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.

Absolutely.
I didn't even realise we had a food pantry near us but after reading this thread, it turns out we do. They are open to everyone specifically to reduce waste. Which has to be a good thing surely.

What a despicable person he is.

🙄

Cancel the cheque?

This is quite incredible : you probably have a household income of $95 000 + , yet I see so many people on 7 - 15 000 who can't afford food/heating ... it beggars belief that the rich are SO COMPLETELY OUT OF TOUCH and up their own !

More bang your head against the wall in frustration at people who don't read the thread 😂😂😂

.... AND can't get a job due to any number of reasons ( rampant discrimination of every kind ; being over 45 , no transport to distant warehouses , 500 applications by internet for each bottom-rung supermarket post ,area of high unemployment , mild disabilities ........... etc . . . . . . . . etc . . . . . ..

It's hilarious, I have only read a few pages and got the jist of it 🤣 😂

We have this in our village. They go around preschools, school and churches to ask if we know
who would need food and have a number to ring if you are struggling and they put bits aside for you. The rest is for anyone, they get loads of cakes from the coop, I sometimes take a bakewell tart if they have one and I'm not struggling. I know this because I work in the preschool and we have some families who get a good few bags of shopping each week because they need it. They don't need 27 loaves of bread and 42 packets of custard dougnuts, or 20 sticks of celery so the rest gets put on a table and anyone regardless of finances is enouraged to take some. I expect your village has the same so wouldn't worry too much, I'm sure they help people who are struggling too.

Wealth or poverty is all in the mind. Imo.

It was fresh veg and people were either saying they did not eat that or ylthat they didn’t know how to cook it.

No, that is truly awful

What is "truly awful" is people who don't read past the OP.

Yes, preventing nearly expired food from going to landfill is awful.

Not all community tables or fridges have food which is "nearly expired". Mine certainly doesn't. The only stuff that has to be used quickly is fruit veg and bread Everything else is frozen at the centre or it's tins and packets that aren't short dated

And for people stating that some people aren't reading the thread properly - the OP didn't say what her husband was taking, how much and what products.

The bottom line is for me if you are poor and using one of these tables - you need the food more than someone on 70k plus a year. The table I use has been a lifeline for me. I don't run in the door after I go going look - bargains. It helps me save money that I need for other things.

Oh and by the way. For people shouting about landfill. Loads of things end up in landfill. Clothes. All sorts of stuff. If someone really wants to be eco then they need to think about extending that to other aspects of their life. Like not buying fast fashion or not flying long haul.

Taking from a community table once a week really doesn't help much re stuff being thrown in landfill sites. I buy second hand clothes and I have done for almost twenty years. Anything that no longer fits me gets donated back to charity. There's more to being eco minded than taking food from Olio or a community pantry or table

The bottom line is that unless specified otherwise, they are available to everyone because the aim is preventing food waste.

It isn't selfish or awful or vile or any other name OP's husband has been called to use something as intended.

My local one is a community fridge. I was going to go today but they were closed due to a funeral taking place.
They have a very active FB page that shows what they have on offer. There were photos of piles of aubergines that have fluffy mould growing on the top that no shop would sell and no food bank would accept. Lots of nearly black bananas and crates of bruised apples. Bread that expires that day.
What is wrong with someone who earns a lot taking them home?

Oh and by the way. For people shouting about landfill. Loads of things end up in landfill. Clothes. All sorts of stuff. If someone really wants to be eco then they need to think about extending that to other aspects of their life. Like not buying fast fashion or not flying long haul...
I buy second hand clothes and I have done for almost twenty years. Anything that no longer fits me gets donated back to charity.

What's any of that got to do with reducing food waste by using a community pantry, or indeed the price of fish?

When we launched our Community Fridge nearly 10 years ago, this is exactly the kind of debate that was going on then. It's disappointing that things haven't progressed.

Prior to the development of food waste initiatives food was being sent straight to landfill and in some instances actively spoilt by having bleach chucked over it so that no one would take it. At least then we weren't arguing about who should get the food.

Why did they pour bleach on it? Why didn't they want people using it?

Any number of reasons I guess - impact on profits, to prevent dumpster diving ie people jumping into bins and removing the food, hygiene, trespass etc.

Terrible. A community pantry is a much better option, even if some people buy second hand clothes (still trying to work out the point of that post!).

There used to be talk that it's because it was not safe for consumption once in a bin (fair enough for many items) and the shops worried about someone eating it or taking it and feeding it to others, people getting sick and then going after the shop

Ours is a cupboard on a main road near a low socioeconomic area. There’s no trolleys, passerbys either walk (school up the road) or drive.

the women concerned waited in their car for me to start up mine. Two of them then jumped out and grabbed all of the bags I had placed there.

our pantry is very much promoted as take what YOU need (not your cousins and friends) and leave some for others. A local baker was filling it as well and received reports of a van stopping and swiping everything. He has since stopped supplying.

If the OP's husband wants to take the food to avoid wasting it, fine but he should pay for it by making a donation. The issue is that he loves getting the food because he is getting something for nothing! It's FREE!
I bet her husband is a right tight ar**!

Check out online Your Local Pantry where it clearly sets out the rationale behind their creation, namely:

"Your Local Pantry is a network built on the values of dignity, choice and hope. Pantries bring people together around food, leading to people avoiding food poverty".

They exist to ease poverty, give people hope and help them in a dignified manner.
They do not exist to help a greedy tech guys on a high income with no morals to get a dopamine hit on receiving a few free pizzas nor do they exist for the well off who fancy a free bakewell tart for their tea. If you're not in need you should be ashamed of yourselves for going there.