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.

@CatsArePeople

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

All foodbanks want different things, its best to check with them.

I'd consider it an essential, very adaptable, can be used for many healthy dishes without many extra ingredients. Excellent food bank item IMO - versatile and healthy. Can make a healthy pasta sauce with an extra what - 10p? For some garlic and an onion? As opposed to the sugar and preservative filled pre-made jarred sauces.

Our local food banks always ask for tinned tomatoes so I guess they know what is needed?

When I was a student and on a very limited budget, I often had tinned tomatoes on toast. If I was feeling flush, with a little grated cheese on top. They take a couple of minutes to heat through on the hob.

Whilst I'll cook tinned tomatoes for 30 minutes with onion, garlic and herbs to make a pasta sauce, you'd still get an ok pasta sauce just by heating them up. But your post has made me think to buy the tinned tomatoes with herbs and garlic already added for the food bank in future.

@KirstenBlest

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

To risk stirring up the hornet's nest that stung me a few years ago...

With oaten biscuits and manuka honey for dessert/healthy snack!

[quote justasking111]@KirstenBlest you're like me then don't have the knowledge 😁[/quote]
Flour, any fat and anything
Egg, any carb and anything
Potato / Pasta, anything savoury and any fat
Oatmeal, any fruit or veg, any dairy

Tinned anythings or anymixes particularly useful here

That kind of thing. Seasoning and experience helps. Another ingredient might make it better still. But I recognise this food prep style too.

I eat bottom-of-the-fridge stews a lot. A bit of fat (cheese, bacon, etc) perks it up when you are eating it as left overs for several days. I eat things like poached eggs and spinach etc. No doubt I'll get a biscuit for this.

I don't get the love for tinned tomatoes but as tinned veg goes it's good.

@Fangdango! Yes! That!

It's a next step from the War Book of recipes and has stood us in good stead over the years.

Flour, fat and a tin of anything - plate pie. Add a tin of potatoes/vegetables and you're REALLY well set! DH says he fell in proper love when he ate my first plate pie. He wasn't to know just how cheap and easy it was, or how long the women in my family had been cooking them, keeping the recipe secret

If you want a really posh version that doesn't cost much more: pastry, minced meat of some sort, vegetables cut small , a packet of stuffing that matches the meat and a pie plate:
Line the pie plate with pastry
Mix the meat/veg and stuffing put in top of the pastry
Add a pastry lid
Oven on about 180/200 for about 30 minutes

Egg, tin of tomatoes - shakshuka, or tomato mess if you live with me. Add a tin of potatoes and you're into frittata territory

Tin of any kind of sausages, tin of tomatoes, tin of beans (not baked beans) - sausage hot pot

Tin of meatballs, tin of beans (not baked beans), maybe tomatoes, some spicing - chilli meatballs

So many one pot dishes can be made from tins of stuff.

We have a chart like that. people who want ideas can take a sheet of paper and put a tin in each column to make a meal. We have an A N Other column for spices etc.

It's great for sweet and savoury dishes from very little.

Teach people to budget.

@CatsArePeople

Teach people to budget.

Good god! Why the hell didn't we think of that?!?!?!

Pshaw!

What would you suggest is best op?

@CatsArePeople

Teach people to budget.

Yes. Could that poster perhaps remind us again what zero pounds divided by twenty-eight days is?

That's easy @NeverDropYourMoonCup,
0/28 = go to foodbank

Foodbank isn't a 28 day thing

And if they were how do you get there and back with all the bags?

But yes, it is easy - you just leap into your time machine, go back however many years you need to and make better decisions. Simples!

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

OMG you really have no idea of the reality some people face do you?

@ILoveShula

That's easy *@NeverDropYourMoonCup*, 0/28 = go to foodbank

Exactly! If somebody has nothing, you can't tell them to spread it out over the next month and then tell them that if they get any money the following month, they'll have to make it last two in case their UC is fucked up or their ZHC amounts to seven hours for a fortnight - they need food now, not a lecture on not spending it all at once.

[quote HoardingSamphireSaurus]@Fangdango! Yes! That!

It's a next step from the War Book of recipes and has stood us in good stead over the years.

Flour, fat and a tin of anything - plate pie. Add a tin of potatoes/vegetables and you're REALLY well set! DH says he fell in proper love when he ate my first plate pie. He wasn't to know just how cheap and easy it was, or how long the women in my family had been cooking them, keeping the recipe secret

If you want a really posh version that doesn't cost much more: pastry, minced meat of some sort, vegetables cut small , a packet of stuffing that matches the meat and a pie plate:
Line the pie plate with pastry
Mix the meat/veg and stuffing put in top of the pastry
Add a pastry lid
Oven on about 180/200 for about 30 minutes

Egg, tin of tomatoes - shakshuka, or tomato mess if you live with me. Add a tin of potatoes and you're into frittata territory

Tin of any kind of sausages, tin of tomatoes, tin of beans (not baked beans) - sausage hot pot

Tin of meatballs, tin of beans (not baked beans), maybe tomatoes, some spicing - chilli meatballs

So many one pot dishes can be made from tins of stuff.

We have a chart like that. people who want ideas can take a sheet of paper and put a tin in each column to make a meal. We have an A N Other column for spices etc.

It's great for sweet and savoury dishes from very little.[/quote]
Starving now

@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.

If you have kids and no childcare, you can't work those jobs. The service industry and transport industry requires evening and weekend work. Personally I could not do that as a single parent, I have no one to look after my child and there is no childcare at weekends. So what then?

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

I think it's widely accepted now that many of those at the receiving end of food banks ARE in jobs @TheRiat

You sound massively out of touch.

@sunglassesonthetable

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

I think it's widely accepted now that many of those at the receiving end of food banks ARE in jobs @TheRiat

You sound massively out of touch.

Exactly. Including professionals such as nurses

So smug yet ignorant @TheRiat

That's true. We run stats on the client base and the number of 2-wage households now seeking our help has risen dramatically over the last couple of years, it was already rising pre Brexit, covid etc. They just seem to have sped it up.

The gig economy, the long term effects of Gordon Brown's decision to alleviate the wages bill for companies, and the inequity and unwieldiness of the benefits system have been financially devastating for a lot of people. Many of our clients are struggling because they have no idea how to navigate the benfits system, never having made m/any claims before.

That's why we also have support workers to help people work out what they can and cannot claim!

But yes, "Ooh! They're just workshy" is so very yesterday!

@HoardingSamphireSaurus

Thanks for your insightful posts on this thread!

What was “Gordon Brown's decision to alleviate the wages bill for companies”?

IIRC Jack Monroe donated copies of Tin Can Cook to foodbanks so that people could see how versatile cooking with tinned vegetables can be. There's a lovely recipe for Tinestrone (a version of Minestrone) that hardly takes any time to cook and makes a huge pan. I made it and it's delicious.

“Gordon Brown's decision to alleviate the wages bill for companies”?

I would hazard that they are referring to the introduction of working tax credits.

Which, because of the name, people don't think of as 'benefits' but of course they very much were.

@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.

Utterly infuriated by this attitude. We got poor when DH was diagnosed with blood cancer. Long term, very damaging treatment and he needed full time care from me.

But of course, in your world, we're just a pair of smoking, drinking, Netflix watching skivers. ( None of those apply)

Let's hope the dice of life always falls your way, eh?

@TheRiat - PIP is not an out of work benefit, it’s to help towards the extra costs of living with a disability, so some people claiming PIP are in work. For some the PIP payment enables them to work by covering the extra costs of getting there - that’s what it’s for. But not everyone is fortunate enough to have circumstances that allow them to work.