The Foodbank Donation Thread

Langerhan

I've seen a few people here mention buying tampons specifically for food banks. While this is a lovely idea, at the food bank where I volunteer, we have more tampons than we know what to do with. We're almost always asked for pads instead for multiple reasons (often because it's teenagers who need them and they're less likely to want to use tampons). It's great to offer those sorts of products but it might be worth checking out what specifically is needed locally.

The other thing we have a lot of is sweetcorn. It's the cheapest vegetable so people tend to donate it the most. Tins of slightly more unusual veg, like spinach or green beans, go down a treat. Tins of mixed veg curry are like gold dust.

Brie

@Langerhan
I agree donating the wrong thing can be a bit of an issue but it will depend on individual food banks.  I try to look online where they might have a list of top needs at any one time.   The "Tena Lady" type pads are a good guess depending on the age group a place might cater for. 

We're lucky locally that some of the food banks have got a good relationship with some of the local Co-op shops who bag up all their left over "fresh baked" items and donate those rather than discount them in store.  Going by the volume I think they are baking a bit too much  but it's nice to be able to give people fresh croissants or pain au chocolate rather than just a loaf of white bread.

I'll add mixed veg curry to my mental shopping list and check how popular that would be for us.  I do know that a number of "customers" have to have tinned items with ring pull and small sizes due to living in their cars with none of the usual kitchen extras like openers.  And are just heating a tin directly over a flame from a camp stove or even on their car engine.  

Cherryfudge

Thanks for the suggestion of mixed veg curry, hopefully there will be a run on it now! For those who are making themselves an emergency cupboard against power cuts/not being able to get to the shops, this would probably be a good item to have in as well as donate (buy one, donate one?)

Langerhan

Buy one, donate one is a lovely idea!

The reason the curry is so popular is that it's a mix of nutrients that actually tastes good. Spices tend to be pretty pricey, so something like tinned curried veg can be a nice bit of easy normal in amongst trying to sort out other meals.

Cherryfudge

Langerhan said:

Buy one, donate one is a lovely idea!

The reason the curry is so popular is that it's a mix of nutrients that actually tastes good. Spices tend to be pretty pricey

Thank you

If you live near a no-packaging shop such as an eco-friendly one, the spices may be much cheaper because you aren't paying for relatively expensive packaging, so if you are a food bank user and want spices in whatever amount, it's worth a try. Bring your own container but it doesn't have to be a food jar. My local one of these shops has glorious fresh spices because her turnover is much better than a big supermarket where the herbs and spices come in bulk.

Jenna_Appleseed

Di Coke's doing the foodbank donation reverse advent campaign again
https://superlucky.me/join-the-2022-foodbank-advent-campaign-you-could-win-a-50-voucher/

sammyjammy

The food bank I donate to has a list of most needed items on their website - trouble is it was last updated in April 2021!  I've lots count of how many times I have emailed the/asked them to update it.  Not helpful for me or them,  I tend to stick to toiletries/toothbrushes etc

MSE_ForumTeam3

Advent-ures in the MSE Forum | Day 3

For the third day of Advent, let us introduce you to the The Food Bank Donation Thread. 

Join the Advent-ure: open a new door of the calendar every day and discover a new corner of the community.

🌟 🎀 ✨ 🎀 🌟 🎀 ✨

MSE_Laura_F

Are you changing the sorts of things you're donating around Christmas time?

pumpkin89

I know people have different views on Christmas donations.  Some of my friends like to donate mince pies, Christmas biscuits etc. to give people a treat, but I feel it's only a treat if you actually like it, and everyone has different tastes (shortbread does nothing for me but I can never have too many mince pies - for others it would be the exact opposite!)

So I prefer to donate staple goods as I would at any time of year, because if the basics are covered, the recipients can hopefully use what little budget they have available to buy something that is a treat for them.