What to give vegan at foodbank?

Doler

If they'd make porage themselves that would be good

moneyistooshorttomention

PasturesNew wrote: »

Give them peas and tell them to think themselves lucky they've got anything. Nobody in Belsen turned away food and said "No thanks, I'm vegan".

Sorry - no. People are still entitled to stick to their principles/health requirements/etc and not have to forego them because they've landed up in this situation.

Good on you Food bank - for accepting the need to cater to such eventualities:T

Islandmaid

VfM4meplse wrote: »

I'm not trivialising anything. Meat is murder and I want no part of it: this is for me a fixed belief and not an "ideal". But then I wouldn't be knocking on the door of a food bank, either.

Don't preach to me about Aleppo. Have you even been there? (I have).

I was not preaching - and you having been to Aleppo or being vegetarian does not make your opinions any more valid than mine.

I hope those of you that have posted useful advice have helped the OP and those who have to use foodbanks find themselves in less desperate circumstances soon.

Valli

Gintotmelinda wrote: »

Hi all


Help needed at foodbank please. We have clients who are vegan and don't seem to cook a lot from scratch. Also are allergic to tomatoes and don't eat rice. We are struggling to provide.


Do vegans eat bread? Are there any biscuits that are vegan?


Thanks for any suggestions.


Gintot

Well what did/do they buy when they shop for food?

moneyistooshorttomention

I think this thread has raised some useful points. Though I eat healthily/vegetarian veering on vegan myself it had never occurred to me about special requirements needing to be met for people using foodbanks.

That was remiss of me. I have some involvement with donating to a foodbank and it's now struck me that things like, for instance, milk alternatives have to be provided (eg rice milk, oat milk) as vegans can't have dairy milk. Should have realised before - after all I have these foods in my own larder.:o

"Nooch" = nutritional yeast. It's a sort of food powder widely used by vegans as a substitute for grated cheese. Eg I will throw a spoonful of "nooch" over say a pasta dish or stirfry.

So - keepable stuff for vegans:
- nutritional yeast
- milk substitutes (Rice Dream rice milk is nice I think...)
- porridge oats (simple to cook)
- canned beans and pulses
- pasta should be okay (check ingredients)
- fruit and vegetables
- nuts and seeds
- dried fruit

You can tell I've recently read "The Guardian" article on reasons (excuses) why people have been sanctioned and realised that even some determined/with home computer/thinks ahead/obviously not an "easy target" person/etc like myself could have landed up sanctioned if my periods of unemployment had been nowadays - rather than back before this all started happening. Certainly I'd have been caught if "back in my day" they had used the fact of being told I'd just been given a job as an excuse to sanction me for the last couple of weeks or so of unemployment. I had one benefits interview in all that time - and got asked what was happening re job-hunting and I replied "I've had an interview - for a job that I know they are going to give me - though they havent said so yet" (which they did) and I don't think it occurred to either them or me that I should go on "job-hunting" now I knew I was about to be back in work again anyway.

So - yes - if I ran a food bank - I'd cater for all "standard British" variations (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, allergies). Sometimes a person's self-respect might be all they have left....and it would be wrong to insist they're not allowed self-respect for the duration. A person is entitled to get to the end of their lives and think "You know what? I managed to stick to my principles - whatever got thrown at me. Go me! I'm pretty proud of that".

beckstar1975

peanut butter and whole salted nuts are great, full of protein and fat, and filling, and totally vegan, long life soy milk cost not much more than uht milk

culpepper

I am not vegan but avoid dairy and find that the big V LOGO on food labels is very helpful sometimes .
Also in the ingredients lists these days it often has Allergy type things in bold which can be helpful to me and I spose to vegan and vegetarian too .
Lots of marg type products have whey and/or buttermilk in them . Vitalite is vegan I believe.
Some curry powders have milk in.

How about making a list of the products as you find them to be vegan or vegetarian and having it up on the wall so that you arent having to go through the ingredients labels every time? That would be useful for when dairy allergy people are customers too.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I'm genuinely puzzled at what vegans who don't cook from scratch actually eat? Surely you have to have a handle on basic cooking to survive on this diet. Tinned veg & coconut milk will make vegan staples such as soups, stews and curries, but they are going to have to learn to use them.

I've been a vegetarian most of my life, but I avoid making sweeping statements like I'd rather die than eat meat. Reading about famine-racked Maoist China, where people ate leaves and candlewax in a desperate bid to stay alive, and those in Medieval sieges who resorted to leather and rats, then you have to redefine our plumply comfortable use of the word "hungry".

fairy_lights

I think it's great that foodbanks cater for people's dietary requirements, you shouldn't have to throw your ethics out of the window just because you've fallen on hard times.
However, I don't think anyone who's relying on a food bank is in a position to say they 'don't eat rice' - surely, ethics and allergies aside, you should take what you're given and be grateful?
Tinned veg, pasta, rice, baked beans, oats, cornflakes, lentils - there's a lot that vegans can eat.

Gintotmelinda

Hi all

Thanks for all the debate and helpful suggestions. Client is allergic to tomatoes so we have to be really careful. and there are communication problems too. Asking questions is difficult and getting replies is not easy.

Thanks for signposting to Vegan on a Budget it is useful. I am going to try to source nutritional yeast. We are all volunteers and often end up spending our own money to support a client's needs if they cannot eat the usual tins, jars and packets donated to us.


Thanks.


Gintot