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?

Tin Can Cook I think it's called, it's a great little book, I bought it 🙂
Think it was being given out at Foodbanks at one point as well.
Some great recipes using tins in there.

On a slightly different note - where I live it's quite hard to donate food to the food bank. It's only open for donations at very limited times. You can donate in most supermarkets but I'd feel weird walking IN with something. I donate when I go to Sainsbury to shop (I usually buy some "free from" stuff like gluten or dairy free) or I donate cash.

If I had a few random things I'd put them on Olio.

(I love quinoa, I have it with veg curry instead of rice, to increase protein and make it more filling. It only takes ten minutes to boil, I like the multi coloured type)

There are vegans who use food banks that would appreciate this. It's a complete protein I think.

Never thought to put squash in, will put some in next time

Post it on a local free site.
I belong to a mamas page and often there are posts from people who have done a pantry clear out. It's always snapped up quickly.

Erm, vast swathes of the world? They’re western foods. I’m sure you could find places that cater for the western palate in many countries but chips and sandwiches are not a worldwide staple.

It's somewhat amusing the number of people claiming quinoa is a well-known staple and then giving the instructions for cooking couscous.

Also it's not snobbish to recognise that the circumstances that might lead someone to a food bank are likely to intersect with those that lead to people having a narrower diet. Not true for everyone, certainly, but many.

I'd hazard that the majority of people in the UK have never cooked quinoa and the proportion significantly greater amongst food bank users.

So you can't name a country where they don't eat chips and sandwiches then.

Or is it a bit like British people don't eat foreign foods like curry, pizza or pasta?

There are a lot of former UK and french colonies where these things are staples. And just look at the distribution of McDonald's restaurants (no these are not just catering to western tourists)

Do you really think that chips and sandwiches are eaten in every country of the world? I could name many countries across Asia and Africa, but I’m sure you’ll pop up with an establishment in an airport that sells a derivative of a sandwich and claim HAHA, told you so! Have you travelled around Asia and Africa? Chips and sandwiches are not staples (which was the original point made, that chips and sandwiches are worldwide universally eaten foods). It really isn’t worth getting het up about.

Our local food bank publicise that they are desperate for donations, and they are, but nonetheless they have donations that don't get used fast.

It really reflects whats desired by their user base. There can be religious and cultural factors.

They also get a lot of what middle class/affluent people with easy access to cooking facilities regard as nutritious inexpensive versatile ingredients (dried beans & lentils etc) when a lot of their client base can't manage cooking, can't afford electric/gas to cook, or have no equipment.

They list preferred items for a reason. Its sad really.

100% this.

Quinoa can be a pain to cook. I wouldn't donate it for that reason but not any other

Our local food bank can't take things like quinoa, it needs to be ready simple food that people know and can cook, they won't even take chickpeas.

Dried chickpeas take a lot of cooking using fuel many can't afford. Most of the clients who come to the Foodbank where I volunteer don't even want tinned pulses except baked beans.

I was referring to tins, but yes, I think this is common because people want food they know and understand, not new stuff they're kids might not like.

Which is ironic as in many developing countries - lentils and beans are staples. Facilities aside, first gen immigrants tend to have better cooking skills than people born here. What is acceptable depends very much on the user base. In my local London foodbank tins of lentils and beans are fine, as are packets of ready cooked quinoa.

How is it a pain to cook? You simply boil it for ten to fifteen minutes in a pan on the stove (I guess it could also be microwaved). Quicker than rice or potatoes, bit longer than pasta. You do need a sieve really though as it's hard to gauge the water right.

I then use it as an accompaniment for curry, or casserole. Or I mix some harissa in and have it with roasted veg, maybe as a side to some fish.

Do you have quick cook quinoa or something? I find it takes twice as long as rice or pasta and 6 times longer than cous cous.

Twice as long as rice? Are you cooking it to sludge?

It takes 10-15 mins.

@Negroany I'm a decent cook and I've never managed to cook the bloody thing properly 😂

I've never heard of quick cook quinoa, so no. It's ten to fifteen minutes on the hob.

Odd you say "twice as long as rice or pasta" when rice already takes twice as long as pasta anyway! I cook rice for about twenty minutes (but I use brown rice so does take a bit longer), pasta is more like 8-10. Quinoa is 10-15. Admittedly cous cous is less, about five or six, but if you think quinoa takes six times as long as cous cous you'd be cooking it over half an hour which would just turn it to gloop.

Where I used to live our local food bank had a list of things it needed and requested that people stick to the list, simply because they didn't have much storage space. Quinoa definitely wasn't on it. It might be worth seeing what you can find out about how your bank operates. Some make up bags; some exchange for vouchers. Where I live now, there are food banks but we also have a set of shelves in a community area where people can leave anything they think others might like/ can make use of. In your shoes, that's where I would put the quinoa. However, I can't see myself being in your shoes and having cupboards full of in date food that I just don't want.

As an aside, I've put some squash (cordial) in the Foodbank collection when I went to the shop tonight on the back of a previous poster on here saying they remember not being able to have it as a kid as not enough money spare from parents to have it

Why haven't you used it? Nor seem likely to in immediate future?
If ,lord forbid, you was ever on a mission to survive (off foodbank essentials) would you punch the air n go ...yes,my children - we shall feast tonight....(?) Is high chance wee " kwin -oah "be in future school intake rolls... Tbh

I'm a bit amazed at how much interest this topic as generated, but really I shouldn't be, as people either feel passive about the banks existing or they feel passionately about the dire need for them, especially so post-pandemic.

It seems in the UK that most users are either homeless, or in such need of being able to feed their family, that they have go to the food banks.

In some places the guy that serves you your Starbucks, is on the food bank.
The woman who works 2 jobs, who has a choice: feed her family or pay the rent.
A wait staff person or an employee at your favourite fast food place; could very well be regular visitors to the local food bank.

Many people who are from different cultures with different diets, especially in those cities that are very large, and very diverse, would appreciate a donation of, for instance, Quinoa.
That's why I replied early upthread that OP should donate the quinoa and other two items she had that she questioned what to do with.