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

Food banks shouldn't exist. Ours opened under the last labour government in 2009. I dread to think what is coming.

I do t believe those statistics. I volunteered for a Church food bank in a small town in the south East in 2010 and there were 4 other food banks in our town at the time.

I don’t doubt there’s infinite more now however.

They can only give you what people donate to them.

Food banks don't do fresh food. There's no facilities.

Not all food banks are the same and are dependent on donations. I'm assuming you regularly donate OP?

Plus this smells like a pre election thing.

I look forward to most of them closing down then under Labour. Labour will pay for all fresh food for the whole nation from the magic money tree they have hidden according to their supporters. Oh except they won’t and can’t. Oh well nothing to do with conservatives and everything to do with food banks gaining traction and less shame around using them.

I think if I couldn’t afford food I’d be happy for anything I was given.

It’s an absolute disgrace that food banks exists at all. That’s the things you should be doing your AIBU about.

I volunteer in a local Foodbank . We are fortunate in that local people and stores donate generously and we fundraise but it is still hard to keep up with demand .
Fresh food is an issue due to storage however we are sometimes given a box of apples or potatoes so include them BUT most of the people we deal with want quick meals that don’t use a lot of electricity to make !
That’s not a criticism it’s a fact .
We do provide a cup of tea and hot roll or a bowl of soup if we have funds but it’s not always possible . We also offer benefit advice .

Exactly.

Wages should be sufficient to live on and even benefits should buy the basics.

The biggest problem I see is lack of affordable housing. Cheap secure housing is needed rather than extortionate temporary private rentals.

Foodbanks have to comply with the food standard agency protocols to ensure all food entering chains intended for human consumption is fit to eat. The checks needed to ensure fresh food is safe are a tad fun. Being able to track and log all donated fresh food even more so. Add in the extra costs of refrigeration and you begin to understand why charitable community food banks rely on tins and dry goods. Local Pantry’s are the next step up from food banks. They behave like a coop where you pay a small subscription and can choose from a range of fresh foods. the subscription helps towards the storage and food safety training of volunteers.
All food banks rely on donated food. they can only give out what they have and it’s only ever enough for two to three days as an emergency. The cost of living crisis has hit many families who were just about coping before. There is now greater demand, less donations and an increase in real need to have access to one scratch meal a day. TBH I wish all politicians were made to spend six months living on the income they think is adequate for those in the lowest earning groups and for those with little choice but to access benefits. Then they might be willing to admit there is such a thing as food poverty and poverty in general.

They are run in church halls principally by volunteers, the food is donated- shelf stable means easy storage by the food bank and those collecting. I don't think you realise how they are organised so yabu.

It's emergency food waiting for benefits or wages not a substitute for the supermarket. In my experience the main reason our clients are using the one I'm helping to support are budgeting issues, I know because I'm a debt councillor! Waiting for first uc payment is the other common theme. You get 3 days worth of food, it's a short term fix. It's very eye opening working in a food bank because it wasn't quite the clients i would have expected.

I run a food bank in a rural district, so we deliver most of our parcels to clients as often they are simply unable to visit one of our hubs due to a terrible public transport system and lack of car or funds to run theirs (fuel, not passing MOT and needing repairs etc.). In addition, we provide food for those who only have access to a kettle (e.g. being temporarily housed in a hotel due to fleeing domestic violence - which is quite a common reason for needing our support), or no heating facilities at all. We also have to take into consideration the cost of heating items - for example, it is much cheaper to heat a tin of potatoes, which are precooked, in the microwave than it is to boil raw potatoes (some of our clients cannot afford to put their gas on, or have been cut off).

We do not have the facilities to store chilled food, and fresh food goes off relatively quickly even when chilled, so we would end up binning items that we have an excess of (using veg as an example, we often get offered lots at harvest time). We also don't have a refrigerated vehicle to deliver it (we would need at least one vehicle per hub).

