Should I use a food bank in my situation?

[Lionking1981]

I am 200 pounds down on my normal wages this month due to taking unpaid parental leave when my Dd was ill. Overspent the first week of the month trying to occupy the kids. Then my oven broke and had to replace it. Been living out the freezer and store cupboard since. To cut the story short, I now have 30 pounds to survive 10 days til payday. I have 3 small joints of lamb in the freezer, a box
of waffles and some fish fingers. A few tins of baked beans, tomatoes and soup in cupboard.

My friend says to go to the foodbank but I am super uncomfortable about it. We earn over 40k between us and i don't think food banks are there for people like us but it is going to be really hard to feed a family of 4 on this. However, we will be fine next month. Would you just make do for the 10 days?

I make regular donations to my local foodbank and I live on a very low income but I don't have a problem with OP asking this question. However good you are at budgeting, it's easy to run out of money unexpectedly when margins are tight. I've done it. But I have a credit card and a well off family to turn to if necessary.

I don't know what the criteria for her local foodbanks but I seriously do not have an issue with my donated food going to the OP. The food is for people who have run out for whatever reason.

OP, if you're in London I've got stuff in store I can give you or I can do a shop for you.

wildbhoysmama if you have that much generosity for a stranger who earns over 40k, has 3 joints of lamb in the freezer plus staples, a brand new oven, and who will be fine next month; I can't imagine how you have any money left to buy her any shopping - I mean, in and around Glasgow there are so many children "having it tough" all the time.

I expect you will be getting a lot of PMs from people with much less than the OP has.

Buy a huge bag of budget potatoes, a couple of big bags of carrots, a bag of onions, a large bag of pasta and a large bag of porridge. Shouldn't cost much more than £12 if you do value/Aldi stuff.

Porridge for breakfast - can be made with water to save money.
Three joints with potatoes and carrots - do smaller portions of meat and Nick a bi of meat to add to potatoes, carrots and onions to make a stew for another day. Couple of days of baked potatoes with beans. Couple of days of pasta with fried onions and your tinned toms (add cheese in if you can). Soups for dinner. Use the remaining money for milk and a large loaf of bread, plus to top up on more soups. Add a large value packet of fish fingers and tinned peas to go with the waffles.

You can easily eek what you have out into 10 days meals. They may not be the most gourmet, but they will keep you all fed.

Thanks Lone I was getting images of you lugging dressing tables and bedside cabinets down to the pawnbrokers.

OP, now that you have fully had your arse handed to you, you need to organise your finances to make sure you're never in this situation again.

I would look at all the budgeting guides on moneysavingexpert, do a money makeover

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help

and aim to plan for annual expenses like the school holidays, days out etc, and have at least a few hundred put away for broken appliances/cars or lost income etc as these things do happen sooner or later and having a bit of money aside helps enormously, and unless you have a big mortgage/high rent, you really should have enough disposable income to do this. Good luck!

quer, I couldn't care less if you think I'm not helping, so I'll do you a favour and ignore your posts and you can ignore mine. Now run along.

The local food bank, here, is run by the catcholic church and you don't need a referral. You simply turn up and one of the volunteers with welcome you in and help you out. Unlike some of the posters on here, the volunteers don't judge. Good luck to those who need help.

Riding "The food is for people who have run out for whatever reason. "

If food banks are giving out food to people like OP I feel a right mug. They aren't are they? Please tell me they aren't.

Yes poverty good luck to those who need help.

I don't have so much good feeling to offer to those people who have no shame and take what they do not need, literally food from the mouths of the poorest.

Having no "judgement" at all is just crazy

Slim

Quite

my brother voluntered in a food bank-said a lot of people would only want brand name stuff and were quite particular about what they would take.
He said the whole experience has put him of ever donating again.
Although there are genuine cases I feel some people not so much.

So basically, PovertyPain, if I decided to book a holiday to Barbados (which I can't afford), I could then just rock up to your church foodbank and be given food? Doesn't it make getting into debt easier as people don't have to budget?

If OP was generally starving with no way of feeding her family id say foodbank, but she had some food and enough money to top it up to just get through the month.

