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I always thought that foodbanks were given out of date stock when I saw them collecting from shops and supermarkets.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?÷

It varies from place to place and between organisations. Loads of info on this thread from actual people who work in them

There are full time shop assistants, nurses, people working in hospitality, charity workers etc who all use food banks because their wages don't cover their rent/utilities/emergencies such as broken down car which needs fixing/transport/groceries. Have you missed that we are in a cost of living crisis and it's not just those who don't work that can't afford to live?

Oh to be this delusional and sheltered from reality to think that no working people are using food banks.

I have a monthly direct debit to our local foodbank specifically so they can do this.

I regularly contribute monetarily to the local food bank. I'm bothered to think of anyone going hungry due to lack of resources.

What would you do then? Eat things you were allergic to or made you ill?

What you really mean is ‘I can’t imagine being unable to to afford to feed myself’, and the rest of your words are superfluous and offensive.

As someone else said, there are different types of food banks and some are independent. But where I volunteer we are affiliated to a national trust, and you cannot come more than a certain number of times within a certain number of months. It is not meant to replace benefits, just tide people over. Having said that, the rules have changed as the CoL crisis bites more deeply. You do need a voucher from someone authorised to give them out. Having said that, we also run a cafe, and have racks of non standard food on them (christmas puddings at this time of year, for example). People can come along to that as often as they like. We also have some people who grown fresh produce on their allotments and that is available in the cafe for people to collect and take home with them too.

They are often volunteers volunteering with their own vehicle. Unless the charity is lucky enough to have been donated one or able to buy one themselves.

I volunteer at our local foodbank, which is run mainly by volunteers and a handful of paid employees. We're a charity, we apply for grants and rely on donations to keep running the organisation (paid staff, office, warehouse and vehicles).

We are not allowed to give out-of-date foods. All our clients are referred by agencies such as GPs, schools, Women's Aid, refugee groups for example. Clients are supported for a fixed number of weeks and if they need more they need to be vetted & referred by the agency again. Many of our clients are also in work, but that's not enough to feed them.

We rarely get donations of fresh foods (but would give them out when this happens), we mainly parcel out tinned goods. It's time consuming sorting the incoming donations, takes a lot of tedious manpower to keep donations organised, and it just wastes our time when we find we've just been given 10 jars of Best Before 2023 fish paste spread... (happened this week, I kid you not.)

Thank you to everyone who donate or volunteer for foodbanks. I wish they didn't have to exist, but I'm grateful that there is help out there for those who need it.

The point is the poster is explaining how the out of date food can have a purpose and still be used, as the assumption of out of date food may be given to foodbanks is cleared up.

Just, you know, nice to know? Useful to know? Someone night read that post and think that's a brilliant super savvy way to access free food and strech it out, maybe someone tjat needs a foodbank, maybe someone that uses a foodbank, maybe soneone that could benefit a foodbank but doesnt want to have to speak up and say they are struggling, or don't mert the criteria even if they are on the bones of their arse, or someone that is really having to watch their finances.

I tjought it was a useful post and will be another option sone people might want to see if it is available in their area.

Sadly it’s not always easy for people to get on their feet. We live in a world where we have professionals including nurses, teachers and many other of our much needed civil servants relying on food banks regularly and not because they are not working hard to get back on their feet.

There are always going to be people who abuse the system. I know for a fact there are several families who claim benefits, claim PIP, use local food banks but have money to spend on drugs every week around here. I had this conversation recently with a woman who got angry about it, she couldn’t understand how I am ok with donating, my response to her was that regardless of these people’s actions their children are not to blame and need food.

The people running the banks can’t judge and pick and choose who to donate to because it will be the vulnerable children who miss out.

What are the most useful things to donate to a foodbank? I have always assumed 'staples that have long dates and are quick to cook ' such as rice and pasta, but a pp suggests there might be a surplus of those.

Food banks are varied. There are the food banks that resemble food co-ops and shops where people can walk in.