So we strike a balance of supplying 7-days worth of food (size of parcel dependent on the size of the household), which is ambient so it can be stored easily by both us and the client without the need for refrigeration, a mixture of easily cooked or heated food, or food that doesn't require any heating if necessary, the majority of which has good nutritional value - there are also some treats included such as desserts, biscuits and some chocolate.

When funds allow (and we really don't like stopping these but do on occasion), we provide each client with a voucher for a local shop along with their parcel so they can purchase some fresh food. We also work closely with our local foodshare who run across the district every week redistributing fresh food to the public that would otherwise go into landfill. They are amazing, but aren't a substitute for a food bank as their stock quantity and variety is dependent on availability, is all fresh and often has a short use by date and, as their motivation is reducing food waste, is available to anyone so can go very quickly.

We can only provide our service if we receive the donations of both the food itself of funds to purchase it. And these are dwindling across the country. As are the availability of grants. We are currently haemorrhaging money.

We want the government to focus on guaranteeing the essentials are covered by universal credit rather than redirecting public money to food banks. If you google essentials guarantee you will find out more about the campaign that Trussell Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation are currently running. We honestly do not want to exist and I would be genuinely happy if I was made redundant due to there being no more need for our services.

Thank you @inigomontoyahwillcox for what you do

It is obscene that your efforts are needed

It is interesting how little many understand of the position of others

@LlamaTwirl

Actually not true, people had relatively less money in the past and food was a larger part of budget. BUT people carried far less debt, that's the real problem, and people had less, everyone had less - no mobile phones costing hundreds, no streaming services, one car per household max, not everyone even had a landline, I'm not begrudging people things but the poverty in the past was worse and we all expected less, communities helped each other. Food banks as a concept came from America

You have a point, while the purpose of a food bank is to prevent starvation, not provide a nice meal, I do think there is an issue providing food that must be cooked or heated in order to eat, or refrigerated in order to stay safe to eat.

Many going to food banks have been kicked off the grid- it’s called “self-disconnected” when really it means their PAYG metre has run out of credit and their utilities have been shut off. (Only water can’t be shut off). They have no electric or gas and so cannot make oatmeal, cannot refrigerate milk, cannot heat up a tin of soup. No fridge so would have to eat a meat pie as they leave the food bank.

The fact we have so many food banks is a national disgrace as it shows how many people have food insecurity and suffer from hunger.

Hope you are okay, being hungry and not being able to afford to eat is a horrific feeling ❤️

I think it's a bit naff to be complaining about the food you received, they're a charity and as others have explained its cery hard to distribute fresh food. Especially as they are run by volunteers.

What would you like to eat? Apps like Olio or too good to go are good in the evenings for fresh food.

I do understand where you are coming from, not being able to buy food is a horrible feeling and there are lots of feelings surrounding (using foodbanks can feel quite dehumanising for some❤️)

Hope things get better for you xx

I am part of a Church based food bank and understand what you are saying.

Ideally we shouldn't exist - but there is a need that shouldn't be ignored.

Ours came out of a pre-covid, pre cost of living initiative to offer a hot meal once a week for those with a need. No questions asked.

Its developed and grown. We positioned ourselves below the established food bank - also Church based. We aim to supply those with emergency and sudden needs.

We buy in some food, accept random donations, have donations from supermarkets and a local baker, and have some money from the council. (Morrisons customers have been particularly kind)

Due to the unpredictability of demand we can't do fresh food unless we have a gift of short dated fresh fruit/veg/bread - which would be included if available.

We have tried to give away healthy options - beans, pulses etc but much has been returned/declined.

Many do not have cooking equipment/skills/knowledge to produce much more than a warmed up meal.

We have offered cookery classes but a significant number of our users have MH problems and can't get out/live a distance away/have mobility problems.

We adapt our packages to suit vegetarian, vegan, halal, coeliac etc but we can't put together a package as if we are Ocado.

Offering homemade soup, in a emergency food package, would be good but fraught with problems. However we do offer a hot meal, cake, soup in the Church 5 days/week.

We, like many other food banks, are run by volunteers - 99% are polite, grateful etc but we have had grief + wrong number calls ordering drugs, thinking we are their dealer.

