Food Pantries Request Healthier Donations Over Bulk Junk Food This Christmas

[Shadow]

Apparently the food banks are getting kinda picky now,they are frowning upon sugar frosted type cereals and ramen noodles. It's said that most people donate "cheap" stuff..and don't pay attention to nutritional content. They of course appreciate it...but wish we would donate healthier food items. So... from now on please purchase whole wheat pasta and low sodium soup....or one of the recommended items from their "list"
:thumb:


MILWAUKEE -- The season of giving has started, with schools, churches and businesses kicking off food drives that have become annual holiday traditions. But many food banks are asking donors to think twice before dropping ramen noodles and frosted cereals in donation barrels.
Many commonly donated foods are high in salt, sugar or calories, making them poor choices for people with high blood pressure, diabetes and other diet-related health problems. With more people turning to food banks and for longer periods of time, agency officials say they need donations but they'd like to see people give the kind of healthy and nutritious items they'd serve to their own families.
Sherrie Tussler, the executive director of the Hunger Task Force's Milwaukee office, said people tend to donate cheap foods without paying much attention to the nutrition content – and they may do so with the best of intentions. For example, people who fondly recall living off of ramen noodles in college tend to donate them to food banks, even though a single serving can have half the recommended daily allowance of sodium.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/food-pantries-healthy-food-donations_n_1104973.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl17|sec3_lnk2|114424

[ConHog]

Apparently the food banks are getting kinda picky now,they are frowning upon sugar frosted type cereals and ramen noodles. It's said that most people donate "cheap" stuff..and don't pay attention to nutritional content. They of course appreciate it...but wish we would donate healthier food items. So... from now on please purchase whole wheat pasta and low sodium soup....or one of the recommended items from their "list"
:thumb:


MILWAUKEE -- The season of giving has started, with schools, churches and businesses kicking off food drives that have become annual holiday traditions. But many food banks are asking donors to think twice before dropping ramen noodles and frosted cereals in donation barrels.
Many commonly donated foods are high in salt, sugar or calories, making them poor choices for people with high blood pressure, diabetes and other diet-related health problems. With more people turning to food banks and for longer periods of time, agency officials say they need donations but they'd like to see people give the kind of healthy and nutritious items they'd serve to their own families.
Sherrie Tussler, the executive director of the Hunger Task Force's Milwaukee office, said people tend to donate cheap foods without paying much attention to the nutrition content – and they may do so with the best of intentions. For example, people who fondly recall living off of ramen noodles in college tend to donate them to food banks, even though a single serving can have half the recommended daily allowance of sodium.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/food-pantries-healthy-food-donations_n_1104973.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl17|sec3_lnk2|114424


Guess they'd ;prefer we donate lobster and steak. Maybe some champagne to wash it down?

[Shadow]

Guess they'd ;prefer we donate lobster and steak. Maybe some champagne to wash it down?

Heck no... that is considered perishables (well, unless it is canned I guess....but no glass bottles)... but...hey...I'm needy...you can donate it to me instead.


They would probably prefer the cash.:coffee:

[ConHog]

Heck no... that is considered perishables (well, unless it is canned I guess....but no glass bottles)... but...hey...I'm needy...you can donate it to me instead.


They would probably prefer the cash.:coffee:

I'll donate some (tube) steak to you :laugh2:

[CSM]

Makes sense to me. The working guy busts his butt to feed his family macaronni and cheese but we gotta makes sure the no working parasites eat healthy so they can give the government hand out machine reason to continue operating. Still bugs me when the local charity calls wanting to send poor kids to summer camp; couldn't afford to send my own kids but they want my money to send somebody elses. No doubt the OWS folks need organic foodstuffs too.

[DragonStryk72]

As someone who goes to food pantries, thanks to getting laid off from my assembly line job that paid 10+/hr more than the local p/t shit jobs I've been able to get, I can understand this. they're not saying you can't give ramen and such, but they're getting too much ramen and such, so yeah, they're asking people for stuff that is more nutritious because they're worried about the health of the people they're feeding. Pantries are volunteer, so the workers aren't even getting paid for this, they're some of the few people who are legitimately trying to watch out for the poor, which with our current unemployment rate (Thank you so much, Obama), is more people than you think.

