DH is using community pantry for free food

[cookingaroast]

There is a community pantry in our village, with the purpose being to cut food waste. I completely support cutting down on food waste, and the food provided is all from supermarkets who would otherwise throw the food out. My issue is more I'm a bit uncomfortable with us taking the food.
We are both in the tech industry and both fall into the higher tax bracket for our salaries, more than capable of paying for food ourselves.

I've said to DH I don't think we should be utilising this resource and leave the food for others who need it more than us but he loves the bargains (free food) he gets from it. He genuinely wants to show off the stuff he's picked up whenever he goes - which is usually once a week.

I guess I feel a bit uncomfortable that this free food could be a lifeline to people. I do like charity shopping and getting a bargain but I don't feel as bad, as I'm paying what they decide they feel it's worth and the money is going to charity. This is completely free and run by volunteers.

Funny you say that
I’ve told lots of the families I work with (social worker) about the free Tesco express food after 9.30 and very few avail themselves of that as an option as feel it’s too late to go out without a car or feel embarrassed, or have had a drink by then so wouldn’t drive, or nobody to leave the kids with
most the people I see (like me ) getting yellow sticker deals and the Tesco freebies at night are the same faces -relatively affluent/ middle class mums who love a bargain!

Op has said repeatedly that the only aim of this particular pantry is reducing food waste. How you think they should be used, or how a pantry local to you is used is neither here nor there.

Mince pies last forever!
I'm sure I've still got a Christmas pudding from 2020 somewhere.
My 75 year old mum ate a Fray Bentos pie from 2018 the other day.
She's still alive

@tapaw but most aren't for those who "need" it.
They are for anyone.
That's the whole point.

Our local community pantry make a point of reiterating its not just for those that are in need. It is purely there to prevent food waste and therefore anyone and everyone is encouraged to use it because the more people who go there, the less food is wasted

Out of interest I looked up if there was a community pantry here and there is, but it's for people of low income and you need to sign up for it, you can't just go to it. If that's the same for yours then your dh is being BVU.
However, if it is genuinely surplus food that will be thrown away, and it doesn't all go then it would be difficult to see it wasted. Maybe he could go there much closer to their closing time, so as to give other people more of a chance to get what they need, and he can get things that are even closer to being thrown away.

Why cant people get their heads around the fact that there are obviously different pantries with different roles.

@tapaw community pantries mostly get their donations directly from shops or food distribution places - not donations from the general public (unless it's excess home grown fruit/veg).
Sounds like you were donating to the wrong place.

Well so he's not unreasonable then I suppose. But like you I would feel uncomfortable suspecting that he might take food that he can afford to buy but that another poor family would need.

Yes they will vary with their rules etc.
But the fact the OPs husband has been using their local one just fine and hasn't been told not to come back by the volunteers then that one is clearly for everyone.

A community pantry is for people who need the food. It will cut food waste, but the name “community pantry” really does mean that this is for people who need it. It’s different to a food bank as no referral is needed. But it’s still meant for people in need. The word community very strongly implies that.

@tapaw you are wrong. Or at least in most cases. As I said upthread, I volunteer at one, and it, along with others under the same umbrella scheme, is for everyone. There's no pretence. The point is to save surplus food from landfill. We do keep a small amount food back, particularly if it has a long date, for families we know are struggling. But it's not part of our remit, it's just a casual thing on the part of some volunteers.

He genuinely wants to show off the stuff he's picked up whenever he goes - which is usually once a week.

Is the issue perhaps that you're embarrassed by the thought that people might think your husband is a cheapskate, or that you can't afford food?

@SheinIsShite the OP has confirmed that it is promoted as saving food waste and is open to everyone

Despite myself , I can’t help but agree.
Frugality/bargain hunting in a man isn’t attractive to me scrabbling about in a pantry or yellow sticker section - not manly.
looking for the best mortgage /car insurance deal different matter.

Surely the pantry has the nous to change it to referral only or for those in need only if they want to?

Why are you worrying for them?

@Mondaytuesdayhappydays is it only women who can buy food?

I think if anyone had concerns that they might be taking food away from people who genuinely NEED it, then just go half an hour before closing time. (Staff might get pissed off at a last minute rush though)
If the genuine in need haven't taken it by then then, it's going in the bin anyway.
The last time I saw a community pantry in my area it wasn't free but reduced.
I'll be on the lookout now because I'm all for saving money and against perfectly good food ending up in a bin

It sounds similar to the app Olio which is a community initiative to stop food waste. I used to volunteer and pick up food from Tesco then give it out to those who wanted to come and collect it from me. The supermarkets always give priority of collection slots to food banks but most of the time they can’t collect the items as they are perishable and need to be given out by midnight.

It’s good that your husband is stopping food waste. I wish more people wasted less.

Weird - I'd think that the word "community" specifically implies that it is open to all (or at least everybody in the area nearby, as it might mean "local community"). If it was a pantry only for low-income households, wouldn't it be the "low-income pantry" - or indeed, "food bank".

We used to have something like this where we lived, it’s open to everyone and there was so much food waste they were glad of people taking things. I think it’s fine aslong as he isn’t taking an excessive amount, that’s the purpose of it.

Completely free after 9.30 if it has ‘CS’ on the yellow sticker
tonight’s haul totalled 47 quid.

There to combat food waste so it doesn’t go in to landfill. The families in need get first priority, but there is always so much surplus.

A lot still ends up in landfill though.

Our one literally gets van loads from Aldi, Sainsburys, Tesco and about once a week from M&S.
Everything, even things like frozen foods and Flowers..
Hundreds of cakes/ bakery items (literally) from Lidl

At the end, the volunteers take left over veg to the farms for the amimals cause there is so much
It most certainly is not a food bank

To be fair if it’s like our village one , often stuff goes in the bin because it goes unpicked . I sometimes leave eggs when my hens are laying to many and people don’t use it much , which is a pity as it has so much good stuff .

He isn’t doing anything wrong. It’s a community pantry. That said, I wouldn’t take food from it, knowing there are people that need it more, unless there was a specific shout out because they’d been donated 5000 apples or whatever.