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.

Not everybody using food banks is on the bare bones of poverty. Lots of people are normal people, like you OP, who know how to cook a proper meal, have the equipment to do so but are so squeezed that they cannot afford to buy the food and cook it as well.
For lots of people needing the food bank can be a matter of losing a few pay cheques. That doesn't mean they don't want to cook a proper, healthy meal for their families.

No wonder you think they’re a poor choice of ingredients if you cook them for 20 minutes😳

It sounds like you’re assuming that people in food poverty are unable or unwilling to cook anything other than pasta, and that they won’t enjoy cooking, so wouldn’t need something like tinned tomatoes.

Not everyone on the breadline wants to feed their children pasta or beans on toast every night. Some people might want to actually make a spag bol or chilli. You seem to be making a lot of assumptions possibly on what your idea of someone on the breadline is.

Tinned tomatoes with pasta and a bit of salt is a favorite quick cheap meal for me, as well as using as base so I would imagine they'd be a popular item

Tinned tomatoes with bread and butter is pure comfort food. Add a poached egg and you'll think you've died and gone to heaven.

@Thecathouse

Tinned tomatoes on toast was a common lunch when I was growing up. They only need 5 minutes on the hob and a sprinkle of salt, and they get one of your five a day in

They aren't just a base. Ha e you never had tinned tomatoes on toast?

My first thought exactly.

Tinned plum tomatoes on plain pasta was an evening meal for us growing up!

No good deed goes unpunished.

I have been poor many years ago ( before food banks). Canned tomatoes were a staple, they were very versatile.

As a matter of interest what do you op consider to be the correct food for a food bank?

I no longer donate to our local one after finding out that some of the ones who ran it were getting food from it. They are wealthy retired people.

I give my kids tinned tomatoes on toast is that such a bad breakfast? It’s something hot and different rather than same old cereal/cheese on toast.

When I buy some things for the food bank, I don't go rummaging in the crate to see what has been donated already. The collection crate is normally behind the tills too.

One of my favourite meals (before marriage) was tinned toms on toast. Just that. Harked back to my youth. Not fabulously nutritious but quick, easy and HOT! If kids are having school meals then tinned toms on toast is prob good enough once or even twice a week. Better than no breakfast.

And when I was really poor I’d often have just tinned tomatoes and buttered pasta. I didn’t need many extra ingredients - plus at food banks you don’t just get the one tin, they’ll add other ingredients.

Tinned tomatoes are a staple in this house, you can have them on toast with black pepper on top, you can whizz them up to a pulp with some garlic and you've got a basic pasta sauce, but best of all we sometimes have tuna, tinned tomatoes and cheese with pasta, we also add a bit of hot sauce to give it a kick, so yes YABU!

You're the worst kind of virtual signaller. "I do charity much better than you!" Ugh.

One of my favourite meals is home made veggie cottage pie with tinned plum tomatoes as the side. I quite often eat tomatoes just as they come out of the tin....... but the rest of the family think it's weird

As pp's have said, Food Banks often ask for tinned tomatoes to be donated. My local one also says if they have plenty of something (currently pasta and normal baked beans).

Here is the current list from my local FB, I'm sure others are similar?:

TINNED POTATOES
TINNED TOMATOES
TINNED SPAGHETTI
TINNED RICE PUDDING
SPONGE PUDDINGS
TINNED CUSTARD
TINNED SPAGHETTI BOLOGNASE
BAKED BEANS WITH SAUSAGES
TINNED RAVIOLLI

OP - why would FB's specifically request tinned tomatoes if they are such a poor choice?

It would be a shame if this prevented anyone donating tinned tomatoes or anything else to foodbanks. Understand where the thought comes from but in this case it's mistaken.

Jars of sauce would be great if donated alongside some tins.
As a child I loved tinned fruit.
It always goes down well with DC.

I think tinned tomatoes are one of the most versatile things you can donate. Curry for a start. Or have it with bread, pasta, potatoes. Add veg or meat and spices depending on what you have. Cheap and healthy.

Perhaps your experience has been with people who are more used to convenience foods? I think if that's the case they would benefit from learning to cook and then they could make meals much cheaper. I pretty much lived of veg curry at one point. Use frozen veg and make a sauce. Fill up on rice.

Interesting thread. I didn't know you could ask the food bank what they need, ours is just a big box with no instructions on it AFTER the tills so I regularly forget to buy something but I sometime donate long life milk or tinned beef mince. I often wonder if I should be donating shampoo or sanitary products.

This post has renewed my interest in ensuring I donate the right thing.

@BlackeyedSusan

Tinned tomatoes on toast. Salt and pepper.

Tinned tomatoes, cooked rice tinned peas and sweetcorn. (+Tuna or chickpeas) microwave

Tinned veg, curry powder. ( The savers one) tinned chick peas, tinned tomatoes. tinned potatoes
Microwave/heat through on stove.
Savers herbs are about 30p a pot.

Maybe it's you who lack imagination?

This. Tinned tomatoes can easily be a made into a meal, when you have a very tight budget.

i donate treats or easy to heat "complete" meals usually

my go to are: chocolate, biscuits, little cakes, sweets, hot chocolate sachets etc.
for 'meals' it's usually things like tins of curry/stews/macaroni cheese/Bolognese and put in things like packets of microwave rice or the sachets of pasta or things like instant noodles.

This is because I assume there's little no cooling facilities - a kettle or microwave perhaps. and also, treats make things a little better for everyone.

Garlic (fresh or granules), an onion and a tin of toms with some protein is actually a very good meal.

Needing Foodbank help doesn't necessarily equate with being unable to cook and only eating processed crap.

Most people want to eat food from their own culture. And in a good many cultures, dishes have tomatoes as a base for the sauce. You can't ask someone from parts of West Africa to live without tomatoes or at least tomato paste as a base for stews. People want to eat what they know and like. Lots of tomato based dishes are better if cooked slowly, but quickly will do if needs must.

I saw someone on Facebook asking for details of a local food bank. Had a nosey on her profile and she was regularly posting photos of her latest acrylic nails. Aren't they at least £20 a pop? Isn't it a bit off to regularly spend that much on a complete non-essential while also claiming you can't afford to feed yourself and taking food away from people who genuinely don't have a pot to piss in?

Do you know for a fact that she was looking for food bank details for herself? And besides, circumstances can very suddenly change.
Most food banks have a referral system so that hopefully food is going to genuine cases.