And you have no idea how many old vets I'm in line with, and they simple can't have frosted cereals, and sodium-rich ramen. They're not asking for more expensive, just healthier. Canned fruit, tuna, and the like are all really helpful, cheap, and they are healthy. Same thing with basic soups like tomato or chicken.

[Shadow]

Makes sense to me. The working guy busts his butt to feed his family macaronni and cheese but we gotta makes sure the no working parasites eat healthy so they can give the government hand out machine reason to continue operating. Still bugs me when the local charity calls wanting to send poor kids to summer camp; couldn't afford to send my own kids but they want my money to send somebody elses. No doubt the OWS folks need organic foodstuffs too.

Usually when I decide to donate food I am thinking...What can I buy for a set amount of money that will feed the most people. That usually means things like Mac n Cheese,Ramen Noodles,Tomato sauce, Sometimes canned veggies If I can find a good deal (they have gotten kind of expensive these days).

Same kind of thing I would buy for my own family...like you said.

I'm not going to go to the store and buy more expensive items than I would for myself.

[Shadow]

As someone who goes to food pantries, thanks to getting laid off from my assembly line job that paid 10+/hr more than the local p/t shit jobs I've been able to get, I can understand this. they're not saying you can't give ramen and such, but they're getting too much ramen and such, so yeah, they're asking people for stuff that is more nutritious because they're worried about the health of the people they're feeding. Pantries are volunteer, so the workers aren't even getting paid for this, they're some of the few people who are legitimately trying to watch out for the poor, which with our current unemployment rate (Thank you so much, Obama), is more people than you think.

And you have no idea how many old vets I'm in line with, and they simple can't have frosted cereals, and sodium-rich ramen. They're not asking for more expensive, just healthier. Canned fruit, tuna, and the like are all really helpful, cheap, and they are healthy. Same thing with basic soups like tomato or chicken.

I would imagine with the crappy economy a lot of people are finding it harder to donate a lot of food stuffs in the first place. I can understand wanting healthy items. I just hope people don't get turned off by feeling their donations aren't appreciated because they are being "too cheap".

[ConHog]

Usually when I decide to donate food I am thinking...What can I buy for a set amount of money that will feed the most people. That usually means things like Mac n Cheese,Ramen Noodles,Tomato sauce, Sometimes canned veggies If I can find a good deal (they have gotten kind of expensive these days).

Same kind of thing I would buy for my own family...like you said.

I'm not going to go to the store and buy more expensive items than I would for myself.

My brother is is wholesale foods. We just as a family decided to donate $1K worth of meat andcanned food to the local food bank. All off brand stuff. Corn, Green Beans, Carrots, canned potatoes, peas, that sort of thing. we paid the wholesale price , 25 cents a can. If that's not good enough for the hungry they can just do without as far as I'm concerned. The meat is an assortment of hamburger, chicken, turkey, and ground pork. All lesser quality stuff, but as my old gramps used to say "beggars can't be choosers"

[Kathianne]

My brother is is wholesale foods. We just as a family decided to donate $1K worth of meat andcanned food to the local food bank. All off brand stuff. Corn, Green Beans, Carrots, canned potatoes, peas, that sort of thing. we paid the wholesale price , 25 cents a can. If that's not good enough for the hungry they can just do without as far as I'm concerned. The meat is an assortment of hamburger, chicken, turkey, and ground pork. All lesser quality stuff, but as my old gramps used to say "beggars can't be choosers"

I agree. That you can get wholesale is fantastic! That $1k goes so much further. The message from that food pantry is a weird one. If people only donate specialty goods, they are going to get far less, as folks are donating what they can afford. Now if I were just 'shopping' to give canned foods, yeah I'd pick up low sodium soups, but that will not feed nearly as many for the $1.39 as a 10 pack of ramen noodle for a few cents more. Throw in some vegetables and an egg and that ramen noodle is pretty darn good, albeit high in sodium.

