Foodbank buying items from shops?

[girlfriend44]

I always thought that foodbanks were given out of date stock when I saw them collecting from shops and supermarkets.
I have now found out they buy items from certain retailers at a reduced price.
They put orders in. Where does the money come from to purchase?
Also they have vans, which cost money in petrol etc.
Anyone else think the same, never realised they were collecting stuff they had ordered in. I thought it was donated to them?÷

People donate money to foodbanks so that food can be bought to give to people. I thought everyone knew that, the Trussell Trust for example is a charity well supported by many. They receive food donations but are not always going to have exactly what is needed so have to buy. They do not take out of date tins and packets, anything like that which is donated is thrown away - the last thing they need is for people to get food poisoning from what they are given.

I use out of date food - its easy, because I have a big chest freezer so I can save stuff, I can repurpose stuff like take the salad out of sandwiches and freeze them without it, or cook up a batch of something thats about to go out of date, then freeze it.

I have a healthy store cupboard full of spices and flavourings, so if my TGTG box has a glut of something or a random selection of something, I can make a curry or a chilli or use it to pad out some batch cooking or make soup.

I also have time, working from home and a partner who is my carer who is here all the time, to run around collecting TGTG bags and batch cooking to make use of short dated and random stuff.

I also managed to afford a whole load of dishes that can go from freezer to microwave or airfryer, they werent cheap!

Someone using a foodbank may have none of that, they may be working all the hours that exist for nowhere near enough money and running around after kids, and trying to cook with none of the basic staples, none of the luxury extras, no vast chest freezer. Maybe they haven't had the benefit of learning to cook from a parent who could cook either.

Making use of short dated/past date stuff is great, but it isn't something everyone can do, it is something some of us may choose to do.

? I've been to food banks and they definitely get a lot of stuff that is going out of date. Most of the food where I went was on the turn, that's how they got it.

I make a donation every month to our local food bank. They have running costs - lime a van - that they need to be able to meet.

Food banks can't give out, out of date or short date food, they may get given it but it tends to end up being binned. I can't give out, out of date food at work when I run competitions etc. It's no different at a food bank.

Taken from Trussell Trust website
"We can only give out food that is in date, so please no out of date or very near its expiry date."

Someone will also do a stock check and keep a list of what they are running low on, what they don't need etc. They will then rotate stock in the store so they know what needs giving out first.

They can also recieve grants from local councils (ours did but it got stopped when we changed political parties) and local companies very often donate money, so they can buy fresh food. We have lots of large UK Hqs in our area who actively donate money weekly and at Christmas and Easter send in massive donations.

@girlfriend44 and dont forget to also add toothpaste, toothbrushes, dog food, baby milk powder and nappies to your donations.

I can only talk for my local one. They are mainly a community shop so obviously they buy and sell food.

I have a monitor on my TV that documents the adverts I watch, in return I can choose from various vouchers, the vouchers are worth about £10 a month.

I don't need them at the moment so I asked if they were useful to the community shop. They asked for Argos vouchers which I thought was because sometimes they have families moving in to the area with nothing and you can get lots of household items there.

What they do, which they actually asked if I minded, is raffle them, that turns a voucher in to a pallet of food.

Mine does give out food that is out of date but not as part of the food bank or shop, they are just put on a table for people to take.

The foodbank is a bit different because of the shop, so they can give out fresh meat and veg. They also have a policy of giving out 'a nutritious meal' so for a family, as well as the tins / packets they might get a (frozen) chicken, potatoes and veg with maybe some gravy granules or stuffing.

I'm on a large council estate so some of the people who need help might have left a refuge or be an asylum seeker. As someone said above, people don't always have a fridge or freezer, when you move in to a council property you get the property, no flooring, curtains, cooker, fridge.

So it is a good idea they also run family cooking where families come after school and cook a meal together that they can take home.

They also run cooking classes because not everyone knows how to cook and even if you do if you have just arrived from Libya or Somalia you might not know what to do with a tin of baked beans.

The food bank I worked for was not mainly funded by subsidies or grants (these were occasional). Food was bought with donations from compassionate people. It was not a 'free for all'. People using the food banks had to be referred by an agency such as the CAB. Food insecurity is unfortunately a real problem, and anyone can fall on hard times.

