Travellers foodbank challenge.

[Devilesko]

Posting for traffic and suggestions.

We have started the fb challenge again this year as it's needed more than ever.
We challenge family members to buy an extra weeks worth of food and donate to food banks. Nobody is left out, we all have to rise to the challenge and want to, tbh.

I have posted on dozens of pages asking to remember to include san pro.
If anyone has suggestions that might be forgotten, I'd appreciate the heads up. Also, just to let the people in supermarkets and food banks aware, as this is usually done on such a big scale.

So far I have family in Leicester and Cheshire signing up. But will post other areas as I become aware.
Any suggestions will be very helpful.
Tia.

If anyone is wondering, most of the food we have to throw away are bread, pastries, and fresh milk/dairy, along with a few crates every week of ALREADY EXPIRED OR OPENED food that people have seen fit to donate. That would be donations from businesses, or people not following the rules of in date, unopened, non perishables though right? Not just people preferring to donate food off the needed list rather than money?

Yes. I am simply an abomination of a person🙄 Like charities have never missused funds, eh.

I am not the arrogant one here. Read what you wrote about people imagining others using what they bought. Now that was arrogant.

What is also arrogant as fuck is throwing away donations. People who have often themselves little, give and then it's thrown away🤷🏻
The food bank where I volunteer has to throw away so much of what is donated because it goes out of date
Organise it better so you don't have fresh stuff to be thrown away.

I think try an think of whole meals that can be made with dried and tinned, eg groups of pasta, tinned tomatoes, kidney beans, butter beans and a herb mix. I think stock (a veggie and a chicken) would also be good.

@Wroxie

FreezerBird I find that really surprising, to be honest, and it would be an interesting conversation, but you've chosen not to elaborate and instead to just shut down the dialogue.

I wasn't aware you were looking for dialogue. I'm happy to have that conversation if you'd like to.

I am not sure what your reason for that is,

Mostly that that isn't what the thread is about.

but anyway, every food bank is different, every community is different, and every population served is different.

Yes, that's exactly the point I was making, and encouraging OP to keep encouraging others to check in with their local foodbanks, as she has said she's doing.

We very very occasionally get donations which are completely inappropriate and have to be disposed of. As you say these are things which have already gone out of date by the time they get to us or very rarely things which are already open. This probably amounts to a carrier bag full a month if that, but does increase a little around harvest festival time, when people who aren't familiar with the guidelines might give, and at the end of the academic year when students clear out their kitchens! These are the only things which get actually thrown away, and even then quite a lot is taken by one of our volunteers who feeds foxes in her garden. (Rural - not an urban fox situation!)

I don't know if a carrier bag a month sounds like a lot or a little, but as a proportion of donations it is absolutely tiny, although even so very frustrating to throw away.

Sometimes we get donations which are usable but not appropriate for us, for various reasons. As I described earlier in the thread they are passed on by us to other agencies such as the women's refuge, the homeless shelter, and various other organisations in the town which run free/pay as you feel cafes and lunches.

When we are absolutely up to our eyes in pasta or beans we run a thing with volunteers/friends of the foodbank where they can take some in exchange for something we do need of a higher value. (eg four tins of beans for four tins of beef stew.)

I don’t think your posts are going to do much to encourage people to donate anything wroxie

I’m glad we have had other volunteers on here who have a much better attitude

Aw, please don't fall out on such a topic.
I have honestly given feedback from every post and I'm so grateful for the responses.
I've stressed that all areas are different, will be managed differently from each other and most importantly to check what they need.
I also discussed smaller size packets, free from range, and the items of importance/ what they may forget.

If anyone is wondering, most of the food we have to throw away are bread, pastries, and fresh milk/dairy, along with a few crates every week of ALREADY EXPIRED OR OPENED food

Our local foodbank doesn't take fresh items presumably for the reason you've just described, no idea why yours does!
Surely it makes sense to make it clear not to donate fresh items and only tinned/packet ones that last a long time instead of just blindly accepting and then flinging out?
Sounds very unorganised if so!

Our local foodbank doesn't take fresh items presumably for the reason you've just described, no idea why yours does!

I thought the clear implication is that it doesn’t (take fresh items).

Surely it makes sense to make it clear not to donate fresh items and only tinned/packet ones that last a long time instead of just blindly accepting and then flinging out?
Sounds very unorganised if so!

Can you all stop sniping at each other? Completely inappropriate “My foodbank is better than your foodbank” nonsense.

Can you all stop sniping at each other? Completely inappropriate “My foodbank is better than your foodbank” nonsense

Wasn't meant to be sniping, just seems daft to take fresh items that they can't use and have to throw away

I volunteer at a foodbank. Donations are needed this year more than ever. The only think is we ask people to check what their local foodbank is desperately short of. Trussell have a page where we can search by your geographical area. Some have storage issues and are overrun with some items like pasta and rice but really need tinned fruit and puddings.

I’m going to do the Morrison’s bags, we can afford that by sacrificing something quite small x

Can you all stop sniping at each other? Completely inappropriate “My foodbank is better than your foodbank” nonsense.

Can you stop policing the thread @GroundAlmonds ? Saying food banks prefer long life food is not sniping.

Can you stop policing the thread @GroundAlmonds ?

I wasn’t. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Saying food banks prefer long life food is not sniping.

I don’t think anyone said otherwise did they? I think there were cross purposes.

So they’re not sniping then are they?!

I’ve already said I thought it was sniping.

🙄

@GroundAlmonds

I’ve already said I thought it was sniping.

So you've said both that it is sniping and that no one said it was sniping

cooking oil
toothpaste
shower gel
tea bags
coffee

Biscuits are really popular too

So you've said both that it is sniping and that no one said it was sniping confused

No. I said that nobody said that food banks don’t prefer long life food.

I also said that the misunderstanding degenerated into sniping.

I am feeling a bit sorry for OP, whose thread has been serially derailed.

Can you stop snipping about snipping? 😂 Just joking.

Apologoes for before, OP...
I just checked the other foodback (I usually give randomly depending on which area I am in on the day, there are few around here) and they say they need tinned potatoes, mashed potatoes, custard etc.
Have plenty of milk and pasta (both do oddly).

ScrodingersImmigrant

Bless you my love, this thread just isn't yours
Btw, I did see your removed post, and about being considered as one of the racists. I do know that your post wasn't

I haven't read the whole thread because I can't be doing with all the negative comments. But in case no one has mentioned it, I think it's important to include treats in food bank donations. So biscuits, sweets, nice crisps. I also wouldn't donate anything I wouldn't eat myself. So no tins of corned beef in my donation even though it's cheap! I also put in some more expensive but more convenient things because you don't know what cooking facilities people might have. So a big bag of rice is cheaper but packets of microwave rice or pot noodles might be more helpful with restricted kitchen access.

Happens, @Devilesko

Very interesting thread overall. I lately often shop in "foreign foods" shops rather than supermarkets. Stupid question, but are foreign foods welcome?

@devilesco

This is bloody great. Hats off to the travelling community. As we aren’t going to get to have a big family Xmas this year I shall do what I can with that money I would usual spend feeding the family to get a decent donation to the food bank especially toiletries / feminine hygiene stuff .