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

I would rather people were given supermarket vouchers for £20 when absolutely necessary and not to be used on alcohol or fags -you might decide a chicken, cereal, milk ,some veg, and some sausages could last you 3 or 4 days

Foodbanks are staffed by volunteers and food is donated. Where is the £20 coming from?

But who’s funding that? Food banks are charities.

Also when do you cut people off. What if the same person is coming for their £20 every week or every fortnight.

also like the covid school vouchers. People sold them to get around the booze and fags issue.

It's not such an out there idea @cupcaske123 - it's called a "cash first" approach and there are a few places trialling it.

We as a food bank do have some buying power / cash, just that at the moment we're not handing it out in £20 notes!

I think projects like the big fridge are great - they collect surplus food from shops - anybody can donate to ours. But that is more about reducing food waste
Food banks are different- they provide help to a variety of people in various situations - some people using them will not have access to a cooker or fridge and if they do may not always be able to afford to use them

We need better policies that do away with the need for food banks not better food banks

I depends on the food bank and when this was, I think many have developed during this COL crisis, bur fresh food presents quite a challenge for organisers.

My (elderly, but not in need) parents live near a food bank volunteer and she is always giving them parcels of fresh food that woukd otherwise be thrown away.

I don't think what you got sounds too awful. Living on porridge long term would be miserable, but for a day or two, it's decent enough food.

If course the main issue is that food banks are needed at all.

I don't think this would work for a number of reasons, many of which have been covered.

On a practical level,
does the premises have suitable facilities to store, prepare and cook the food?
Then you need someone to prepare it - more time-cost and responsibility on volunteers.

Then how are you transporting it?
Who's buying and storing the containers needed? What if theres some left, where is that stored and who monitors that?

The current system is far from perfect and is already under strain. Asking more from volunteers is probably going to put more people off getting involved. At the moment the current way means lots of people can add donations to their shopping and leave at the supermarket. All stuff that will be safe to eat if the food bank doesn't collect until the next day or the day after. And can be stored in a room without a fridge or freezer. I don't think people preparing meals from fresh ingredients is going to work on the large scale its needed, unfortunately.

Thank you ! As a volunteer of many years , I was starting to feel a bit dispirited about some of the comments on here .
We do our best ! At our Foodbank there is a f/ t paid member of staff and another p/t paid person but the rest of us volunteer . We organise fundraisers , we chat to service users as well as sorting out donations .
The vast majority of people appreciate the help however there is a sizeable minority who come in and are critical about what we can offer , ask for money instead and are generally a bit unpleasant. We make allowances for MH problems , stress , hunger etc but it can be hard when we are doing our best .
we can only give out what is donated.
As for @ForFirmBiscuit ‘s suggestion that we cook batches of food to hand out ! Who will cook it ? Where ? .

I was born 78 I had never even heard of food banks back then. The only food I remember getting free was butter from the Salvation Army butter mountain. The queue used to be huge. Back then food donated for our harvest festival was put in hampers and donated to the elderly in our community. Now it's donated to food banks.

So you're suggesting that people only donate money and it's distributed to those most in need. Do foodbanks take over handing out vouchers instead of food? I'm interested in how this works.

Councils used to do a discretionary award of a food basket as well, dunno if still in place. It was basically a ne off shopping bundle for free if you met the criteria.

Doesn't there need to be a balance between, emergency help and good stuff you can have when you've spent all your benefits on other stuff?

Surely it's only intended to be something to tide you over for a few days in an emergency, in which case anything would be gratefully received?

It's a tragedy that people need the help, but I'm not sure we should create a situation where going to a foodbank is a good option?

Many councils have crisis funds but there are regulations on who can use them and how often you can apply.

It's not something I'm suggesting, it's something that a few places in the UK are trialling. If you Google "cash first approach" you'll find examples. Yes, it can involve food banks handing out vouchers or literally cash. I doubt that it'd be taking in public donations and then distributing them in cash; more likely schemes like this would be council funded or private grant-giving body funded.

My (elderly, but not in need) parents live near a food bank volunteer and she is always giving them parcels of fresh food that woukd otherwise be thrown away.

This is an issue we have. We receive about a tonne a week - a Transit van - of fresh produce which is in a good state but won't keep til the week after. A big part of my job is a) allocating it properly so the cooks get ingredients, hostel-dwellers get easy meals etc etc and b) dealing with the rest. We are quite good at it now but yes, some weeks there are leftovers. I went home with a bag of courgettes and lettuce last week, as did every volunteer who'd take some. If it's not in an edible state it goes to the local allotment for composting - and they swap me for herbs etc that we can then offer.

Who’s going to do the food preparation, OP? Food banks are generally staffed by volunteers. Who’ll pay for the electricity/gas needed to cook these meals?

If you have the time and resources to do this, perhaps volunteer at your local food bank.

Imo the crux of the issue that the OP has raised is that food banks used to be about crisis response - you had an emergency, the food parcel would tide you over. And for three days you'd be fine (if nothing more) with porridge, a tinned pie etc. But we're now talking about chronic need, where there are people who don't have enough buying power to use the shops week after week. And that needs a different approach.

I also understand cash first initiatives to be implemented by local government.

Benefits?

Surely that’s where the local community fridges and the things like olio are picking up the slack.

If you did all of those I mean you’d not need to do much shopping tbh.

We have three community fridges on different days locally all free, then a paid one £4.50 a week for like a shopping trolly of food including fresh meat/milk/fruit and veg/cereal/cheese ect

Then olio volunteers pick up from from nearly all the supermarkets every day. Again anything from meat, crisps, fruit, veg, veggie “meat”, breads, pastries, donuts etc

There are so many places to actually get food know if you know where to look and basically not picky.

This is a good explanation of why/how benefits can fall short:

https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2024-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk

Most of their work is excellent, imo, if you want to dig into the issue.

Basically what we are seeing is people in work, let alone on benefit, who just cannot afford enough decent food for themselves and their families. It isn't a "should I buy a bottle of Jack or should I get a shop in" it's people really cutting everything they can and still going underwater financially.

Thanks

'Meadowfinch · Today 00:08

Yabu.

Food banks couldn't operate with fresh food. The waste would be enormous. They can only work with foods that have a reasonably long shelf life and that don't require refrigeration - tins & jars, porridge oats, UHT milk, pasta, coffee, tea.'

Actually food banks can and do operate with fresh produce. The one where I live always has fresh produce, not a great selection but fresh non the less. They also have what they call a grab and go lunch bag which usually contains a sandwich or slice of pizza, a drink, piece of fruit or fruit cup and a snack like a granola bar.

Not if their living in a Travelodge with no cooking facilities. What are they ment to do? One documentary I watched about a family evicted after the dad lost his job. The teenage daughter was told to put a tin of beans on a radiator before she left for school. So when she got back it was warm to eat. She did have to eat it out the can but at least she was fed.

Don't worry, OP.

Labour will get in next week and then food banks will magically disappear and not be needed anymore.

But in answer to your original question, the Government does provide free food. It's called "benefits"

Sometimes it's easier to blame "user error" than address a problem with a system.

Easier to assume people are getting priorities wrong or spending unwisely than calculate whether that is a realistic amount to live on.

See also - the post office

See also - NHS missed appointments - lots of appointments are missed due to NHS inefficiency or patients unwilling or unable to wait eg 1.5 hrs after their apt time...but it's easier to say its all down to patients not bothering to turn up