To think food banks aren’t fit for purpose

[ForFirmBiscuit]

I don’t need to use a food bank but when I did they gave me tins of soup, a small tin of meat pie, a litre of UHT and a small bag of oats, nothing fresh. I didn’t get much and I was really hungry as there wasn’t enough calories and it was insubstantial. It gave me loads of anxiety to be so hungry. It’s always been like that.
I think food banks should be supplied by the council and given proper budgets for good food, even if they made batches of soup themselves to give out it would be more filling than a tin of soup

Storing and distributing fresh food is much more challenging than distributing tinned and packaged food 🙁🤷‍♀️

but then the government would be funding food banks, and of course they don't want to do that. the reason so many foodbanks have opened in the last decade is because of the current government. they're happy for their policies to necessitate the opening of so many foodbanks, stocked by private donations.

Surely the answer isn’t better food banks!

The need for them should be properly addressed at source and eradicated.
Not that it will happen, obviously 🙄

Council tax would have to increase to cover this additional cost as the budgets are so tight already. Could mean more people struggling then needing food banks

Well councils are skint they can't be supplying food banks because they have no money a foodbank isn't a supermarket they can only give you what they have.

The COLC closed down the foodbank I volunteered with we did give our fresh food and fruit etc. But we had to close because lack of funds nowhere has any money. Even the big ones are struggling to stay open far less smaller community ones. It's a sad state of affairs that people are hungry and have nowhere to go.

It’s shameful that there are food banks at all, and if there is a need (as there is a need, no if sadly) then yes of course they should be properly funded.

But UHT milk and oats is a decent breakfast - what was the issue there? That the portion was too small?

The food bank that I’m in network for has fresh food. I’m a volunteer who collects from the local Co-op end of day and then drops to foodbank next morning. As the PP says, storage is an issue.

Some Mps and councillors think foodbanks are wonderful helping the community etc etc. Without a hint of irony I heard a local Mp say this.

Politically, neither central nor local government is going to fund a foodbank as it admits they've got other policies wrong, which they wont do. Being cynical you could say its a lot better than other alternatives and is kind of a last option. Those community grocery schemes on the other hand seem to offer a greater range at a low cost.

Food banks shouldn't have to exist. It is the welfare state that is not fit for purpose.

I've said YABU but primarily because the solution to food banks being inadequate is to eradicate the need for them, not make them better.

Also foodbanks big or local are only there to supply a few meals to get by which is what you got OP of course you shouldn't be hungry but tins of soup and meat is sustainable food.

Exactly! I'm laughing at the premise that food banks aren't fit for purpose. The government isn't fit for purpose fgs!

This is a controversial view but I have volunteered for a foodbank and worked closely with a provider organisation that supplies them, community cafes, homeless shelters, etc and I think the provision is spread too thinly as some people access help at far too low a threshold so those who have no back up still don't have enough.
It's great that visiting these organisations no longer has the stigma attached that it used to but it does allow for those in very small need to access help along with those in great need who then don't get enough.

I'm sorry to hear you had to use a foodbank OP. As a society, we need to work together to eradicate the need for them. I hope you're in a better situation now.

I think that shelf stable ie non refrigerated foods are given out because the chances are the person won't have a fridge or much more than a kettle.

You might find a 'community fridge/pantry' will have more fresh produce, this type of enterprise does not require referaal from an agency or voucher system you just turn up and pop the stuff in your bag. It's more to do with reducing food waste.

I am sorry, going hungry stays with you [hug]

It's sad actually that food banks have become so normal this OP doesn't even question the existence of them.

Government deliberately doesn't fund food banks. It's a way for them to save money by making charities do their job for them.

The question is why do we even have food banks?
I don't remember them being a thing in the 70s, 80s and 90s but poverty isn't new it's always been a thing and benefits were around then too.

What's changed?

A hell of a lot unfortunately. Im sure there'll be many many posts discussing this.

Ah yeah Rees-Mogg I think said it was so uplifting to see so many food banks… as it showed people coming together!! So so so out of touch!

I'm sure he said that on television ! They have not a clue although I think his food just magically arrives at his table without a thought of where it came from.

That's generous 😊

What we need to do it reverse the last 14 years. Never vote in the Tories. Have decent wages, affordable housing, good support for the vulnerable, good childcare, no Brexit, a strong economy, more green, cheap electricity and much better standard of living.

I think what you are after is a soup kitchen, not a food bank. And plenty of places have both.

Did we vote them in?

Our local church runs our food bank. There's no way they'd have room to store fresh food. I understand what you're saying, but in no way are the government ever going to subsidise them. They're run by volunteers mostly , far as I understand, who will take what they can store from people who donate to them out of the goodness of their hearts, so people who use them at least have something to eat. What would you have done without your local food bank? Had nothing to eat at all..