made custards, jelly pots and biscuits on top of the usual savoury bits, they may have little nutritional value but so what? They're sweet treats and cost very little in B&M.

If you don't want to donate then don't, nobody has to, but don't assume that every person that uses foodbanks is a feckless idiot and everyone that donates is a gullable mug.

It's actually quite upsetting to read the views of some on this thread. I hope it's just Internet bravado and not their true feelings.

I was referred to a foodbank last year. I work full time and I also have a second job I do at home in the evenings. I have one child of 13. I was financially crippled when I had to pay £150 to renew the tenancy at my house and the agency were threatening me with re-marketing my home. The GP referred to me the foodbank after I broke down in an appointment I'd gone to for an eye infection. I'm not feckless, lazy, workshy or crap at budgeting but thanks for assuming.

oh and the pack of 4 twirl bars I got as a treat made me cry because I was so grateful that I could give my kid a bar of chocolate on a Saturday night. The "nutritional value" meant fuck all, to be frank.

Ignore the feed the 5000 on one chicken and some grass, and the put your kids in an orphanage types FruitCockatiel

Most people don't think like that, I hope things are better for you now

Thank you We are on an even keel now and I'm going to be forever grateful that I was able to get that lifeline last year. It's just shocking to read what some people think.

Good idea for a thread OP, and thanks to the people who have shared their stories.

Heading back to the UK next week and I'll be sure to donate, I didn't even think of the problem parents would have over summer, due to no free meals.

Thanks for this thread. I sometimes forget to buy extra when I'm at the supermarket, but today I remembered and bought a pack of Penguins and a jar of hot chocolate which I put in.

I know foodbanks are needed because of BILs experience before he died a couple of years ago. He lost his manufacturing job due to ill health, but GP wouldn't say he was incapable of working ( which he clearly was) so his last couple of years were more painful than they needed to be and sometimes he got sanctioned if he didn't attend a job interview. But if he did attend the job interview he had to pay for his bus and didn't have enough money left for the rest of the week.

We'd often do a Tesco online shop for him and he was very canny about how to use the cheapest cuts of meat and stretch his money out to last to the last 10p. But if anything at all went wrong, it wasn't enough.

Don't waste your headspace on them Fruit you can't argue with stupid, and I'm glad things are better for you.

Fwiw I'm not saying everyone that does'nt donate is stupid, I don't care if others donate or not, I mean the ones that have no idea of the referal process and no interest in foodbanks that spout bollocks about feckless people, orphanages and mythical chickens.

Oh gosh I agree, I think it's great if you can donate but certainly no pressure applied! It's just reading some of the comments made me think, I wonder if people thought that about me, and I'm no delicate little flower so I can only imagine how hurtful it must be to read those comments if you are particularly vulnerable. That's why I posted my experience really.

There are lots of fucking idiots on this thread who clearly don't understand the concept of actual poverty.

My mother went without food sometimes for whole days. She didn't go out EVER, she didn't smoke/drink. We didn't have sky tv. I would sometimes have to ask neighbours for 3 pounds to top up the electricity. We wore shoes till they fell to bits. My mother had 4 kids and my dad was AWOL. She couldn't find a job to fit Round us and had to live on benefits. Benefits had to pay for rent, electricity, gas, carpets, bed linen, towels, bus fair to school (we walked everywhere else), uniforms, PE kits, shoes, stationary, food, shampoo, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, hair cuts. Benefits don't cover the essentials. If benefits were late she would have to borrow money to survive and increasingly spiralled into debt. It was desperate. I remember she gave me my weekly bus fare in advance once and I spent it on sweets. When she realised she sobbed for about an hour from pure exhaustion. Still feel bad about that

I like donating because it's instant help, as soon as you give you know that food is there to be given to someone who needs it.

We give to other charities and we know the money sits in bank accounts and pays admin fees and wages etc, but foodbanks are helping immediately, I like that aspect of it while loathing the fact they are needed.