Initially we allowed 1 pack/week. Some needed this but others were taking the mick (and also using other banks too.) We couldn't cope/get enough food in.

We went to every 2 weeks and now to every 6 weeks.

None of this is a good or ideal situation - lots of things should have been done in the past but we are working in the present.

I've had to use one once, around 5 years ago, I think it was. I was grateful for the help, we had literally nothing but I agree with OP in that what we did get wasn't anything we could do much with. The kids were pleased that biscuits and sweets were included (as extras - the staff said they get a lot of biscuits).

The rest was stuff you couldn't/wouldn't usually make a full meal from eg a Fray Bentos pie, tinned potatoes, tinned pasta. We did also get some milk and cereal but there wasn't any bread. The kids got a couple of lunches from it. I went hungry as there just wasn't enough or anything of any quality.

I don't blame the food bank, I understand they can only give what they get but for families who have to rely on them, it is not enough, not even near, although I live in quite a deprived area where most people don't have anything left to give. I don't know what the answer is, other than to increase wages and benefits so they are not needed anymore. You can't force people to donate and if the government funded them I'd rather see that money be given to people as cold, hard cash so they have a choice over what they eat and can cater to allergies and preferences.

Ever since I've always made a point to donate what I would have liked to have whenever I have any spare money eg pasta, tinned toms, kidney beans, tinned fruit and custard, bread, etc. things you can actually put together in a halfway decent meal.

You forgot the #1 household expense- rent. Rent was a much larger % of income then as well as food. It’s not phones, cars, or TVs that have made the difference, it’s decades of real wages shrinking and housing costs outpacing inflation. There isn’t much statistics published, but rent has increased more in real terms than have house prices.

Less than two years ago, 30 Nov 2022, the average house in the UK cost around nine-times average earnings. This was a record high for 150 years because the last time house prices were this expensive relative to average earnings was in the year 1876. This has eased a bit, but the average house price is still 7 times average wages. First chart from
https://www.schroders.com/en-gb/uk/individual/insights/what-174-years-of-data-tell-us-about-house-price-affordability-in-the-uk/

The overall cost of living since just 1992 has far outpaced the increase in wages, see second chart. Key points
Inflation reached an average of 9.1% in 2022.
Petrol cost 30% more in 2022 compared to 2021 on average.
In 2023, UK electricity prices are up 150% compared to a base price in 1992. Annual average real earnings increased by just under 4% from 2021 to 2022.
At the average house price of £294,329 in 2023, UK residents would be able to buy 5 houses in 1992 and have around £20,000 left over.
In 2023, the average price for a pint of milk is £0.69 compared to £0.44 in 2019 and £0.34 in 1992.

Source: https://www.finder.com/uk/mortgages/historical-price-tracker
Analysis conducted by finder.com

Don't worry everyone, In a few weeks time the Labour Government will make them redundant with high wages and generous allowances so we can all buy fresh nutritious food.
Sir Keir and his colleagues tell us.

@foodybanky I think you have to accept the good with the bad you are always going to get ungratefuls or people just taking advantage. I'm sorry your service is tapering off there just isn't the resources sanymore is there ?

I don’t think I’ve ever read anything so entitled and ungrateful about a charity running on donations. The people helping you are volunteers. Fml.

I used one a few years ago and it was wonderful. Bread, fruit, veg, yes tins but cereal, some chocolate things too. Pasta, toiletries. It was alot of good things!

Sir Keir really isn't telling everyone it will all be OK in a few weeks. It will take a long time to clear up the mess left by this Government.

No they shouldn't be supplied by the council.

They shouldn't be needed in the first place.

The government should ensure fair wages and a fair benefits system that gets people into work.

Meanwhile they are run by charities and the gist of storing fresh food is too high.

Theres nothing wrong with tinned food, Ive just said this on another thread, its not fashionable, seen as old school and boring but its cheap, convenient and filling. A tin of soup is a convenient lunch, ideally with something else but not necessarily