Please help with the school food bank!

[Superplanner]

Mumsnet hive mind,
Please can I ask for your help with a school food bank? I’m working in a secondary school in the minute and there are a number of children in need of top up food. There is a breakfast club and they get free school meals, but we’re trying to build up a dry store of filling snacks and dinner substitutes.
School have suggested pot noodles / super noodles which are great because they’re “just add water” and we’ll get protein bars.
What else would your hungry teens appreciate after school? Only stipulation is that it’s non perishable.
Thank you in advance, wise women of mumsnet!

If possible ask business to donate small hot water flasks. Then the flasks could be filled with hot water in school so kids can take them home to make their pasta etc.
My kids get water bottle tops up from lovely HE teachers. Could do the same with small flasks

Well done to your school OP. We don't have this (yet) but I work in a primary school in an affluent area. It would shock people how many children we have who's families struggle with poverty. And then we have other pupils who live in million pound houses.

The only thing I would suggest if you can is gluten free and dairy free alternatives. I volunteered at a food bank and we hsd people who become ill as were buying regular pasta (for example) as the gluten free options are so expensive.

Tinned hotdogs were very popular. I know lots of people will be horrified by that but it's cheap protein and easy to heat up.

Small cartons of long-life milk and sugary cereals, Canned/jarred spreads and pate's plus squeezy Primula cheese and oatcakes, Individually wrapped brioche rolls and pan au chocolat, hot chocolate sachets (for warmth), cup a soups, pots of fruit in jelly, pots of custard and rice pudding, dried fruit, fruit cake and moist ginger cakes (usually longer life), breakfast biscuits (Belvita type).

Not all super healthy BUT energy will be needed and sugar is not the enemy when desperate.

Those John West tuna meal pots are great.

1 possible enterprise would be after school 'cooking club'. They could be shown easy recipes, soup, beans on toast, mashed potatoes etc. The charity element would dissappear. Often needy children are also socially isolated, don't want to go home and self conscious about being poor. The stigma around having to get themselves to 'food bank' zone in school can be hard to deal with but joining in a cooking club where they eat the meal they cooked at a table with the other participants and take the left overs home.

Cup a soup, instant mashed potatoes e.g. Idahoan, tinned meat and fish. Fruit juice.

They generally will be on SS radar, however teenagers are the lowest priority in the SS food chain. They don't have the resources to help the babies and young children that are neglected . Your average neglected teen has no chance.

Nuts would be good. Peanut butter, individual packets of nuts.

Lots of families living in temporary accommodation such as hotels only have a kettle.

Even if they have a stove, the need pots, plates, elec to cook it and then to wash the dishes with. I know in this day and age it is horrifying to think people don't have these things but the people I work with genuinely don't!

Or in the even worse case, do have money for these thing but choose not to spend it on it or either children.... we have all seen the cases of neglect!

I think you always had disadvantaged children but as a pp said they would go under the radar like her family did.

What about things like this? Not the best nutrition wise, but warm and resonably filling and don't need to be kept in a fridge. Will need access to a microwave though.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/308110393

I agree. I originally thought you were referring to the poster who mentioned chia seeds etc and was clearly being sarcastic.

I’m not aiming to broaden their culinary horizons. I’m looking for food I know they’ll eat.
Well said OP. It’s also daft to think these teens have had real exposure to decent quality food so they likelihood of them actually enjoying it or even willing to eat it is slim. You’ve had lots of great advice, it’s just so sad to think about kids in this situation.

13 years of the Tories? Austerity?

Packs of crackers, teen ds likes cream crackers or the ritz type ones, he likes them dipped in salsa (you can get shelf stable as well as fresh), but peanut butter would work, if permitted by allergy policy.
Anything where you just add water is a good shout, so pot noodles, but also pot pasta or mash or porridge or cup a soups.
Cereal bars, biscuit bars, individually wrapped cakes / pancakes / croissants / brioche / etc (not technically non perishable but can be v long life and doesn’t need refrigerating), packets of crisps / popcorn / pretzels.
Mini pots of rice pudding, jelly, custard.

=( this is heart breaking.