Can i just point out that if you were able to get a donation from a foodbank for two weeks worth of food. The cost of the food they give you is likely to be less than £30, as most people donate supermarket brand basics.

I think that might be why its got some posters back up, a food bank isnt a magical store of fresh vegetables, meat and bakery goods..its there as a safety net of mainly the basic varieties for when you really cant afford them.

I would say OP it does seem that you dont have any savings to fall back on and your living from month to month - that would make your a prime candidate for financial trouble say if your got made a redundant, i think use this experience as a learning curve to start putting away a bit each month for a rainy day.

Really User

That's awful

At this time of year, food banks are under enormous pressure because of people on the breadline not getting free school meals for their kids. I'd implore everyone not to use them at the moment unless it is really the only way to avoid the kids going hungry.

I also think that, given the contents of OP's freezer and store cupboards, £30 for 10 days' food is easily doable.

I'd also recommend OP spend the next couple of months living on as little as possible so that the family can build up a small amount of savings to avoid future unexpected events, like having to take time off work or replace an essential domestic item, causing such serious cash flow problems.

Ideally, open a credit union account to keep those savings in. That way, if ever there's a problem that can only be solved by borrowing, you'll be able to borrow on the best possible terms.

This is what credit cards are for, not food banks

honey I suppose, in theory, they could, however It's highly unlikely. People don't tend to skip into the food bank, but rather sneak in, as they find it very embarrassing/humiliating. I've seen people trying to give the impression that it's just a blip in finances, in order to save face, while knowing them personally and therefore knowing that they are in dire circumstances.

There may be a very small minority that abuse the service, but please don't let that put you off donating. If you stop for the odd scammer then you make the rest, majority, suffer. I would take with a pinch of salt, stories about those whose best friend's aunt live beside a man who walks his dogs near the food bank that saw someone they know is well off using the food bank. As the local priest says, that's between them and their conscience and we can't judge in case our judgement is wrong and an innocent person suffers.

im just pointing out lots of people live in their overdrafts

Don't they just? I've heard so many clients say "I've got £50 in the bank" when they mean "I'm £50 below my overdraft limit" that I automatically question which they mean now.

The most satisfying thing a client ever says is "I've got £300 in savings now and it's lovely not having to worry about the washing machine/tv/oven breaking".

user your brother's experience seems unusual. Our boxes are packed with a list of goods. There are single, couple, small family etc boxes. Clients are given the box they need. Sometimes a client will take something out as they know they won't eat it, but I have never come across someone wanting only brand named products.

Really noeffingidea?

I think pawnbrokers are great for this sort of thing, if you have a ring/chain you can do without for a couple of weeks.

You don't even have to borrow the maximum amount offered, and the monthly interest amount is there in pounds and pence.

Yes, it's my weekly budget. As for the new oven - it's not needed. We have a microwave and a hob only and have for years as we can't afford a new oven.

This thread has encouraged me to pop some cereal and snacky things in the foodbank trolley so no harm done.

I just am not a fan of jewellery. Never have been.

You knew that the holidays were coming. This has actually put people off donating to food banks.

Totally agree rightsofwomen, the local FB tends to give stuff out in accordance of dates rather than brands. The client can choose foods, but not brands, unless they have an allergy, such as something contains milk or egg. I'm realising how good the church FB is, from reading the many many food bank threads I've read over the years.

Can I thank those who do donate to food banks.

I was on benefits after a really crappy situation, managed to get a small business on the go and also got a part time job.

My benefits obviously stopped, but so did tax credits while they sorted out my payments and I was without any money at all for weeks and weeks and had to use a food bank.

I was genuinely grateful for everything I got and am now in a position to make regular donations back to the foodbank.

@GeorgeTheHamster, I agree, not to mention that bank accounts have agreed overdraft facilities! I actually can't work out why the OP is here; she sounds like so many of us really. We've been in this situation, and used the credit card, so we would be paying when the necessary finances were available.

povertypain doesn't seem like the OP's friend would sneak in though does it?

She seems to think that it is a perfectly normal activity for anyone feeling a bit short after overspending when they normally manage just fine. That attitude is what people are reacting too.

We do not want to be normalising food bank use for this kind of situation - those in real need would suffer.