The Foodbank Donation Thread

GT60

Foodbanks and pantries in Greater Manchester..
This list is a well-used resource and the only one that is updated regularly.

The foodbank and pantry lists are shared freely with all foodbanks and pantries in Greater Manchester, as well as the general public and various agencies, including GM Mental Health NHS, DWP, local councils, Greater Together Manchester, Street Support, Manchester Homeless Partnership, Bury Homeless Partnership, church groups, L.A. Food response agencies, and more. 

Currently, I have listed 307 foodbanks and pantries in Greater Manchester—an increase of 87 since October 2021! 

I conduct a thorough check every four months, reaching out via email or phone calls to gather updates.

Here is the dynamic link that holds nearly every foodbank and pantry in Greater Manchester I am continuously on the lookout for any that may not yet be included. If you happen to know of any please let me know.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1L3WQBoS4t9uMQDKDANByfabig7pNDBMD?usp=sharing 

Brie

Well here's a thing!!

Chaos in Lidl yesterday - a sign by the entrance saying cash only and one of the staff saying the same to people going in.  I needed a number of things but only had £9 on me so was aiming for the bare essentials - strawberries and chicken.  Got to the tills to discover they were taking cards but they had to be cards, not phones or watches or whatever else.  So went round the shop again and back to a queue of 30 people at the self service.  There was one staffed till also working but it was cash only as the SS were all card only.  Scanned all my stuff including my Lidl Plus freebie only to discover that Lidl Plus wasn't working.  Got removed as wasn't an essential, paid and exited.  

Got home and decided to grump a bit at Lidl - easy to do on their app as there is a contact form on there.  I was polite, said what the problem was, asked if they could add my points to the app for me, asked also if they could extend the vouchers I couldn't use and were about to expire.  And then added if they could do either of those things I would be happy if they gave me a gift voucher that I could use for the food bank.  Polite salutation and expected a response sometime next week.

Imagine my surprise to get an email back in an hour with this......

Thanks for getting in touch. I'm sorry, we can’t add this missed receipt onto your monthly tracker. Each week I have a £20.00 voucher to give away as a Random Act of Kindness.  You made my day today, so I‘m sending it to you to give to the food bank.

Isn't that lovely!!  It's good to complain (politely) sometimes!!!
And it made me think - if you have a complaint maybe you'll get a better response by showing you'll be generous with anything you get back.  Now I wasn't really out of pocket too much so there's no reason for me to keep the £20 for myself.  Just a thought......

and I've now checked the local FB website to see if they had anything specific needed (long life juice apparently, I'll also see about some crisps or little treats now the kids are out of school) and might even get it delivered this to them this afternoon.  Will be going to the local one to me rather than where I've worked the last couple of years as it's a few miles away and I won't get there in time.  

Brie

I won't mention the upcoming season but you all know what I mean.  So don't forget that the food banks needs loads to keep people going over a period when there's a lot of celebration going on.  Lots of the food banks are run by volunteers so they may have little capacity over the holiday period which is why things need to be well organised and done a good while in advance.

Reverse advent calendars need to be done with enough time for the FBs to sort and distribute so please make it easy for them and please be generous.  

Flugelhorn

Brie said:

I won't mention the upcoming season but you all know what I mean.  So don't forget that the food banks needs loads to keep people going over a period when there's a lot of celebration going on.  Lots of the food banks are run by volunteers so they may have little capacity over the holiday period which is why things need to be well organised and done a good while in advance.

Reverse advent calendars need to be done with enough time for the FBs to sort and distribute so please make it easy for them and please be generous.  

absolutely! we are getting really  fab donations at present from Harvest school and church events. Reverse advent calendars are great too - and certainly in the foodbank where I volunteer, we would be happy to have them coming in into January as that is often when people's budgets are really tight

Brie

Reverse advent calendar time!!!

OK so here's the list from my local FB who state that everything should be within date until after Christmas, no nuts in anything and no alcohol either.  They suggest putting everything into a nice preferably festive shopping bag or a wrapped but unsealed box so that they can double check things are appropriate and then just hand the whole thing over to one of their customers to enjoy. 

These are ideas only, you can make adjustments according to your preferences, maybe go for gluten free or organic or vegan.  Or even do something that would be appreciated by someone for Hannukah, Bodhi Day or Kwanzaa!!

