AIBU to think that donating tinned tomatoes to the food bank shows a real lack of understanding of food poverty?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

The food bank donation box at my local supermarket this morning had a fairly good mix of items, apart from about a third of the tins were tinned tomatoes.

Surely it would be better all round to donate products which need little to no additional ingredients?

Tinned tomatoes are a base - they will never be a meal in their own right. They need at the bare minimum, some seasoning and or some veg or protein to make them useable.

And then even if you could rustle up some other ingredients to make them palateable/nutritious, you need to heat them - if they contain meat or lentils they need a good length of time on the heat.

Those using food banks likely cannot give over 20mins on the hob for tinned tomatoes. The cost of heating up the food (if there is even funds on the meter) is too high for the return.

I do think that people who donate tinned tomatoes, come at it from a reasonably comfortable point of view - just chuck it in with some mince and a bit if garlic and slow cook it for a couple of hours.

All of which is likely to be outside of the financial scope of the recipient.

I’ve never used a food bank, but I have been in the position of skipping meals and eating as cheaply as possible.
An absolute staple for me - as in, eating most days - was wholewheat pasta with tinned tomatoes, salt and pepper.

Nothing wrong with tinned tomatoes! Add to
pasta - onion, garlic, mixed herbs
rice- mixed beans, onion, garlic, chilli
rice - black eye peas, onion, garlic, curry powder
Sausage casserole!
When you are broke you get creative(speaking from experience) I would put most of the ingredients in the slow cooker (not the pasta & rice)

tinned meals [[https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/canned-tinned-packaged-foods/canned-tinned-packaged-hot-meat-meals#langId=44&storeId=10151&catalogId=10241&categoryId=13260&parent_category_rn=13248&top_category=13248&pageSize=60&orderBy=FAVOURITES_ONLY%7CTOP_SELLERS&searchTerm=&beginIndex=0 here]]

So I think the lack of understanding in the title comes from the OP!

sorry

here

@HarrietsChariot

-Baked Beans (Heinz, Branstons, HP or Waitrose own brand)

As someone running a food bank - eh?

thank you violet

Harrietscharriot that seems like a strange list though?!

Why would it matter what shaped pasta it is? Why specific brands of beans? Why only those fish and not tuna/others?

doginabox interesting! Never realised that.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

The food bank donation box at my local supermarket this morning had a fairly good mix of items, apart from about a third of the tins were tinned tomatoes.

Surely it would be better all round to donate products which need little to no additional ingredients?

Tinned tomatoes are a base - they will never be a meal in their own right. They need at the bare minimum, some seasoning and or some veg or protein to make them useable.

And then even if you could rustle up some other ingredients to make them palateable/nutritious, you need to heat them - if they contain meat or lentils they need a good length of time on the heat.

Those using food banks likely cannot give over 20mins on the hob for tinned tomatoes. The cost of heating up the food (if there is even funds on the meter) is too high for the return.

I do think that people who donate tinned tomatoes, come at it from a reasonably comfortable point of view - just chuck it in with some mince and a bit if garlic and slow cook it for a couple of hours.

All of which is likely to be outside of the financial scope of the recipient.

If anyone is showing a lack of understanding it’s you OP, obviously you’ve never been in such a situation

@bubblesbubbles11

do you have to be referred by a GP/social services etc to ask to receive items from a foodbank? I just wondered how it worked, am on a very very tight budget.

Here is some info @bubblesbubbles11 Using a food bank

I hope things pick up for you soon.

Also, there's the guilt factor and pester factor when leaving the shop. Kids pester their parents into donating something they've bought, people feel guilty about not doing it.

LMAO. Has anyone actually seen kids pestering their parents into donating their shopping whilst leaving a supermarket or is this classic MN virtue signalling?

What did you add to the food bank Op?

@HarrietsChariot
"Food banks don't want tinned tomatoes, and the people who use them certainly don't. The most important things to donate are...
...
-Tinned fruit and veg..."

So, tinned tomatoes then.

I understand that receiving donated food consisting of nothing BUT tinned tomatoes would be a bit grim, but I'd still be happy (and immensely grateful) to see their presence in the bag.

and that's reminded me that the tins of Stagg hot chili are really nice and I was tempted to put a blush emoji but I'm not even embarrassed about it

@DeepaBeesKit

Things like ready made tinned bolognese also tend to be horribly salty and made with utter crap. Why do we assume these service users should be willing to eat shite we wouldnt buy ourselves?

