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!)

Btw just to add, that by giving biscuits etc, the recipient is still being given a standardised parcel of healthy ingredients with which to cook proper meals. These treats will be given, depending on amount of family members, as part of an additional quota. There is also the discretion of the volunteer distributing, and obviously if I am giving food to a mum with two teen girls, I will grab some sanitary towels, hopefully a nice pack of biscuits, and some shampoo and toothpaste. If I have a mum with a baby, I'll see if there is a nice pack of rice cakes or a box of chocs for the mum, some nappies if we have them. All of this will fall outside of the standard healthy package, with careful balance of carbs, veg, sugars etc.

Re the pp above. Honestly, you have no understanding of poverty. I would say a good 90% of people accessing the foodbank don't have benefits at that time for various reasons. They've been cut off, or applied and not heard back, become sick or disabled or some other crisis, often we have women who have been moved across the country with nothing but the clothes on their backs and have had to start a new life with nothing to their name. Sometimes we have to rearrange bags to accommodate people who don't have pots or pans yet! People who have benefits coming in but spend it all on crap are few and far between at the foodbank, and it's not easy to get a referral. Poverty is crippling, and has many causes. You are right in saying that in other countries, people with disabilities get no support whatsoever. Are you suggesting that we force our disabled citizens to beg on the street? Be locked up in institutions? What would be your preferred alternative? Perhaps get your info from somewhere other than the Daily Fail.

To be fair, MrsJames, I buy mainly basics ranges in my weekly shop as I can't afford to live on brands. On the rare occasions I feel solvent enough to donate to the food bank trolley, I will continue to give basics versions. It's all I can afford and it's better than going hungry.

life can be shit and it is usually improved by a chocolate biscuit or two.

AuntieStella re packages, yes so if you donated a thing of 24 toilet rolls, we'd open them and split them - again they aren't part of the standard package, whereas pasta/rice etc are and they stay in the packs they came in. I split packs of sponges, multi packs of toothbrushes - pretty much anything that can be split really. Over the summer I get the little tubes of Malibu sun lotion from the pound shop, Christmas it's nice to donate some advent calendars, packs of mince pies etc. The people coming in don't loom round like a supermarket. We have a storage/warehouse and then standard packages are made and brought through for singles, couples, and families. We use our discretion to nip out the back to grab whatever extras may be needed. It's all really well organised and the standard packs will be nutritionally balanced and have a tick list, but we can be more relaxed from there. Toilet roll, sanitary products, sweet treats, will sometimes be piled up, sometimes we have very little. As it's not what we are committed to provide, it ebbs and flows, but we do very much appreciate those extras to be able to give to desperate people. Re pp saying about packs of pasta, it won't be anything to do with clients rejecting it, but the warehouse I'm guessing was inundated with it and they've nowhere left to store it. As it's a cheap and easy item on the published list, I think most donations include it. That's why if I'm ever speaking to anyone about donations I always try and encourage either treats, toiletries or some other variation of say tinned fruit or something, as I know there's always mountains of pasta and rice donated.

bogof I totally agree re basics range, nobody turns their noses up, I promise you! I always donate basics, or something on offer or from pound shop. Last week I took in a bagful of basics catfood and people were over the moon as they've been feeling stressed over their pet as well as themselves. Basics toilet roll, whatever - people are delighted!

sorry that sounded trite. I know life can be shit and I have always found that a chocolate biscuit can bring comfort i nthe shitmness and help deal with it a bit better.

MrsJamesAsprey there's no need to feel sad. Basic or value foods are fine. I eat them all the time, in fact, I often prefer them to the more expensive brands.
Anything from the major supermarkets is up to a certain standard, they often just don't look very tempting due to the packaging.

Someone above made sneering comments about people being encouraged to eat oats porridge as against cereals. It is my understanding that oats porridge is one of the healthiest breakfasts - eating oats is also an excellent way to reduce cholesterol naturally. I eat it every day and encourage my family to do the same!

That defeats the purpose of a food bank surely.

If l was desperate to feed myself/kids l would want food to make a proper healthy hot meal, also that way you could buy more for the same cost.
Or toiletries/cleaning products/washing powder/tampons etc.

life can be shit and it is usually improved by a chocolate biscuit or two.

Not trite at all, Susan, it's spot on.

And why do so many people contribute pasta?

Because it is cupboard friendly, long dated, easy to cook and actually quite versatile maybe?

Oh good lord, some people not all that use food banks are alcoholics/drug users etc & even if there were what do you suggest? That the children go without food?

Others are struggling through illness/disability & benefit issues. How can some people have so little disregard for others?

Have just read the comment about the mum who couldn't give her children breakfast before school & it brought a tear to my eye. How awful to not be able to do that?

This thread has just prompted me to donate online & I will purchase extra bits with my next shop.