Some provide ready made meals using about to expire fresh produce donated by restaurants and farmers. Donating money allows them to purchase other ingredients needed.
Some of these charities have greatly expanded their output due to the donations of money and fridges and freezers from the King's charities and generous people from all walks of life.

Many food banks are faith based charities such as Pecan and local government assisted trusts. A few are privately run at the instigation of one person. Donations of money, food and labour are used.
I have worked at a soup kitchen, along with many others, and see production of nutritious meals out of would be thrown out food. As a society we waste a lot of food. A little money, labour and good planning goes a long way.

Foodbanks get donations in money and food. A lot of prople give up their time to campaign for money donations as the food donations arent enough.

Ooh mentioned this uptrend ( 22.20 & 22.40) I haven't noticed anything like that and was told ( about 3 months ago ) it wasn't possible.
Other posters have said the same. I will have a look in a bit .

What they ask for really.

I've donated pet food, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, sanitary protection, washing up liquid and laundry detergent because that's what my foodbank was running low of. Plus lots of biscuits because they're filling, calorific and comforting.

All foodbanks publish lists of needs but take cash donations they can use better than we can guess.

What evidence do they provide?

As has been said, there are different types of this service.
In my area we have a 'food bank' which is by referral only and basically emergency supplies (so yes, people will have dietary requirements as I'm sure no one wants their children or themselves to be ill as well as struggling!!) These are often affliated to the The Trussell Trust or similar.
Then, we also have a 'community fridge' where the purpose is to stop excess food going into landfill and very much helps those who wouldn't qualify for a food bank referral (helps because there's a lot of people being badly hit by the cost of living crisis and the government's decision to means test the winter fuel payments, there's a very real problem with having to chose between heating or eating, I say that as someone who works full time with a retired husband, rent and utilities take up a lot of my salary) and also stops food waste. All the food is in date but is surplus to what the supermarkets can sell. Ours is free.
Then, quite a few local councils have set up another type where you pay £2.50 or similar and you can fill up a bag.
Food banks raise money because they can't rely on the surplus donations meeting peoples needs and some areas don't have sufficient volunteers to run a food bank in the first place.

Donate to the Trussell Trust

Here you go OP!

That’s probably more efficient than all the costs of owning and running a van as a small charity that needs a food shop once or twice a week.

I have been given out of date food at a food bank previously. There were some cans that were two years out of date. I only noticed when I opened one because it smelled strange. I'm not in the habit of checking dates, so I hope that was the only time they gave me OOD food.

There's no chance they didn't have the opportunity to notice. They made a point of giving everyone these particular cans.

Edit to add that they often gave me food that was very close to being out of date, particularly fruit and vegetables that had to be eaten immediately. It wasn't great to try and live on these bits.

It seems a very complex way to go about it. Wouldn't a voucher for the local supermarket ( given by the council or the GP or social worker etc) be smarter and easier? Then people could buy what they want and need.
I'm not in the UK and find the whole system very weird. You are wealthy but people have to ask someone for free food.
We do have here a couple of charities that get deliveries from major supermarkets and local bakeries etc of food that they wouldn't be able to sell the next day. The charity makes all the food into hot meals available to anyone that wants it. The Hari Krishnas do the same - free vegie lunches everyday.
There's another charity that goes out at night and gives out free hot meals to the homeless. They do need to raise some money but the vast majority of cooks and delivery drivers are volunteers.
The homeless community is also quite concentrated in city areas and are by far the biggest users of these services.
The samaritans do things like xmas hampers for families having a rough time.
I'm qquite surprised that the UK has so many poor people.

So people with allergies etc can just starve? Special food is not always a choice and is more expensive but ignoring it can kill you.
Many people have.no choice but to use food banks as an ongoing thing I know nurses who have to use them because wages are insufficient and housing costs too much.

This is the list of stuff my local food bank doesn't have enough of. Red is really low supplies, yellow is low supplies. This is from the Bank the Food app which is used by a lot of food banks across the country to update their stocks.