Not to mention, by having a mixed product you limit who you can give it to.

Tinned toms can be given to anyone.

A can of ready made bolognese will likely contain beef (which lots of people of South Asian heritage will not eat), or pork (which Muslims & Jewish people will not eat). Not to mention it can't be given to vegetarians.

Because you can't assume that all users have access to anything other than a microwave.

Yes some will want to cook from scratch with ingredients. But some people won't. Or can't for whatever reason. It's not for us to decide what is "worthy"

The reason things like tinned Bolognese are in the shelves is because people buy them...so clearly some people eat them quite happily.

So it's good to donate a variety aimed at all users. Be it a vegetable soup, a tin of Bolognese, or a packet of lentils.

@Cocomarine

I’ve never used a food bank, but I have been in the position of skipping meals and eating as cheaply as possible. An absolute staple for me - as in, eating most days - was wholewheat pasta with tinned tomatoes, salt and pepper.

Completely agree, tinned tomatoes to me is a staple ingredient of many cheap meals.

They can be pasta sauce, can be eaten as the veg with many meals, can be added to mince/veg mince to make chilli, some even add to shepherd's pie etc.

I always have some in and probably use at least one tin a week.

Worst comes to worst it's just a tinned veg to add to the side of the plate for nutrition. I used to have tinned plum tomatoes loads when I was little.

Just been on my local Trussell Trust one -
We urgently need UHT milk, tins of fruit, tins of tomatoes. We no longer need pasta or sugar.
It's always worthwhile checking!

@User13489089768

Also, there's the guilt factor and pester factor when leaving the shop. Kids pester their parents into donating something they've bought, people feel guilty about not doing it.

LMAO. Has anyone actually seen kids pestering their parents into donating their shopping whilst leaving a supermarket or is this classic MN virtue signalling?

Well, I always let my DS choose something for the food bank. Some weeks it was loo roll, others it was haribo. Should I have stopped him?

YANBU - even "ordinary families" accessing foodbanks are more likely to be in fuel poverty and paying premium tariffs for fuel.

However the best thing to do in each area is to look up what your local foodbank needs. It takes seconds and ensures that what you supply is what they need in your local area.

Of the two nearest foodbanks to me, one includes tinned tomatoes on the want list, the other doesn't and particularly asks for "minimal cook" items. They serve slightly different populations, I'd imagine that is why they ask for different items.

I was skint. I have often chosen between food for me and food for the kids, or food/heating, food/shoes. I don't use food banks, because I'd rather be hungry than take begrudged charity and I have always managed to feed the kids. (The conversations I have seen on here and had in rl confirm the sense of 'better than thou', victorian philanthropy in food bank donation. I'd rather starve.)

I think that's incredibly unfair, even rude, to the majority of people who donate to food banks. Yes there will be a few who see themselves as bestowing their charity on the grateful poor, but to most people it's about not wanting another human being to be hungry, maybe thinking in abstract that it's not right that in one of the richest countries in the world some people can't afford to eat, but they want to do something practical to make sure they can.

How many of these posters do you think 'begrudge' their donations? Has anything anyone's written here shown evidence of that? If you're starving rather than use foodbanks, maybe it's a chip on your shoulder rather than the reality.

Personally I think it's horribly sad that donating food to poor people has become a normal part of 21st century life. Even my children are invited to donate via school. Food security is a human right and I am so sad that anyone has to rely on food banks.

That being said ( and that's really a topic for another thread), tinned tomatoes on a piece of fried bread is Heaven. Also one of your five a day. Tinned plum tomatoes are better as they have fewer stalky bits than chopped tomatoes.

I do think that people who donate tinned tomatoes, come at it from a reasonably comfortable point of view - just chuck it in with some mince and a bit if garlic and slow cook it for a couple of hours.

See I think it's more looking at it from a more comfortable point of view to see tinned tomatoes as something that can never be eaten as they are.

I never used tinned tomatoes as a sauce/base until I was an adult, through my childhood we had them often as a side with sausage and mash, or scrambled egg etc. They are just tomatoes.

Firstly, it doesn’t take 20 minutes to cook a tin of tomatoes ! Also, I love tinned tomatoes on some toast or with eggs for example. Worst comes to worse throw in some pasta and you’ve got a sauce. Our food bank is always asking for them!

You are wrong. I am living in poverty and tinned tomatoes are very useful.

This puts me off the idea of donating to food banks. There could be someone policing my donations and declaring how crap they are.