To Let You Know What My Food Bank Needs

[RamblinRosie]

I’m guessing the requirements are similar across the country, mine needs:

Tea bags
Pasta sauces
Nappies size 5&6
Tinned vegetables
Jams/spreads

Apparently, they don’t feel they can ask for biscuits or treats, but they are very much appreciated.

My local food collection point is full of very worthy food but I like to add a few nice bits, if you need to use a food bank, you deserve the occasional treat.

Bomb agree, there are many independent Food Banks (our's remains independent despite Trussel coming to give us a presentation and asking us to join them ). Search locally, either local paper, FB or local churches to find out what operates in your area.

Would some dried herbs and spices be needed? Just thinking might makes meals a bit different?

I would just follow the suggested lists to be honest

Check the websites - they differ in what they need. I used to work with some and they always needed things like loo roll, soap, shampoo, socks/gloves (in winter), food you can make with minimum cooking or equipment (cuppa soup or flavoured cous cous you just pour hot water on). Always tea, coffee and sugar, longlife juice and milk - and kids cereals.

Sorry -; y suggested lists, I mean suggested lists on the relevant local,websites

Interestingly, we never need tea bags. They are coming out of our ears. Likewise pasta sauces, beans, tinned meat, fish, spaghetti, pasta.

What we always need is:
-coffee

• toiletries

-squash -loo roll -puddings -jam/spreads -condiments -treats -san pro

We always have cous cous, we have been piloting the trussell trusts eat well cooking course and it is recommended due to the little amount of energy needed to cook it.

Tampons and nappies! I forgot those. Some places won't take baby milk though - just the ready made cartons. Sending baby food always makes me very sad. I usually add things like Christmas lollies or easter chocolates.

Hellena but do people want to be given cous cous? We find that no one really wants it. And how do people feel about the cookery guidelines, I can see suggestions are well meaning but it seems a bit patronising to suggest recipes and cooking instructions.

Our local one never has san pro or nappies on their list, is this because people always donate enough or do some places only give out food?

We used to run cookery classes and they were always mobbed. If you are living with accesa to a kettle and microwave, or a baby belling - or can't afford fuel to cook - then you might need to learn how to make easy and cheap meals that don't taste like gruel.

I guess things are different regionally.
I saw in here a while ago that anything spicy gets left, so I avoided tinned curry / chilli / curry sauces.
But now I see my local bank is specifically asking for curry.
Couscous is a really common thing to eat here (S London) , very multi-cultural, everyone eats everything sort of vibe, so it may be more familiar than in some areas?
Anyway, I have always stuck to microwave rice as a contribution as it is probably more versatile.

Northampton Foodbank’s current store cupboard needs are:

UHT milk
Tinned fish and meat (they’re always short of tinned meat)
Pot noodles, pot pasta, individual noodle packs
Deodorant M&F
Shower gel and shampoo M&F
Tinned carrots, peas, potatoes and sweet corn
Sugar

And of course a Christmas treats in the run up to Christmas

I always think its important to put in what they ask for. I don't think my uninformed idea of what hungry people might want is at all valid.

My local one is currently asking for toilet paper, soap, long life milk, tinned soup and tinned veg.
I usually add some instant just add water things too for those who may only have a kettle.

My local food bank always has a current list of 'most wanted'

It does not have the same items as some of these lists. So I think it is BU to rely on someine else's list. But not at all U, and indeed very important, to check what is actually needed.

Though I do tend to lob in some 'treat' food too. Not at the expense of omitting what they actually want, but as an extra because I think it's nice to have (the food bank makes up the basic boxes, then lets people choose one or two things from the treat able)

I like to put in a few packs of those little Christmas cards at the end of November. Last year Poundland and Card Factory did them in packs of 30, so children can send them to their classmates and not feel left out.

Mine says it has enough sanpro, and has done for a while. It sometimes asks for specific sizes of nappies.

It invariably says it has enough pasta and cereal. But is usually asking for pasta sauce, tinned meat, tinned veg, tinned fruit (cheaper/easier to just warm a bit, still safe to eat from tins if you can't do that), tea bags/instant coffee/other just-add-hot-water drinks, loo roll and washing up liquid. And although it doesn't ask for biscuits or chocolate bars, it loves getting them as people like to get them and they are reasonably calorie dense.

Oh - and small bottles of chilli sauce. Not a requirement by any stretch, but v popular for making food less bland.

I like to add Marmite, because I'm a life-long lover, and wouid hate to go without

We donate at the local church, sometimes it's just a case of buying one extra item when you go shopping, my Dad has always said that no matter how skint we are, there is always some poor sod worse off so we should always donate.We try to buy small jars of coffee, biscuits and treats, and pet food, a lot of people down on their luck rely on their animals for company and would rather feed them than themselves so this helps a bit

DD's church has a food bank (not Trussel Trust) and the most needed item is hot dogs. That is why you need to check locally, because I had never bought tinned hot dogs before, but it appears that they never have too many of them.
UHT milk ditto.
They are currently asking for deodorant and shampoo for men and women.
They like things which can be eaten out of a tin without cooking, with ring pulls if possible.

I usually do a donation just before each school holiday. Including:

Little boxes of cereal (the multipacks)
Crisps
Biscuits
Chocolate
Uht
Juice
Cup a soups
Mug pasta meals
Coffee
Sugar
Tuna
Shampoo and conditioner or toothpaste or deodorant

Depending on the time of year I also add

Hot chocolate
Extra cordial
Advent chocolate / Easter chocolate / jellies
Tinned pudding - sponge cake or similar

I also try to add washing up liquid or cleaning products and look roll when they are on special.

We do a big stock up at Costco and pop a few bits from there in (so buy 5 tins of tuna and pop 3 in the food bank bag).

And I always make sure there are some nice biscuits or similar in there after reading a thread on here where someone had found some chocolate biscuits in their parcel and cried because they were so happy.

I always call and check what is needed, especially advent calendars or similar because they are just the little thing s that can mean so much.

I donate now and again generally concentrating on say personal needs (male female deodorants, tampons, toothpaste toothbrushes, disposable razors again m & f, shaving soap, handwash). For kids, babies I look for nappies, wipes, nappy bags, baby foods, shampoo, bath/shower lotion and then household foods/toilet rolls/ soap powder/ washing up liquid. All of the items in each donation are usually from bargain stores and collected over 4/5 weeks. I have asked when handing in what is highly needed and been told basically everything. Like others I do include a packet of biscuits trying to get chocolate ones to give a treat. The local foodbank issues lists to local groups via fb which is helpful.

just for fun here are some things which have been donated recently to our food bank. Thank you to everyone who donates!

• tin of grass jelly
• bottle of pomegranate molasses
• small jar of caviar
• jar of truffle pesto (5 yrs past expiry)
• twelve litres of Innocent almond milk
• 100 sachets of dill flavoured papers in which to oven bake salmon fillets
• a tin of gourmet vegetarian dog food (so gourmet we almost gave it to a human as tinned veg by mistake)
• huge box full of quark yoghurts
• 5 kilo bag of rice
• huge box of allegedly halal Percy Pigs