Worth reading this from Orwell:

Our food bank is asking for chocolate bars among other stuff so I'll be giving that to the harvest festival (goes to the food bank.)
Our school did a collection of school shoes to send to Africa for kids to wear to school. I heard someone at the park say they'd sent their child's old shoes that had holes in. You wonder what goes through people's minds.

Not everyone who uses food banks is a lazy scrounger. - no, but i know people who are lazy fuckers who are claiming every penny they can, whilst working CiH and sneering at those of us who do work. One regularly asked DP why he doesn't 'go on the sick' with a 'bad back' to claim benefit and give up work. People like that wouldn't think twice about claiming a free carrier bag of food. They are lazy, not disabled, and yes my taxes go towards feeding their lifestyle. And they are taking from those who may really need their benefits, and sneering at those who work to fund it.

I've been there, choosing between bread or electric, nappies or petrol - it is awful. And this was before food banks. What did I do? I panicked, and stretched, and borrowed. And lent, in turn.
In my affluent area, every single one of the local supermarkets, from Lidl to Waitrose via tesco and morrisons, has a foodbank box. They are usually well stocked - I can not believe there are so many needy people in this town! Seriously - what did they do before? Really - so many in dire need?

I'm not heart;less. I fully see that there may be people who need help - benefits not come through, fleeing abuse, refugees etc. But what happened before?

And HOW do they get free food? Just how 'easy' is it?

And why do so many people contribute pasta?

Because it is cupboard friendly, long dated, easy to cook and actually quite versatile maybe?

Yes it is. It is also cheap and in my experience many of the people donating to food banks aren't loaded, either. Adding a pack of pasta for 30p to their shop is possible, a can of meat for £2.50 might not be.

And why do so many people contribute pasta? A friend was complaining that the food bank was refusing donations of pasta and saying when did poor people get so fussy shock I then pointed out that they're probably overrun with the stuff and it's not exactly expensive so "poor" people are probably sick to death of it.

MrsJamesAspey it's sad isn't it? I don't like Pasta. I could be absolutely brassic and starving and I still wouldn't touch the stuff.

We always got loads of pasta donated to ours too. It was the one thing we were never short of.

A memory that always sticks with me is when I was 8 years old and dad got a christmas food parcel from the salvation army. In it was also a pink hairbrush and lots of hair bobbles . Me and my sister were so exited and happy for that . Its the little things I suppose . But thats what I always put in extra for christmas.

My last donations have included

4 cans of alphaspaghetti (thought if it ended up with children they'd find it a little bit of fun but anyone can eat it)
a box of cheerios
2 boxes of cuppasoups
4 packs of supernoodles
A multipack of crunchie bars (so judge me !!)
A pack of overnight nappies (because I suspect people with older children who still can't go through the night get forgotten about)
half a dozen cheap tin openers (because I can't imagine anything more miserable than being hungry and not being able to open you can of value beans)
A big tub of celebrations (because a local foodbank volunteer told me that they hand them round to go with cups of tea in the cafe area)
a multipack of toothbrushes
3 packs of baby wipes

That's over a period of time not all at once. I try to think that people probably have a variety of issues and food though very important is just the tip of the iceburg

When we had a food bank parcel, we were thrilled with Waitrose rice! We didn't have anything, ever, from Waitrose & it was in pride of place in our cupboard!

'no, but i know people who are lazy fuckers who are claiming every penny they can, whilst working CiH and sneering at those of us who do work.'

Then report them! What they are doing is illegal.

People on here have told you, over and over, that it's not easy to rock up and get a 'free carrier bag' of food.

But hey, you've added in the old 'bad back' bullshit.

Does anyone ever give sanatairy products? I find it really upsetting that woman are going without these but it's not the sort of thing people think of putting in the food bank.

I tend to donate tins or pasta but sometimes when I get to to the donation basket it says 'no more pasta or beans' (too late if you have already bought them), people need to be reminded as they enter a supermarket and advised on what items are needed.

Potnoodle that's lovely. Adding hair accessories to my list :)

What about crayons and colouring books are they the kind of little things that would be appreciated as an extra?

'I tend to donate tins or pasta but sometimes when I get to to the donation basket it says 'no more pasta or beans' (too late if you have already bought them), people need to be reminded as they enter a supermarket and advised on what items are needed.'

No, they don't. Good grief, people don't need to be mollycoddled. Anyone can look at the foodbank area of the supermarket at any time, there's no need for reminders.

It's also very simple, they're never short of beans or pasta, so buy something else.

cinnamontoast, I think that also applies to the obesity crisis.

Ptumbi, the benefit system was very different, there was the availability of crisps loans etc. The bedroom tax did a lot of damage, it certainly didn't take into account that there wasn't a smaller house to move into, so people just have to find between £14+ a week.

You have to be referred to a good bank.

SS, in some crisis situations will give £10-40 in Asda Vouchers and the same in cash (for prepayment meters), but you still have to be known to Services, or have an assessment.