To think if you rely on a food bank you may need to compromise your vegan principles?

[LondonUnited]

I’m a supporter of our local food bank and am on their mailing list. I received an email earlier to say that they were supporting a vegan family and were therefore asking for specific food donations, including Oatly oat milk, various nuts and seeds, specific types of beans, etc etc.

I may get flamed for this but I couldn’t help thinking that - allergies aside (and I have a milk allergic child so I do get it) - if you need a food bank to feed your family, you might need to compromise on diet slightly? For a start, Oatly Barista is lovely and all that, but Aldi or Asda oat milk is also ok and half the price. And that the odd bit of tinned fish may be easier to access from a food bank than Brazil nuts and chia seeds...

@mathanxiety

If people are in need of food they need filling, nutritional food, not stuff that is bad for them!

If they are so much in need that they don't have enough to feed themselves, then they need more than just the nutrition in the food.

This is so true!

As I said earlier I had to use a food bank a couple of times right at the start of lockdown. What was really nice, and made me feel marginally less shit about the whole situation, was sitting down before bed, having spent the day eating slightly odd meals, and having a cup of tea and a couple of biscuits from our food parcel. I never usually buy biscuits so the dc were more than happy

Really PamDemic? You donate food that you can't afford to feed your family? What a saint you are.

Great post @mathanxiety

@PamDemic you realise that the only thing premium about brands is the price? No problem with treats, everybody should have some, but significantly reducing the number of people that could be fed for the financial benefit of a big company is an interesting approach.

It's a carton of fucking Oatly. Fgs, the meanness and lack of empathy is incredible. The lack of humanity on mumsnet - it's like reading the daily mail sometimes.
Indeed.

The difference between various milks on the market isn't just price. Some brands have added vitamins.

I tend to donate sanpro, which my local parish food bank always asks for. Do poor women and girls only 'need' the supermarket brand pads and tampons?

Maybe using tampons when they would prefer pads, or tampons without applicators when they prefer an applicator, or Regular when they need Super Plus, or leaking through their clothes would help them to become 'accountable'?

Xenia your post has been deleted making it impossible for me to go back and check was my reaction unfair. If I have read it wrong, then I apologize, however your decision to include the exact definition of a beggar on a thread about having to ask for food, along with the deletion of the earlier one leaves me uneasy, but I don't wish to be unfair or apparently possibly continue to be unfair.
So I think perhaps the most reasonable thing I can say, is if everything came crashing down around your ears, I hope you are surrounded by people who think exactly the same way as yourself, as that will hopefully give you what you need for your survival without unnecessary pain.

This has inspired me. I love Oatly barista. It's long life, too. So I bought a couple of extras and put them in the foodbank box.

True, math. There have been some horrid threads on here about foodbanks over the years, particularly around the holidays and how poor people don't 'need' treats so don't put them in, or things like biscuits or rice pudding (obesity!) or branded tea (lots of sniffy, well, I have to drink water I have to pump out of a burn after I've chipped the ice off the top and filter it with an old sock) or anything other than pasta and baked beans.

£1.20!! how dare they eh?
Our Foodbank will buy specific items, lots of requests for certain baby formula over the last few months, maybe we should have just gave them a random brand 🤔
Being in need doesn’t mean being treated like you’re worthless, some of the donations we received are only for fit for the bin, out of date tins/packets or bizarre items like the 8 jars of shredded gherkins 🙄 and jars of horseradish, if you don’t want to eat why should anyone else?

@InDeoEstMeaFiducia
I’ve posted a few time’s explaining the FB I work at and how we do it, we always include a wee treat; be it chocolate biccys or a few sweets.
Your thoughtfulness is appreciated.

Let's not forget that veganism is a choice.....and not a need..first world problems

Repeat after me kids: poor people are entitled to have moral beliefs. It is not just the rich who are entitled to have principles.

And while we’re at it, can we please stop with this race to the bottom bullshit of discussing whether starving people would eat dogs. You don’t have to be so malnourished and starving that you would compromise your beliefs and eat an animal that disgusted you to be worthy of help. If you can’t afford to buy food you’re entitled to help from a food bank, and you’re entitled to have your dietary and ethical requirements met. There is enough wealth in this country to enable people in need to be fed suitable food without some privileged arsehole sneering that if they were really hungry they would eat animals and be grateful.

[quote SBTLove]@InDeoEstMeaFiducia
I’ve posted a few time’s explaining the FB I work at and how we do it, we always include a wee treat; be it chocolate biccys or a few sweets.
Your thoughtfulness is appreciated.[/quote]
It's being human, who doesn't enjoy a little something special? A nice cup of tea and being able to put some sugar in it, or some creamy milk (Oatly Barista is quite creamy), or a wee Kipling cake. Or, as pointed out, a tampon instead of a pad or a slimline one or Daz instead of basic, I mean, just a little something.

You shouldn't have to compromise your ethics because you're poor.
Should muslims have to eat pork?
It would be alot cheaper to get "free to a good home" pets and cook them up for your dinner. Should we be recommending that to poor people?

This thread is interesting, I always assumed more products was more better , so if spending £5 would buy the bigger but cheaper brand?? I do buy biscuits and treat items as well.

*better not more better 😳

Yeah cheaper goes further but a carton of requested oatmilk is better than a carton of cheaper milk because it's going to be used and not wasted.

When I donate to the food bank. I often donate things suitable for vegans as it’s something the food bank doesn’t get much of.

But does the brand really matter? I drink oat milk, I don’t find them that different tbh.

@Pomegranatepompom

But does the brand really matter? I drink oat milk, I don’t find them that different tbh.

Oatly Barista is delicious! It froths beautifully, too.

I do drink oat sometimes, I tend to buy alpro as it doesn’t split.
I will start buying selection boxes soon, my DC like being involved in buying treats. Sorry maybe that’s not useful enough.

@Pomegranatepompom
If you’re donating to a foodbank, toiletries are greatly appreciated; shower gel, shampoo, deodorant no fancy brands, plenty nice ones for £1.

Yes I sometimes get the £1 shower gels in Waitrose which are nice and dove soap.

I actually think Oatly is overrated. Their yoghurts are nice though.