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.

Are you donating to your local food bank?

Our one get Frozen KFC chicken in huge bags 🤣

I was determined he was in the wrong when I opened the thread but after reading it I've decided I don't hate him even though I wanted to.

I’m torn because it’s not exactly a food bank so he has every right to access it. He’s been getting excited to go and whilst I agree with your points - I’d sit him down and tell him that he can continue to do it but he also needs to give back. So maybe alternate, one week he can access this and the week after he is to volunteer or if you don’t have the time, make a donation each month to a charity. Then he can still have the enjoyment and you’re kind of replacing the funds in a cause that matters

There’s a zero waste thing nearby that’s for anyone and everyone and they actively promote it for anyone as there is so much food

I don’t think people get how much food is wasted. Attached some pics (when they load)
70 bags of free food which would have been wasted
4 trays donated to hospital of sandwiches and snacks
eggs that would have been binned

That would give me the ick

I have some insider knowledge. It is another strategy by the major supermarkets to damage their competitors. Namely Independents, Londis, Spar, and Coop.

The major supermarkets love community pantries because not only does it save them the landfill charges that they would otherwise incur throwing the food away, they can flood them with surplus stock. The village shop or convenience store then struggles to make enough sales to survive. Even if your local shop prices items fairly, it’s hard for them to compete with food that is given away for free.

Think about it - if it was purely about reducing waste and keeping food miles down, it would be more efficient for the supermarket to give it away to shoppers in store. But they won’t do this because they don’t want shoppers to take free items in place of paid ones. They would rather unpaid volunteers took it away and their competitors took the hit.

Another thing that major supermarkets do when a competitor plans to open a new store is to submit detailed but spurious objections to the planning application as close as possible to the closing date. This doesn’t usually result in planning permission being turned down ultimately, but store openings have been delayed by as long as 18 months using these tactics, hitting competitor profits.

That’s a long way of saying that if I were him I would want nothing to do with it!

Not.rtft but from your post it's to stop food waste. Not a food bank which is something completely different. Therefore YABU

Me too if DH was in there rummaging about - be equivalent of a tap water no pudding starter date ewwww
although I would hands down do it myself now I understand it’s a waste saving initiative.
sooo sexist I know

No, my local one repeatedly says on its own website that it is for everyone and it about cutting waste.

And they limit what you can take. It is 5 items at my local one. No one is walking out with bag loads

Yes, that's like our local community pantry too.
It's not like the food banks which are different

It's disgusting how much is wasted. I've managed to do 8 jars of pickled eggs in time for christmas (normally about 3.50 a shop bought jar) for the grand sum of about a £2.....asda selling off dozens of eggs for 18p a pack...most outlay was the pickling vinegar!

I use Olio too. The app says it is solely to prevent waste, and anyone is free to collect free food on it no matter what their circumstances. Many users comment that they do actually use it to save money, or even to feed themselves when they have none. It also has sections for re-homing unwanted items. I have helped others out on the app by offering free delivery for those in need, but this falls outside the app itself's remit. Different initiatives have different aims.

Ours is entirely run by volunteers. It's food that cannot be given out by food banks which (quite rightly) have strict guidelines on food safety. They do not have the resources to manage any sort of referral system, the aim is to distribute fresh food that is just about to go past it's best by date.

Food that is heading for landfill is not suitable for food banks, which package their boxes in advance with non-perishable items.

They rely on donations to keep the operation going so I think those who can should give a donation in return for a bag of bread, vegetables, frozen goods.

The volunteers ensure that individuals don't strip the van - you can only take one frozen item for example.

@SumUp is that really true.
Londis etc are franchises but their suppliers are sometimes (partly?) owned by the big supermarkets.
For example a couple of my local Budgens and Londis sell the Jacks branded foods which is owned and made by Tesco.

Thanks for the context. Agreed a donation would be a good compromise. How much is expected?

I have no idea I'm afraid, but I know a couple of our local volunteers so I can ask them (when it's not coming up to 1am!).

I'm going to have to start using Olio to reduce food waste, I've chucked out a load of vegetables and some soup this week (some right nice soup from M and S as well) I know I know, I'm crap. Just didn't realise the dates on them until it was too late and didn't get chance to do anything with the vegetables due to shift work.
Thanks for the reminder that Olio exists and I'll have to get stuff whacked on there!

If it's a pantry for reducing food waste then of course it's fine.

There is one fairly close to us that a supermarket delivers all it's leftover fresh bread/ cakes etc to each evening, and even with people using it they are still throwing stuff away at the end of the day. I grab a loaf of bread or a few rolls from it if I'm passing by, and feel no guilt whatsoever about doing so.

How affluent is the village? I think more context is needed, but generally if it's largely about stopping food waste I'd be quite relaxed.

The community pantry in my area makes it very clear it’s for everyone in the community regardless of income and actively put this on every single advert they post. Their aim is to reduce food waste and they encourage everyone to do their bit in that.

Find out what? That he's a higher rate tax payer? He's not stealing he's reducing waste

lol…just a tad 😂

Tbh I wouldn't use it if I was managing well enough but the concept is to reduce food waste so theirs nothing to be ashamed of only thing I will say is because it's a village and everyone knows each other no doubt their maybe people saying your husband shouldn't be doing it

I feel like we perhaps need to define the type of community pantry. Our community pantry is just a couple of fridges and some crates for veggies under a shelter. It gets leftovers that are going best before/ use by that day around 9pm. Its not manned and they’d just like everything to vanish before tidy up volunteer gives it a going over the following day. It’s very much if you can use it and are passing then take it. I’d stop by if passing and grab a few loaves of bread otherwise they’d be binned / composted. There is no way it’d feed properly hungry folk unless you were happy to eat plain bread and brocolli 5 days out of 7.