If you collect things together in November then deliver early in December the goods can get to people in time.

1. Christmas tree chocs
2. Christmas biscuits
3. Haribo
4. chocolate coins
5. Maltesers/M&Ms
6. choc matchsticks
7. crisps
8. hot chocolate
9. marshmallows
10. jelly cubes
11. cranberry sauce
12. gravy granules
13. chocolate log
14. custard
15. cheese crackers
16. chutney
17. mince pies
18. fruit squash/juice
19. shortbread
20. bread sticks/cheesy twists
21. savory snacks
22. stuffing mix
23. packet of bread sauce
24. Your favorite Christmas treat. (for me that's jelly babies!!)

If you are on a budget you might just fill a stocking with a selection of smaller items.  Or do a bag with a complete Christmas dinner for one - tinned ham, instant mash, tinned peas, gravy granules, extra nice chocs, mince pies. 

Or you can just go for the standard items which are always needed - coffee, tea, sugar, UHT milk, tins of meaty meals, cuppa soup, instant noodles, jam, tinned rice pudding.

It's helpful to have things that are quick, easy to heat up for those with limited electricity and kitchen facilities.  Helpful too if any tins have a ring pull rather than needing an opener.  

Thanks for reading this far and I hope that you can feel joy in giving.

Floss

Every payday since 2019 I have bought around £10 of stuff for the foodbank donation box in the supermarket. Usually stuff that I would eat, and some months it would be GF.

Last year I bought 10 advent calendars from Poundland (4 Malteser, 3 Bluey & 3 Barbie), then took the bag next door to M&S for their donations box. The next time I went in, the chap on the till said that since then, they'd had lots of advent calendars donated, so sometimes donations can act as a prompt for others...

Pennypincin

I remember when I volunteered in a food bank until lockdown,we used to occasionally have people coming that didn't have much in the way of cooking facilities.
Anything was gratefully received, but food that just requires a kettle was helpful. Or push come to shove something that goes into the microwave.

Flugelhorn

Pennypincin said:

I remember when I volunteered in a food bank until lockdown,we used to occasionally have people coming that didn't have much in the way of cooking facilities.
Anything was gratefully received, but food that just requires a kettle was helpful. Or push come to shove something that goes into the microwave.

we often have people put up short term in hotels - they only have a kettle and no fridge - we send plastic jugs with our stuff to be able to measure out water for some packet foods, we send mug shots / pot noodles, packets of cous cous, instant noodles amongst other things 

Brie

Flugelhorn said:

Pennypincin said:

I remember when I volunteered in a food bank until lockdown,we used to occasionally have people coming that didn't have much in the way of cooking facilities.
Anything was gratefully received, but food that just requires a kettle was helpful. Or push come to shove something that goes into the microwave.

we often have people put up short term in hotels - they only have a kettle and no fridge - we send plastic jugs with our stuff to be able to measure out water for some packet foods, we send mug shots / pot noodles, packets of cous cous, instant noodles amongst other things 

Precisely!!  Before I was involved at a food bank I thought of how I would save money with food and so would buy for the FB large bags of wholemeal pasta and tins of tomatoes so someone could make spag bol.  And didn't realise that wholemeal pasta may take longer to boil thus using more electric, assuming someone even had a stove to use! 

I now try to think of things that can just use a kettle, toaster, microwave or even can be eaten as is - like the little pots of tuna or even a jar of hotdogs.  The pot noodles and similar are great for rough sleepers who might be able to get some hot water.  The FB also had instant hot meals that are sold in some camping shops - a packet that has a stew in it and something in the pack can be manipulated and it generates some heat so there's a hot meal without any cooking equipment required.  

Lots of FBs are also associated with community kitchens and may need things to restock those so it might be a good idea to google your local places and see if they are asking for anything specific.  Ours even does Christmas dinners which they deliver to various individuals which can entail cooking dozens of turkeys and making industrial quantities of roast potatoes and gravy.   

clyndu

Flugelhorn said:

we often have people put up short term in hotels - they only have a kettle and no fridge - we send plastic jugs with our stuff to be able to measure out water for some packet foods, we send mug shots / pot noodles, packets of cous cous, instant noodles amongst other things 

Thanks for that, never thought about jugs. Tin openers-yes. When in Sainsbury this morning they had jugs for £1 each, so 3 made it into the foodbank trolley.