To put wine and chocolate in the food bank?

[Nunyabusiness]

Picked up a miniature white wine and a 5 pack of twirls, husband was aghast. My view is that people who are struggling to feed their families wouldn't have funds for such treats.

(I did also put tinned fruit and veg in, by the way!)

Really useful thread. I wasn't aware I could give toiletries and I have quite a few things at home going spare. 👍🏼

Sorry, my question was answered upthread while I was one-finger typing. So, raffles then and the money allocated? Ok.

I know my local food bank has lots of all of the basics to everyone can have similar parcels but how do they allocate the treats if they don't have enough to go round?

If they have 5 advent calendars but 10 familes with young children what would they do?

Yes I put advent calendars in every week up to Dec and I put treat food in as well as essentials

Chocolates are lovely.

No to wine. Whilst it's a lovoely luxury on top of a good meal, if there isn't the food supplies too - wine alone won't fill the hole. So we can't give it out, but you can get a lot of food for the price of a bottle of wine!

Fair point about the alcohol, I hadn't really thought about that. Oh well, I'll just keep it for myself what a shame lol

I do put advent calendars and Easter eggs in as well, but it had never occurred to me to put toiletries in so thanks for the pointers all!

I've worked in various charities and it is usually pretty obvious who is an alcoholic,

Oh dear.

SandyDenny some food banks do run short of even the basics - I presume treats are allocated like everything else, as people come in until they run out.

Another genuine question here. Is there sometimes a kitchen where the volunteers can make things like rice pudding? I was going to give a pack of rice but my dsis sneered and said they won't give that to anyone. .

I give other stuff too, I gave 5 deodorants recently that were being asked for. What about crisps ?

my food bank definitely doesn't accept alcohol. We give it as charity gifts to a local village who raffle it. Its annoying actually, the sign clearly says no alcohol and that £5 could be much better spent.

So, genuine question here, if someone puts cans/little bottles in the food bank collection boxes and it doesn't get allocated - what happens to it, please?

I read on here - no first-hand experience, so can't verify - that volunteers can also buy stuff from the food bank (unpopular/odd/un-give-away-able items), and then the money from that goes to the fund to buy things that are needed. Always struck me as very sensible, though I imagine there are volunteers' families out there dutifully eating lots of odd marmalades or whatever.

I volunteer in a food bank. Chocolate, definitely - it's great when we can give some to families. Alcohol, no. It simply not something we could hand out responsibly.

I'd second the request for toiletries though. And cleaning products and cat and dog food.

I often put in big cakes, biscuits and chocolates/sweets along with whatever's on their list.
I will put things like decent hot chocolate as well, I try to think of what makes me feel a bit better when things are hard for whatever reason and add it in hope that it brings someone else the same comfort.

The most unusual donation we ever got was a giant Fortnum and Mason fruit cake in a beautiful tin!

Please don't give treats. I know it seems like a lovely idea but we struggle to even get the basics. Deodorant and sanpro is good. Rice is fine but the packs you can microwave are best. It probably varies a bit from area to area. Cereal is always welcome if you really want to give something treaty.

I always put kids cereal and full fat uht milk in. I suspect if your on hard times it's nice to be able to reach for something familiar in the morning to feed the kids. It's my quiet way of saying bugger off to the random politician who said you could make porridge for 3p so there was no excuse for being hungry or some such nonsense.

I try to think of what makes me feel a bit better when things are hard for whatever reason and add it in hope that it brings someone else the same comfort.

This. I put in some of those instant cappuccinos when they were on special - they are a ridiculous way of making coffee, but it means you can have a nice milky coffee even when you don't have any milk.

Hayesking even when you are also donating basics? Really?

I never put in pasta/rice/tins etc as everybody does that. I put in things like cleaning sprays/bleach/sponges/washing powder
/baby wipes and deodarants etc, most people don't think of that stuff.

I suspect that people who can't afford to feed their families would prefer an equivalent value's worth of baked beans.

So you don't cook anything where you are Hayesking ? Thanks for the info btw.

Advent calendars is a great idea !

I will definitely be doing that.

I'm glad this has been brought up, I was going to start a thread about what to put in & this has given me some good ideas - especially about putting advent calendars in, I wouldn't have thought of that.

I usually put maybe one packet of biscuits in with a bag full of essentials and toiletries. Surely that's ok?

There's also an element of familiarity to treats - yes you can feed the neighbourhood on 2p of porridge but if your DC are already feeling the effects of going without "normal" foods then a box of Coco Pops/Twix bar can make a difference (imo anyway, as I said I don't work in a FB).