[DragonStryk72]

My brother is is wholesale foods. We just as a family decided to donate $1K worth of meat andcanned food to the local food bank. All off brand stuff. Corn, Green Beans, Carrots, canned potatoes, peas, that sort of thing. we paid the wholesale price , 25 cents a can. If that's not good enough for the hungry they can just do without as far as I'm concerned. The meat is an assortment of hamburger, chicken, turkey, and ground pork. All lesser quality stuff, but as my old gramps used to say "beggars can't be choosers"

See? That stuff's great! Those are all solid component items that are pretty healthy for you over all. But when you get a bunch of people sending stuff like Trix cereal, and Ramen, it's a problem. actually, I trade the old guys for their ramen, so I'm eating a pretty heavy amount of the stuff myself. Mac & Cheese is still good, even. It's really just the junk food they're trying to reduce.

You wanna see a fun sight? The local Price Chopper up here donated their excess bread to the pantry, and you'd have thought that we'd been informed we were going to Olive Garden. No, we were all thrilled because we got to have artisan breads, french bread, even loaves of garlic bread and bagels. It isn't a matter of the recipients being ungrateful, but the workers of the pantries trying to ensure that they can provide a somewhat balanced diet for those coming for whatever they can get.

[Trigg]

I tend to give canned veggies and things like that. Cereal is too expensive for me to give away and my kids get the store brands anyway, they'd be thrilled if they saw Trix in the pantry. :laugh:

[Kathianne]

I tend to give canned veggies and things like that. Cereal is too expensive for me to give away and my kids get the store brands anyway, they'd be thrilled if they saw Trix in the pantry. :laugh:

Nowadays I'm not able to contribute, but in the near past I gave things in my own cupboards that I'd not used and thought someone else might be able to. Things like Creams of ? soups, always bought in bulk and use only for certain recipes. Canned fruit and vegetables, while I do use the fruits, often had more on hand than could consume in reasonable amount of time and limited cupboard space. pastas, noodles, soups. Once again, Costco/Sam's club buying. Not a problem currently, could actually hit the pantry up myself. If I did, I'd say, 'thanks,' not, 'why not this...'

[Shadow]

I just think it is very limiting to tell food donors they don't want you to donate things like

Canned Ravioli (or other pasta)
Tuna/chicken/ham that is packed in oil
Ramen Noodles
Canned Fruit if it's in syrup
Drinks that arent 100 % juice
Sweetened Cereal
Chips
Cookies
Crackers

And so on...

A lot of people don't buy name brands and tend to buy what is on sale (especially right now in this economy).

I don't know...it sounds kind of ungrateful and picky to me.

[DragonStryk72]

I just think it is very limiting to tell food donors they don't want you to donate things like

Canned Ravioli (or other pasta)
Tuna/chicken/ham that is packed in oil
Ramen Noodles
Canned Fruit if it's in syrup
Drinks that arent 100 % juice
Sweetened Cereal
Chips
Cookies
Crackers

And so on...

A lot of people don't buy name brands and tend to buy what is on sale (especially right now in this economy).

I don't know...it sounds kind of ungrateful and picky to me.

I can understand the Sweetened cereal, ramen (high sodium, with a large elderly population that relies on the place), chips and cookies.

Also, why does everyone seem to assume it's the people using the food pantry that are doing this? From most the people I've seen, we just don't care that much. Usually these things are done by the people running the pantries.

[Psychoblues]

I can understand the Sweetened cereal, ramen (high sodium, with a large elderly population that relies on the place), chips and cookies.

Also, why does everyone seem to assume it's the people using the food pantry that are doing this? From most the people I've seen, we just don't care that much. Usually these things are done by the people running the pantries.

