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.

Yes. Not everyone using a food bank will be without things like a freezer or a telly or broadband but there are people who cannot afford them or the fuel to cook a meal. There are people who don't have smart phones or computers, or maybe they had them but they broke and they can't afford to replace them.

@foxgoosefinch

I’m late to this thread, but during lockdown our local community had a free food hub going to supplement food bank usage - one important issue was that people with special diets can’t always eat processed food donated to food banks so are left without things to cook. We had a lady who was shielding for severe health problems including T1 diabetes who was also Muslim and vegetarian - she had run out of food, couldn’t leave the house and could eat hardly anything from the food bank as it all had too much sugar or was meat based. She desperately needed basics like ruined tomatoes, onions, and lentils to make things she could eat.

Lots of people don’t eat premade pasta sauce for various reasons. Especially those who are from cultures where they are vegetarian or cook from scratch. Tinned tomatoes are an essential!

Sorry, I feel like I am coming back to tell you off

If someone has a special dietary need they only have to tell the foodbank staff and they will get what they need. We have lists for just about any restricted diet you can think of. We generally use cash donations to fulfil these, to save donated foods goind beyond their useful dates.

I don't know of any foodbank that doesn't do this - expect maybe the newest ones set up during covid. We have all had decades to work this out, it's not new to us - sadly!

Had we been put in touch with that lady we would have gone out and done a shop just for her. We would also have asked around our wider network for someone to offer 1-2-1 support.

If anyone knows someone who fears their dietary restrictions would prevent them from getting aid from a food bank please, reassure them, we can and will provide them with food they can safely eat.

I really do feel for those that have budgeted properly and still do not have enough at the end of the week/ month.

I claimed benefit once in my life. And do you know what it made me do!!!! It made me promise myself to never claim another benefit again. (Job seekers for 6 months)

There are plenty of jobs out there. The service industry are crying out for people, the transport industry (if you believe the media) are crying out for people.

Sorry not the tories fault. Get a job. Dont rely on the benefits system.

As stated above I really do feel for those that are genuine and really do struggle. But I used to work for the fraud dept in one of the government agencies and it really has made me cynical of people.

And for those that are talking about delays to their PIP. A friend of mine is in a wheelchair, has a full time job and banks their PIP. Just because you claim PIP dosent mean you cant work.

@TheRiat

I really do feel for those that have budgeted properly and still do not have enough at the end of the week/ month.

I claimed benefit once in my life. And do you know what it made me do!!!! It made me promise myself to never claim another benefit again. (Job seekers for 6 months)

There are plenty of jobs out there. The service industry are crying out for people, the transport industry (if you believe the media) are crying out for people.

Sorry not the tories fault. Get a job. Dont rely on the benefits system.

As stated above I really do feel for those that are genuine and really do struggle. But I used to work for the fraud dept in one of the government agencies and it really has made me cynical of people.

And for those that are talking about delays to their PIP. A friend of mine is in a wheelchair, has a full time job and banks their PIP. Just because you claim PIP dosent mean you cant work.

Just because you claim PIP dosent mean you cant work

No, but the reason you claim PIP could mean you can’t work. Your friend is lucky that her disability is one that allows her to work.

@HoardingSamphireSaurus that’s good to hear. I don’t know why the lady had not been able to access appropriate food - this was during the first lockdown and she didn’t have good English, so it could be that there was a miscommunication about what she needed. She wasn’t able to go out because of shielding so a food bank volunteer had dropped a box round which she couldn’t eat. The local community hub was able to give her a lot though so she was okay in the end.

It’s good to hear that foodbanks are able to cater for these situations but as others on the thread have said, it’s a dreadful indictment of our politics that they are needed at all. (I don’t think that posters in this thread are unaware of this either.)

@TheRiat

I really do feel for those that have budgeted properly and still do not have enough at the end of the week/ month.

I claimed benefit once in my life. And do you know what it made me do!!!! It made me promise myself to never claim another benefit again. (Job seekers for 6 months)

There are plenty of jobs out there. The service industry are crying out for people, the transport industry (if you believe the media) are crying out for people.

Sorry not the tories fault. Get a job. Dont rely on the benefits system.

As stated above I really do feel for those that are genuine and really do struggle. But I used to work for the fraud dept in one of the government agencies and it really has made me cynical of people.

And for those that are talking about delays to their PIP. A friend of mine is in a wheelchair, has a full time job and banks their PIP. Just because you claim PIP dosent mean you cant work.

Good for you. Have a fucking medal for being a better person than everyone else. Then go and educate yourself on the many many reasons the jobs that are available aren't always suitable for the job seekers. Or why people who are too sick for work are being turned down for PIP.

but as others on the thread have said, it’s a dreadful indictment of our politics that they are needed at all. (I don’t think that posters in this thread are unaware of this either.)

Absolutely! It can't be said often enough Talk to yur MP!! Do anything lese you can think of. There isn't a food bank anywhere that wants to open its doors!

