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S/O Do you donate foods you won't eat in your own home?


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and I will say that the people in charge have some very warped ideas of what good food is. Any canned beans that are not baked beans are "ethnic" and so were the 25lb bags of rice somebody donated - they were foisted off on some "foreigners" (latin americans) who were extremely happy to get them. I guess since we eat things like chickpeas and beans and rice we must be foreigners too. I'd rather donate things that we eat, but they don't really want them.

 

Wow, I had not considered this perspective. I am glad you posted. One of my girls is gluten free. After seeing all the processed foods (lots of gluten) and cheap bread products at my church's food pantry, I started deliberately buying rice (the good whole grain kind) and beans because it is stable, nutritious and gluten free. I did not think about ethnic. Now I wonder if the food pantry thinks I am gluten aware or wierd.:lol:

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Wow, I had not considered this perspective. I am glad you posted. One of my girls is gluten free. After seeing all the processed foods (lots of gluten) and cheap bread products at my church's food pantry, I started deliberately buying rice (the good whole grain kind) and beans because it is stable, nutritious and gluten free. I did not think about ethnic. Now I wonder if the food pantry thinks I am gluten aware or wierd.:lol:

Yep. Poor people can have celiac disease, lactose intolerance, food allergies, diabetes, or any number of other problems that make "take what you can get and be grateful for it" a less than appealing option. It's not always just a matter of personal preference or preferring good nutrition. A jar of peanut butter doesn't do you any good if opening it is going to put you into anaphylactic shock.

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If that's what a specific food bank requested, then yes, I would donate foods that we didn't necessarily eat. We have not purchased single-serve convenience foods, like Spaghettios, but sometimes food pantries are looking to send easy-to-prepare foods home with children whose parent(s) is/are working long hours, or the families receiving food may not have proper storage and cooking facilities. Given the choice between a child on his/her own eating nothing and eating convenience food, even if it's not what I would consider to be nutritious, convenience food would win.

 

Now, I'd far rather donate money so that a food bank could purchase bulk amounts of staple foods, or fresh produce as needed, or whatever, so that people could get the best possible food, but something trumps nothing.

Edited by happypamama
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Yep. Poor people can have celiac disease, lactose intolerance, food allergies, diabetes, or any number of other problems that make "take what you can get and be grateful for it" a less than appealing option. It's not always just a matter of personal preference or preferring good nutrition. A jar of peanut butter doesn't do you any good if opening it is going to put you into anaphylactic shock.

 

Exactly, that's why I try to donate stuff my dd could eat. It was hard enough to change to a gf kitchen, when I had the blessing of being able to shop at Whole Foods, Native Sun and farmer's markets.

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I don't only donate what I consider to be crap (though we do donate some items that I consider questionable when they are specifically requested). For example, around the holidays items such as canned hams, Stove Top, canned cranberry sauce, pie filling and the like are requested. I donate those items. I do not serve those items to my own family (though I suppose that I would, and be grateful for the opportunity, if we fell on hard times).

 

Most of the time we donate food that we would eat: dry beans, white or brown rice, white or wheat pasta, and peanut butter and the like (without HFCS or other questionable ingredients). Those are foods that we eat. Sometimes we just grab a few extra and place them in the donate box. It would never occur to me to grab cheap stuff for the food pantry just because it was cheap.

 

Sometimes people give us non-perishables that we don't care to eat. They go straight in the donate box.

Edited by Pretty in Pink
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A lady from our church was going through hard times. Our church took up donations. Together we gave a van load of food. Our family gave sugar, flour, pasta etc.-things they could cook what they with. She called me the day after it was given and said they got more than they could use, and she didn't cook so would we be willing to take some of what they would not use. We got the rice, beans, flour, sugar, pasta, etc. They kept Pop-Tarts, Mac and Cheese, canned goods and junk. It kind of taught me a lesson that you can give someone the tools to cook nutritious food, but that doesn't mean they will use them.

 

Our neighbor did this too. They regularly got food from various food banks or individuals. The first time she told her kids to come ask us if we wanted stuff. I went over to see what she was talking about. She didn't want any of the healthy or "make it" foods she had other than some apples. She was feeding a can of salmon to their cat. I suggested she re-donate the items she didn't want, but I'm not sure what she actually did.

 

I also made a mental note to never donate salmon.

 

When our school does food drives we get many expired, dented, and rusted items. Right before Christmas the earliest date I took in expired in 1996.

 

I never donate expired items. I will donate what they can use that we don't eat (mainly canned veggies).

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I will donate some foods we don't eat, because of the necessity of foods being non-perishable (canned soups, for example,) but I have a line.

 

When we do food drives with a group, I see a lot of cheap stuff donated: canned veggies, mac and cheese, etc. So I always try to donate protein sources and main dish items.

 

Many times we aren't donating to a food bank, but to a family from one of dh's schools or church that needs a few bags of groceries. I like that better, because I can plan meals and give what they need, and I can give perishables, which is way better than canned/boxed stuff.

 

Dh said I was the only person he'd even known who would donate almond butter and whole wheat pasta to a food bank, but now I can tell him others do donate similar things, too! :D

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