Community larder - would you use one

[Moana987]

If you didn't need to for financial reasons?

Within a 15 minute drive I have 3 Community larders where you just go and help yourself. Sometimes they have some decent stuff in and other times its just stale bread left.

I use them now and again, when passing I may have a look but financially I dont need to use them so I feel guilty sometimes encase others need the food.

They are not food banks. They are to stop food that's perfectly fine going to waste.

Would you use one?

@Moana987 wouldnt dream of using one if I didnt need to! that food might have be necessary for a family who is in desperate need! I would also put food in, like excess tomatoes and cucumbers from the greenhouse.

😁 ah well, in the inner city of a deprived city with known food deserts, it's a slightly different picture!

I guess it is horses for courses though.

We have one on our town and the ethos is very much to do with saving food from going to waste and not about your financial situation.

We have similar in my village. I would use it (although I continually forget its on). They are to reduce food waste, not just to cater for those who cannot afford food.

If we had one near enough (we don’t unfortunately) and its purpose was to reduce food waste, then yes absolutely. I wouldn’t feel like it was encroaching on those who need food banks because we do have those locally. Two in particular that are self referral and are open every day - one even delivers. But it’s a shame that such an initiative is required really, how have we got to the point where there is so much food waste in the first place?

Yes I have taken food from the community larder even though I don't need to financially.

The larder/fridge at the local community centre where I work as a volunteer is filled by a local Olio rep. Olio is about preventing/reducing food waste. Recently it was stuffed full of bananas and the rep was begging people to take two or three bunches each so I took a couple and froze them for making banana bread.

Sometimes I pick up a small box of doughnuts for the kids or a baguette or croissants/pastries.

The larders near me are basically sheds. Foods put in there and left, no staff to man it and some of the food is donated by local farms as they haven't sold it.

We have one near us that DH likes to go to. I try and discourage this as we don't need to buy cheap food and my argument is that it should be used by people who really need it. Occasionally, the larder will post on Facebook that they have too much and then I would purchase items to stop it being wasted.

DH says that when he goes down he always overpays for the food so he reckons it's ok.

ETA:
I use Discount Dragon which is an online equivalent. Short dated goods, sometimes imports, really good daily deals.

We have one and its aim is to keep food being wasted, not to help the poor- they want anyone to use it, regardless of wealth. Use it if it's open to all.

I often use the one in my town. Local producers from the allotments put their surplus homegrown fruit and veg there, and its brilliant for stopping stuff going to waste.

The one I’ve used was where I attended a baby class anyway, I wouldn’t have driven specially. It was mostly bread/cakes and some fruit, supermarket sandwiches and honestly the volunteers were pushing as much of it on to everyone as possible saying it would go to waste anyway. I was in a fancy car and everyone at the baby class had spent £8 to attend a 45 minute class so clearly we weren’t hard up but they still encouraged us to take things. I made sure to never take too much and usually put a small donation in the pot (but they were quick to tell you you didn’t need to!)

This, please. I run a service like this. We don’t have a giant sign outside saying “Free food for people who can’t afford to feed themselves” because there is huge stigma around food poverty, so we use words like supermarket, community larder etc, but really that’s our purpose. After five years of doing this I have a good radar for who needs the service (and it’s nothing to do with demographics, people’s appearances etc) - I now have very careful wording that I use when I talk to people calling in for the first or second time.

To muddy things further; we sometimes have such enormous gluts of things at the end of the week that I offer them to literally anyone.

It’s not straightforward. Ask them.

There’s no one to speak to — it’s essentially a self-service shed where you just walk in and help yourself.

How can you tell the difference between initiatives using the term community larder as a way to discreetly address food poverty, and those that are genuinely focused on reducing food waste?

I live in a semi-rural area that isn’t particularly affected by poverty, all three larders nearby are located in neighbouring villages. Each are a 5 min drive in different directions.