Tinned tomatoes on toast with a bit of pepper is gorgeous 🤷‍♀️

And for those that are talking about delays to their PIP. A friend of mine is in a wheelchair, has a full time job and banks their PIP. Just because you claim PIP dosent mean you cant work.

Good for your friend. A friend of mine who can't work due to her health condition has recently been turned down.

@TheRiat

I really do feel for those that have budgeted properly and still do not have enough at the end of the week/ month.

I claimed benefit once in my life. And do you know what it made me do!!!! It made me promise myself to never claim another benefit again. (Job seekers for 6 months)

There are plenty of jobs out there. The service industry are crying out for people, the transport industry (if you believe the media) are crying out for people.

Sorry not the tories fault. Get a job. Dont rely on the benefits system.

As stated above I really do feel for those that are genuine and really do struggle. But I used to work for the fraud dept in one of the government agencies and it really has made me cynical of people.

And for those that are talking about delays to their PIP. A friend of mine is in a wheelchair, has a full time job and banks their PIP. Just because you claim PIP dosent mean you cant work.

People claim PIP for all kinds of reasons though some maybe able to work others will never be able to work ,it will depend on their condition/ Disability.

There are plenty of jobs out there. The service industry are crying out for people, the transport industry (if you believe the media) are crying out for people

I just got myself one of these jobs. Genuinely. Advert didn't state number of hours. The most they would offer me was 14 hours per week, guaranteed, plus overtime. Plus I need to be flexible to do pretty much all overtime asked of me with 24 hours notice. So no real option of taking on other work too.

14 hours doesn't cover my rent. But I'll have loads of overtime in the run up to Xmas. After that? They don't care.

Now, for me, this is fine. I'm self employed, this is to help tide me over because COVID has screwed me over somewhat and my earnings have dropped significantly.

But it's really not just as 'get a job' because the jobs available don't all offer stability and a living wage.

Giving a 35p Tim of tomatoes to a food bank has to be the ultimate in virtue signalling

Have you ever considered that not everyone is on a 6 figure salary and perhaps all they can afford to donate is a tin of tomatoes? You crack on if you want to donate half of Waitrose though

@SnackSizeRaisin

There really was less food poverty in the Blair / Brown years, or does it just feel that way?

Benefits were far more generous. So there should not have been the same degree of food poverty.

And reliable. If you signed on, you got your first payment within a fortnight. This immediately notified the council for housing benefit and council tax benefit claims and free school meals. You also had individual benefits so if there was a problem with one, you still had others to manage on in the intervening period. And you could go to your local DSS office, wait and get things sorted out that day, together with an advance payment giro or social fund emergency payment if necessary.

It was almost as though they didn't want you to be liable for full council tax immediately, served with a notice of eviction or unable to eat with zero notice of problems...

My granny and my mum could turn three ingredients into a feast. I remember tin containers in the pantry filled with the contents of baking days. My MIL baked on a Thursday, with three hungry boys that would see her through.

This skill has gone if the oven was on you used every shelf and baked.

I don't have that skill. My DIL on the other hand batch cooks, labels and freezes

@justasking111

My granny and my mum could turn three ingredients into a feast. I remember tin containers in the pantry filled with the contents of baking days. My MIL baked on a Thursday, with three hungry boys that would see her through.

This skill has gone if the oven was on you used every shelf and baked.

I don't have that skill. My DIL on the other hand batch cooks, labels and freezes

What were the three ingredients, please?

Was it 5 loaves, 2 fish and a tin of chopped tomatoes?

Giving a 35p Tim of tomatoes to a food bank has to be the ultimate in virtue signalling
Virtue signalling ?
I donate the food staples I can afford, quietly with no effect. No one outside of this anonymous forum knows this.
Who am I signalling my virtue to ?

Giving a 35p Tim of tomatoes to a food bank has to be the ultimate in virtue signalling

Eh?

@KirstenBlest you're like me then don't have the knowledge 😁

I’d never thought about it that way, you make some good points and I will be able to shop more appropriately since reading your post. It’s helpful.

Let them eat artisanal sourdough
...and a tin of tomatoes

Giving a 35p Tim of tomatoes to a food bank has to be the ultimate in virtue signalling

Or possibly it's the story of the widow's mite for 2021.

Alternatively isn't coming on here to berate those who give a tin of tomatoes virtue signalling? 'Look how much better I am, I'd never give just a tin of tomatoes'.

Despite the OP this has been a useful thread. I will certainly be checking how to donate to my local foodbank so they can decide what's needed and buy accordingly. And supporting my local Morrisons with their food bag policy.

Our local allotment society has been donating fresh veg, but I suspect it gets diverted to the local food kitchen who can store and process potatoes, green beans, courgettes and beetroot and combine to produce a meal for dozens. Especially when it'll be followed by cabbage, sprouts etc.

Canned tomatoes and baked beans are two most needed items in the foodbank. Things that always go first.