Our food bank did Xmas dinner hampers, they asked people to put together hampers that contained all tinned and shelf stable items to make a Xmas dinner as a 'treat' for their users who wouldn't otherwise have been able to have anything 'special'.

For any of those who seem to have a problem with food banks, just imagine if your Special Treat Xmas dinner had been a tin of new potatoes, a tin of carrots, a fray bentos pie, some instant stuffing and instant gravy. Followed up by an individual Xmas pudding and tinned custard. That was the shopping list given as part of the request.

We topped ours up to try to make them a bit nicer, but even with Yorkshire pudding mix, crackers, chutney, jam, crisps, chocolates, biscuits etc it wasn't a ever going to make a luxury dinner like so many of us got to enjoy with our families.

Foodbanks get food and cash donations - some folk prefer to give cash because it's easier for the person donating and/or it's helpful if FB can specific things that are needed.
Foodbanks only tend to give in date food.
Food pantries/waste reduction initiatives give close to date/out of date food and the primary aim is to reduce waste.
I have donated to foodbanks in the past but no longer do.

Not eat bread.

Our one asked for Advent Calendars for the children who go to them, had a drop off point in town. At Easter they get together with the local churches to collect Easter Eggs.

I find the fact that we have food bank in 2025 appalling, everyone should have enough whether in benefits or salary to afford the basic necessities such as food.

There are community fridges which is free food donations which available to all people. This is where most of the instore bakery bread baked/made in supermarkets goes. Doesn't matter if its OOD by a couple of days.

I have donated food to them as when I got Too Good Too Go bags from food shops, a couple of the items I don't eat - bog standard white bread, satsumas and hand them in the next day.

Once I got some pork belly slices and chicken wings - can't stand the former, love the latter, but too fiddly for me to cook with. I listed them on Olio got picked up later that day.

My last workplace did buy items for a food bank. They gave us a list of food to buy - GF stuff, as a PP said their food bank buys them for them. Plus things like sauces, mixed herbs, UHT milk - a mix of cows' and dairy free, long life sponge puddings, breakfast cereal, Plus non food stuff such as washing up liquid, kitchen roll, laundry liquid, shower gel, deodorant. People who donate to food banks need to realise that non food essentials are just as important than food as people need clean dishes, clothes and bodies.

Did you miss the bit recently where older people who didn't need their winter fuel allowance said they donated it to their local food bank?

Food banks wouldn't go far on what people donate from a weekly shop. Look up the Trussell Trust, that will explain it all to you.

Some people have no financial planning or priorities. There was a woman who came into my work and all she bought was scratch cards and cigs on a daily basis. Spent at least £35-40 a day on these. Never seen her bought food. Yet a colleague walks past a venue which is used as food bank to go to work. Food bank is open twice a week and opens the time colleague starts work. Guess who was one of the first in the queue? The scratch card and cigs lady. If she even halved her spending on scratch cards - she would have about £100 to spend on food a week.

Think the woman lives alone as what two customers who live near her said. I live alone and I certainly don't spend £100 a week on food.

That isn't about priorities that's about addiction

We have standard packing lists - so a family of four will always get similar things (same number of cans of soup, bar of soap, cereal etc). If we relied on donations in kind from supermarket surplus stock and the public we'd not be able to give the nutritionally balanced parcels we do. Financial donations cover the things people don't tend to donate, allow us to buy eggs and veg to add to parcels and keep the lights on!

Well, if you ignore that she chose to start buying the things. Even buying 1 scratchcard instead of food is a wrong priority.

I do realise that thanks. I always go for non food or coffee as its at the top of the "bank the food" list

In her mind it isn't though. She needs help and compassion and therapy but no ones going to give her that so the best we can do is food banks

I also think it's a bit shit to be gossiping about customers

I also think it's a bit shit to be gossiping about customers

Really? Not the fact some working woman with means to feed herself chooses to take from those who can’t?

I do a tenner a month to our local one. My reasoning is that I frequently forget til I have paid and then see the donation point. It also gives them the flexibility to stock their shelves with stuff they need, specialist diets etc.

She clearly has issues for sure and someone needs to help her but you can't choose who benefits from charity. The charities have to do that and they've decided she's eligible.

They were to start with. It used to be a max of 3 times a year.