Our village has a community larder where you pay a fiver a year for 5 free items a week from the shelves and subsidised basics then there are frozen ready meals and hygiene product free. It has three sessions but one co-insides with a very popular coffee morning. The M&S, Coop and Premier stores contribute their bread, veg, flowers, the local Fareshare distributer brings surplus and reject fruit and veg each week and these are free for anyone who comes into the building but you can make a donation. Ambient goods through Fareshare sometimes bring problems because of the dates and inappropriate goods. The Coop freezers all the meals and meat products they have left at date and they are brought down each week. It costs around £400 a month to buy the subsidised items and donations usually pay for a third of this and fundraiding and grants the rest. M&S bouquets are popular and bring in most of the donated cash. If there is a lot of fruit and veg I will make sure that everyone know they can take it and they are savng me for having to compost it.

In your shoes I would do a bit of sleuthing - is there signage up with any info? The name of an organisation or person involved? Anything on social media from when it was first set up?

If it is literally just an unmarked shed with a sign and no info available anywhere then I expect you can help yourself with a clean conscience, but I’d be surprised. Usually there is at least a volunteer calling in sometimes to tidy / remove anything stale.

We have one right next to my work parking space and they’ll offer me sourdough bread at least once a week as I pass, though can’t get rid of it, they also provide rolls for my community kitchen if they can. They have an honesty box that goes to the food bank so those of us on higher incomes don’t feel guilty

I donate to ours because we often have extra food because we grow a lot of our own. I’ve never used any food from one. Ours is definitely set up with a goal of food security for people who fall through the cracks (also food banks don’t provide fresh food and ours is all fresh food). I think of myself as quite privileged relatively speaking and I don’t feel like I need to. I can buy what I need and don’t ever have to worry about going without. I wouldn’t have issue with someone using it even if they didn’t ‘need’ to though.

We have one where I live at the side of the church hall. A couple were recorded on cctv emptying the cool boxes and sheds of nearly all the food. It was posted on local pages, they had an expensive car too.

We think of it as a food bank here

Yes, I do frequently. Ours is to avoid food going into landfill and that's why we use it.

I do occasionally but the volunteers at ours are so enthusiastic that I find it a little overwhelming as they like to offer you more and more stuff and I feel ungrateful to say no thank you (I know that’s daft me, but that’s how it feels).

I was speaking to one of the volunteers just before it was opening and I ‘put my foot in it’ a bit when I mentioned how good it would be for those in need. She was quick to point out that it is for the whole community, to help combat both food poverty and food waste. People using it who are not in financial difficulties can be a great way to reduce the stigma of going in there. If you’re less well off you might feel ‘what if someone sees me’ but in our village they really aim to make sure everyone knows that the pantry is for everyone and I think that’s just a great approach to take.

Not if I didn't need to, there are plenty of people where I live who do need that support.
PIL donate regularly to theirs when they have a glut of eggs (chickens in the garden) or excess produce from their allotment (they also give produce to us so I already benefit!)

I probably would have a look and take one thing if it was something I specifically wanted or needed and I was broke. But if I did take stuff I'd make a point of putting stuff in there as well.

I use our local one and we don't need to.

I pay the fee - I know it is waived regularly for those who can't afford it, and you can opt to pay twice (£4 instead of £2) to help someone else. It's food waste, and it is donated by businesses that know how the initiative works. And if nobody uses it, it rots.

Saves us a fortune and keeps food out of the landfill.

Food banks are for those in need.
Community/food fridges/larders/pantries are often just to reduce waste.
We have community fridges in our area, designed to reduce food waste - they've introduced rules recently, such as 3 items per household (most items) and asking for a small donation toward running costs each time you visit. This is to stop greedy folk taking the piss (pushing folk out the way etc, grabbing all of stuff, never donating toward running costs etc) to help it run more smoothly/fairly and cover costs.

There's also a food bank, where those in actual need are referred by various agencies.

Yes, our local ones are the same as yours just a shed not manned at all, the posters in the shed and the Facebook page both encourage anyone to use it as it’s about preventing food waste, I often get bread as they always have a ridiculous amount