Don’t donate Frey bentos pies to food banks

[isitworthit124]

They need a special can opener to get into them

Yeah, I agree with this. When I donate I'll do stuff like bags of rice or pasta, or tins of soups or beans. Then next time get stuff like Oreos, rice pudding, cake type bars etc
It's even nicer getting a "treat" when you're skint, chocolate just hits that bit different when you've been having "boring essentials" for ages! 🙂

Maybe donate a tin opener at the same time as a Frey Bentos pie

You mean soup kitchens?

Wasn't lying....bloody gorgeous! Peeled the lid off and dumped everything in there 🤤🤤

Word to the wise - do however open them before cooking. Don't ask my 14 year old self and a bent oven rack how we know this 😅. Or ask my mother how she got all the splattered-on wet pastry and meaty goo off the inside of the oven, either....

On Ocado they do food bank gift vouchers which they match so I do that it's £2.50 upwards.

No. I've seen photos of communal/community ovens where people made their own food, popped down the road and cooked it in a communal ovens then collected it when done. Like a communal bath house but for ovens.

Soup kitchens are a thing if so, we have a few round here

I don’t disagree with canned meat - I disagree with giving anyone a horribly overly processed pie that only contains 20% meat. Hardly nutritious or fit for human consumption. Desperate people shouldn’t be forced into eating rubbish.

They're bloody lovely though, naff off with "no processed rubbish" 😭😂
Maybe just give those in need of food banks nutritious unprocessed stuff like bags of dried chickpeas and red lentils?
Tins of peas etc.
Disclaimer I love chickpeas and lentils, and eat them most days. Just don't see what's so wrong with a "crap" pie every now and again!

OMG the Heinz tinned syrup sponge 🤤🤤🤤🤤

This thread is making me think about going to buy some tin openers and taking them to the local food bank. Wouldn't have thought of that before!

Yes, my point is that out of principle I wouldn’t donate a ridiculously processed tinned pie with only 20% meat content. Not nutritious in the slightest and barely fit for human consumption. There are far better (and easier cooked) alternatives that don’t involve giving desperate people rubbish food.

There are far better (and easier cooked) alternatives that don’t involve giving desperate people rubbish food

Sometimes you WANT rubbish comfort food though!
Why can't people have a bit of both?!

Is there any canned meat that’s not terribly processed?

unfortunately it’s a hard fact is that people need to get the calories. I don’t agree that there should be a need for food banks but we are where we are and I’ve supported food banks through donations and volunteered at our local one.

lots of people that use food banks are also in fuel poverty so a canned pie that needs the oven on is far from ideal but they are calorie laden and that’s necessary.

food banks give out tins, jars, dried pasta, rice, cereal. They can’t store fresh bread, it’s long life milk and juice. It’s an emergency pack and everyone involved does the best they can. They rely on donations and if it’s a fray bentos pie or nothing, thank you for the pie

I never said ‘no processed rubbish’ - a tinned ‘meat’ pie that barely contains any actual meat is where I draw a line though! If I wouldn’t give it to our dog I certainly wouldn’t donate it to a human. You can buy tinned meat products with actual meat inside, not just cheap fillers.

Each to their own. Personally I don’t know anybody who would consider a canned pie actual food, never mind comfort food!

I actually enjoy a dirty FB on occasion.

Good hangover food.

Sometimes you want a bit of shite though. I'll be buying an FB pie, off the back of this thread, on the weekend, if they've got chicken.

In the winter I do sometimes donate those oats in a plastic pot instant porridge things - exactly because they only require a kettle and a spoon, not even any crockery. And I also donate toiletries, toothpaste and toothbruses and sanpro. It would be hideous to be without those.

Sometimes you want a bit of shite though

Exactly 😁
I had a vegetable balti one a while ago, well nice.
(Suitable for vegans too if anyone's interested)

I loved a Fray Bentos as a kid. The funky pastry was the best bit.

I bought some as Brexit supplies, then COVID hit and DH refused to eat them, the spoiled so-and-so. I currently have about 10 in the loft and no idea what to do with them as they're past their BBE so the food bank won't be interested.

THIS bad boy will get in.

Bought specifically because there was nuclear meltdown in our house after we failed to open a Fray Bentos with either of our two other can openers, and we had to bin the punctured, useless tin of epic flobby shite.

Lantana.
For. The. Easy. Win.

Each to their own. Personally I don’t know anybody who would consider a canned pie actual food, never mind comfort food!

That says quite a lot about social group homogeneity and class. Fray Bentos sell pies, lots of pies. Which means people eat them. If all your friends and family don't eat anything like that, it just means that you seek out only people like you. Which is fine. But I choose to have a really wide circle of friends and family. Including those dirty FB eaters.

I couldn't eat one now but I used to bloody love them.

If you want to get protein to people there are beef stew /mince in gravy type cans which would be microwaveable or even eaten cold if someone had no facilities at all. So possibly more useful than a pie for some people.

I love the idea of reviving communal ovens - probably much more energy efficient. Ditto laundries and drying spaces, not least because of the health issues (damp etc) from trying to dry laundry indoors especially if your house is also a bit cold.