Aldi do some pot noodle things that are actually nicer then pot noodles ( not the ones that look like dupes theses ones in Asian style tubs and less salt )
They also do something similar but with pastas.

I'm not sure if these have been mentioned previous but cous cous packs, things like graze ( decent protein and my teen loves)

Similar to you OP, I work in a school where over 60% of the kids are in receipt of free school meals. Many of the kids reality is heartbreaking and they absolutely would not have a microwave or probably a functioning cooker. Many live in temporary accommodation or in houses of multiple occupancy where they have a kettle and possible a toaster.

For a 16 year old boy the school lunch is very small but for some this will be the only food they are given that day, alongside a free protein bar for breakfast. Some will have scant food at the weekends. Very few are overweight. Calories in any form are needed, unfortunately nutrition has to come second.

The kids are also susceptible to the same marketing as other kids and any more nutritious or imaginative food will be left unused as they don't know how to eat it or don't like it as its not familiar.

We supply this: Pot noodles, super noodles, brioche/croissant packages, cup a soups, tinned ravioli etc if they have access to a hob or microwave, hot choc powder, biscuits, flavoured rice cakes, crackers, crisps, popcorn, small cereal boxes, uht milk, jerky/cured meat, tinned meat/ fish, malt loaf, sandwich spreads and bread. Dried fruit and nuts, hotdogs.

Nobody takes the piss.

Soon to be 60 yet completely tone deaf.

I agree entirely. With teens, I would prioritise what they'll eat and what all their friends are eating over making sure you're giving them the most nutritious choice. They're not toddlers having a prepared nursery menu.

Pot noodles are great because (assuming access to a kettle) they're hot and the kids like them and will eat them. In winter when it's cold and they're possibly living in cold, damp houses, that's got to be better than nothing.

I'd do a mix of hot (just needs boiling water) and cold (for kids who don't have access to any cooking facilities) -

• Pot noodles/instant pasta pots.
• Packet soups.
• Longlife flavoured milk that doesn't need refrigeration (like Yazoo).
• Individual hot chocolate sachets (the ones that only need hot water).
• Ryvita minis/oatcakes/crackers
• Mini packs of biscuits
• Individually wrapped brioche
• Jam/marmite in individual portions/packs.
• If you're allowed nuts, peanut butter/nutella in individual portion/packs. Also small packs of nuts would make an excellent snack.
• Trail mix/dried fruit packets.
• Individual bags of popcorn.
• Breakfast/muesli bars.

I thought it was generally frowned upon for those with more to use charity as a trojan horse to levy their own values and interests? I don't see why the poorest teenagers have to bear the brunt of this missionary mindset. Give them the bloody pot noodles.

But many teens won't eat a porridge pot while most would eat a pot noodle.

Give them what their friends are having.

I don't think your average person has any idea how difficult it is to get any ongoing involvement from children's social care services for families. I recently attended a training event with other school Safeguarding Leads from all over the country and so many were talking about how schools are being expected to plug the gaps left by services that no longer exist or whose resources are hugely depleted. The thresholds for SS are so high now, unless there is a direct disclosure of physical or sexual abuse, the expectation is that schools will manage the situation. We are supporting families 'in house' who would absolutely have had an allocated social worker a few years ago. People also don't realise that in all but the most serious of cases, involvement with SS is voluntary. Parent's don't have to engage with them, and many don't want to.

Some of these comments! Wow!

In answer to your actual question, items needs to be quick, easy and portable.

Pasta Pots
Rice Pots
Noodle Pots
Cereal Bars
Crackers
Yoghurt covered raisins and the like
Dried Fruits such as Raisins, Apricots, Banana Chips
Bagels
Croissants
Brioche
Cake Bars
Biscuits
Fruit Pots

Anything that requires nothing but hot water to prepare.

I think there was more 'direct action', so if a family knew another family or child was struggling they would invite the child for evening meals or pack extra in a packed lunch for their child to share. We certainly did with a couple of children I knew and they would always go home with a packet of biscuits as well. But this is now frowned on and viewed as interfering and help has to be from the state or at least formal.