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...

I'm going to check this with our dietician (not a nutritionist). And check what we do have in stock!

But, again, we do have foods for all types of diet.

We don't do meat... Again, it's fresh, we can't keep it and don't assume our clients can either.

Tins, tubes, packets. Usually quite boring, but will keep you full, healthy.

The OP has said nothing about chia seeds being requested specifically. She said nuts and seeds were. Chia seeds are expensive, sure, but other types of seeds are not. Nuts and seeds can be a great source of protein, and it's not unreasonable or snooty to suggest them as a donation item.

I'm a vegan and Oatly Barista is my preferred brand of milk alternative. If you shop at Tesco, there is no own-brand alternative for oat milk. They do also sell Alpro brand, but there is not much difference price wise between that and Oatly, unless there is an offer on. (I understand that if you shop elsewhere, they do have own brand Aldi oat milk).

I do contribute to food banks when I'm able, and always try to donate vegan stuff as I hate the idea that there are people in this world (and indeed on this thread) who would suggest that if you're in the awful position of needing support to feed your family that your morals (or indeed your dietary requirements due to allergies) should be completely disregarded and you should get what you're given and be thankful.

Branded products, I understand. But otherwise no. I'm allergic to dairy. If I ever need help from a food bank (and I have needed to use them in the past) shall I just accept the milk I'm allergic to and products that probably have it in rather than letting them know I can't have them because 'beggars can't be choosers'?

And no, I don't think that in this situation, considering you don't know any of the family's personal circumstances, they should be treated differently than if they were allergic to the products. They don't want to or can't eat it. If you needed a food bank and they would only give you foods you had specifically stated you don't like the taste of, I doubt you would be happy or just accept starving to death.

“However, I wouldn't drink Oatly due to the recent news about them. The family themselves may not have even requested this brand it may be something the food put on as it is a well known brand. Would you be as up in arms if they requested weetabix, for example, as a well known wheat biscuits brand?!”

The list also included Shreddies and Weetabix, rather than own brand alternatives

@CuriousaboutSamphire

We don't do much milk... Few fresh products as they presume access to a fridge, other suitable storage.

Long life, yes. And we always have non dairy equivalents.

Milk is very popular.

I was taking it in and it was being given straight out. I started with cravendale (our milk at home) then went to Ocado (Cheaper) then Morrison’s (cheaper again) and finally was ordering it from a wholesaler (cheapest)

Sounds like I should have stuck with 12 x 4 pint cravendale rather than getting 24x 4 pint from the wholesaler. I had in my mind trying to give milk to as many people as possible.

Ok I stand corrected (to an extent) although as you say a food bank is not a workplace as such. However my main point still stands - we shouldn’t need fucking food banks for anyone, vegan, Mulslim, Jewish, disabled etc etc etc in 20fucking20!!! Sorry for the swearing but my god this thread is majorly missing the point

YABVU. And anyway, a pack of eg yellow split peas would be much cheaper than a pack of tuna tins. It is always helpful to know what type of donations are best, too.

I agree with you about the Oatly milk. You're absolutely havering on the tinned fish though (FFS!).

I found myself running a food back during the pandemic. I wish everyone was vegan - oats, rice, lentils, sugar, flour, pasta, fruit, veg, stock cubes, tinned beans etc, all easily accessible and cheap. And most of the vegans we have are semi-decent cooks.

Occasionally we get requests that make me wince inwardly. But, broadly, having recipients express a preference and offer feedback is no bad thing.

To be honest I agree with you. I don’t mean that they should eat animal products, but yes there are plenty of healthy vegan foods that are less pricey.

I agree with the above.

Otherwise everyone would be demanding Manuka honey and Malvern salt flakes.

I only rarely buy expensive branded stuff for myself, so I'm not going to provide it to a foodbank. And for what it would cost to provide a week's branded shopping for one family, you could probably supply enough to keep two or even more.

I wouldn't expect people to compromise their ethics, but I would expect them to realise that they can't be choosers as regards quality/type of appropriate food.

@NoMoreReluctantCustodians it’s not nasty to think that if you can’t afford your own food then you should be happy to be given anything! Instead of deciding you want some posh vegan milk. You can have that when you can afford it but since you can’t even afford a bag of pasta then be grateful for what you get!

@Posturesorposes

Oh gosh. Those poor people daring to have dietary preferences. Shocking.

Of course they can have dietary preferences but it’s quite often relatively poor people who have contributed to food banks; recipients should be prepared to accept lower priced brands of equally acceptable foods.

Tbh, if you are that hungry you will eat almost anything you are given.

One of my children had meningitis as a baby and I was in hospital with them 24/7. I couldn’t leave them alone even to get food, so I had to eat whatever they gave me on the ward. It wasn’t to my taste or really that nice, but I got over that pretty fast as the alternative was hunger (I was breastfeeding and expressing milk and it honestly felt like my body was consuming itself)...

To be fair OP both shreddies and wheetabix are also used as generic terms. It doesnt mean they wouldnt accept malted wheats or whatever the own brand alternative are.

I'm a vegan and Oatly Barista is my preferred brand of milk alternative.

It's delicious!

I've tried this and I loved it.

You are not being unreasonable re brand names but you are re the fish.

Give what you want to give.
It's not up to you to police what the foodbank does.

TBH I'd assume that Weetabix or Shreddies was a request for any brand of those cereals. If i had a request for 'wheat biscuits' or 'wheat cereal' I wouldn't know that it meant Weetabix. Same for oat milk. It could be that that's the only brand whoever makes the list has heard of.

I suspect that's been used as an example of a type of oat milk, not that you must buy the expensive version!

Ridiculous to suggest vegans should be prepare to accept fish,.

Might as well just say "beggars can't be choosers"...

We do have fresh food, dairy etc, on the help yourself shelf. And we do coordinate with another charity that supplies various fresh foods for specific families. If we get fresh foods of any sort it won't go to waste (local cafes, youth centre etc will take it / buy it if we can't donate it directly).

But like the Trussels we don't hold it as part of our usual stock as we can't guarantee it won't go off before it gets taken.

@Potterpotterpotter it’s hard for me to imagine having as little empathy as you do. But I know that if you were the person relying on a food bank you would be profoundly grateful if the people helping you still viewed you as a person worthy of respect and support, and not as a ‘beggar’ who should be grateful for scraps.

Luckily, people who help out at food banks tend to be a lot more decent than you have shown yourself to be on this thread.

It is nasty to expect that a vegan should be grateful to be given food which compromises their deeply held beliefs. Would you expect a Jewish or muslim family to be grateful for bacon?

@LondonUnited

It’s not about morals though is it? But making expensive choices funded by other people? In an idea world I would get all my food from M&S but I can’t afford it, so I don’t. Or I buy the cheaper oat milk and soya yogurts.

Also, if the food bank is funding this then that surely means they have less money available to feed other families?

Good point.

Unless its a medical reason why they can’t eat certain items then they should take what they are given.
We took what we were given. I gave some if it back. Turns out my dc would rather be hungry than eat Bran flakes!

Our local foodbank asks for the cheapest own label type brands if that means people can donate more of an item.
Food for as many people as possible.

I love Oatly Barista.