To donate quinoa to the food bank?

[RaisinFlapjack]

I realise there’s no way this won’t sound like the most guardian-reading middle-class question ever so I’m just going to own it.

i’m clearing out my cupboards before Xmas and I have a fair amount of in-date jars tins and packets which are taking up space.

Ibwas thinking of bagging it up for the food bank but while I’ve got some staples like tinned tomatoes and rice pudding which are more typically on the food-bank wish lists, some of it more along the lines of rocket pesto and polenta.

Is getting random bits like that at all useful for food banks or does it create a bit of headache or at worst get thrown out?

I was thinking along these lines too. It's not that people using food banks wouldn't know what to do with less mundane ingredients, it's whether that would be anyone's choice and it'll just be shifting an unwanted item to the food bank.

A friend volunteers in a food bank and often asks around if anyone wants something that they can't get rid of - huge boxes of powdered milk at their best before, and a catering box of dried rosemary spring to mind.

It wasn't a silly or snobbish question to ask, it's a practical consideration.

Those saying contact the food bank...

Is it really the best use of a stretched volunteers time, answering mundane queries when a generic post somewhere like Mumsnet has provided a useful answer?

Pesto stired in to frozen veg, mash potato on top and baked with grated cheese on the top is a great meal!
Quinoa makes some great desserts with few ingredients.

Not read the full thread but there's a very funny foodbank episode of Fags, Mags & Bags on BBC Sounds called Chickpea Landslide - which covers this very topic.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b07753hg

If they have the vegetables and cheese. They won't get fresh or frozen veg or cheese from a foodbank. There isn't the storage.

Polenta is gluten free, so could be useful for coeliac needing food parcels for whom pasta and noodles won't do?

Tell me you’ve never left the UK without telling me you’ve never left the UK

Or been on MN long. Round here everyone lives on organic protein, blueberries and massive salads.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall should a Mumsnetter fall on sufficiently hard times to need the assistance of a food bank to observe their reaction to being presented with a bag of spam, tinned carrots, own brand pot noodles, crackers, custard creams and canned soup.

My dad was a striking miner in the 1980s and I remember when German and Polish miners' welfare organisations sent us food parcels, in particular packs of long life rye bread and cans of liver pate. No it wasn't to our taste or what we were used to, but it was gratefully accepted because it was food that we could use to stretch the little money that was coming into the house from DMs part time wage

Oh this message has made my day.
im the person in my store who makes these up every week and tries to promote them.
thank you so much for supporting us, it really is such a vital part of our community 😁

It's not that people using food banks wouldn't know what to do with less mundane ingredients

I'm not sure that's likely to be entirely true - many people grow up without exposure to a diverse range of food and cooking opportunities - maybe because they live in a 'food desert'. Maybe they can't afford to experiment with unfamiliar foods. Maybe their main concern is food that is filling and satisfying on a budget. Maybe they don't see other people eating unfamiliar foods. Maybe they're dealing with other stressors that means it's not a priority.

Oh come on.... Tell me somewhere that doesn't eat fried potatoes or food with some sort of bread...

Actually a lot of foodbanks do give out fresh stuff, we buy in bread, eggs, cheese, spread and veg each day. There is obviously a limit with storage though although it all goes usually . The fresh stuff is always greatly appreciated by our lovely clients :)

@CaptainMyCaptain many food projects partner with surplus redistribution charities like Fareshare. This week we will offer people tinned beans, tinned tomatoes, pasta, rice, milk/OJ, bread, some sort of treat item, lettuce, onions, cabbage, carrots, bananas, oranges, and some fridge/dairy item I can’t remember. Plus as @TwinklyMoose says, we sometimes use our own funds for eggs etc. It’s not unusual.

(And we have banks of fridges/freezers - again not unusual in a single-use premises, more unusual in church halls and similar.)

The one I volunteer for can't store much in the way of fresh food. We only have a few donated things occasionally that we put on the pick your own table. There is a community kitchen in the area where you can pay a small subscription and buy food very cheaply but I've never visited and don't know what they have.

Many of our clients are street homeless or living in emergency accommodation, hostels or B&B and wouldn't have anywhere to keep fresh food.

That isn’t what you said though is it?

Our homeless and others with no cooking facilities can’t take most veg or eggs but they do appreciate the fruit and often the bread.
This is a really good thread as it has shown how all foodbanks are different and that the op question was a valid one.
Also , from one volunteer to another I hope the Christmas period at your foodbank runs smoothly as it is always a very busy time

Chips and sandwiches are pretty much universal foods. To imply otherwise is ridiculous.

Cringing for you at your stupid comment

Bread and potatoes in some format, usualy with things on them or in them are a staple around at least half of the world.

In most of Europe at least you are viewed as a bit of an odd bod if you dont eat bread or fried potatoes in some format

To you, in the U.K. My original point stands…

Cringing at your lack of comprehension of what was said by the pp and the clear implication (and the irony)
And the fact that your world view is ‘Europe’ proves the point entirely…

I’m involved with a number of Foodbanks in London. We would definitely take it. Our clients are given a balanced set of food for 3 days worth of meals and are asked what they would like in each category. Quinoa would be in with the staples - rice, pasta, couscous etc. It’s their choice - no one would have quinoa foisted on them against their will and absolutely there will be people who know how to cook it and will appreciate it.

So yes - please and thank you!

They eat sandwiches in Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas...

They also eat chips in those places too...

And in the US, south America, Asia, Africa
.. they eat sandwiches and chips too you know.

If people are hungry and desperate for food they tend to eat most things OP.