Now that is what is real, DS72. The users of the pantries are not at all concerned with what might be available to eat but only something is available. It's up to to us to at least attempt to donate healthy and nourishing foodstuffs to thees pantries. From firsthand knowledge I know the workers there do their level best to put the most filling and the most nutritious foods out for the hungry. I changed my giving habits along the nutritional lines about 20 years ago.

What you said about the old vets. I see them all the time. Many of them don't even go to the VA for treatment. They don't live in a house or own a vehicle. They can't stand any financial dealings at all including just opening a bank account so if they get government assistance or a VA disability it can be deposited and the VA will not give you a check if you don't have an address or a bank account. It isn't just thousands, it's hundreds of thousands of old vets and some fairly young ones living in these so very desperate conditions. Why? I had 2 brothers that lived like that and neither could ever give me a good reason why they couldn't do better. They didn't seem to think they were doing all that bad. One died from agent orange exposure cancer and the other died from what I always called jungle fever. He was a Sea Bee and he preferred sleeping under a tree or an open sky but he refused to be caged up in any air conditioned or heated house. He made do with whatever he could, developed a group of fairly like minded friends and whenever one had money, food, dope or alcohol they all had it till it was gone. He died in a drug induced jaywalking incident across a very busy highway at rush hour traffic.

I hope you can get your own situation straightened out pretty soon, DS72.

Psychoblues

[Shadow]

I can understand the Sweetened cereal, ramen (high sodium, with a large elderly population that relies on the place), chips and cookies.

Also, why does everyone seem to assume it's the people using the food pantry that are doing this? From most the people I've seen, we just don't care that much. Usually these things are done by the people running the pantries.

That wasn't my interpretation at all. I did undertand the issue I was having being with the people running the pantry...not the folks picking up the food. I think they are hurting the potiential for larger food donations.

For instance...just the other day they had a sale on store brand boxed cereal. 10 boxes for 10 dollars....lots of frosted flakes,cookie crisp,honey nut cherios etc. Now...that would have been something I normally might have taken advantage of to buy for a donation. But now? Not so much. Instead I would now probably not buy anything... because they don't want it.

And it's not just the food pantry in this story either. Same kind of thing turns me off at the fund raisers through my work place. They hit you up constantly for money for charity after charity (which is fine) as well as donations of food and such...but when you want to participate they give you a "list" that could potentially cost quite a bit of money...then if you won't buy the listed items...they just want a set amount of cash... instead of letting you give what you can. It just rubs me the wrong way.

[DragonStryk72]

That wasn't my interpretation at all. I did undertand the issue I was having being with the people running the pantry...not the folks picking up the food. I think they are hurting the potiential for larger food donations.

For instance...just the other day they had a sale on store brand boxed cereal. 10 boxes for 10 dollars....lots of frosted flakes,cookie crisp,honey nut cherios etc. Now...that would have been something I normally might have taken advantage of to buy for a donation. But now? Not so much. Instead I would now probably not buy anything... because they don't want it.

And it's not just the food pantry in this story either. Same kind of thing turns me off at the fund raisers through my work place. They hit you up constantly for money for charity after charity (which is fine) as well as donations of food and such...but when you want to participate they give you a "list" that could potentially cost quite a bit of money...then if you won't buy the listed items...they just want a set amount of cash... instead of letting you give what you can. It just rubs me the wrong way.

Actually, Honey Nut Cheerios would be fine, as it is helps with cholesterol, but a lot of people just can't eat stuff like frosted flakes and cookie crisp (I can eat a whole box of each in a sitting, but again, a lot of old people). If you're in the desert, and I give you saltwater, I'm not really helping you out. But yeah, some people just take it too far, deciding "If we can get everyone to give at least x, we'll be set!"

What's odd is that the amount is usually somewhat reasonable, and they're cutting themselves off at the kneecaps because people will then put in ONLY the minimum amount, whereas they probably would have given more otherwise.

[Love Monkey]

Seems like if I was starving to death and didn't have money for food and relied on Food Pantries for my groceries, I don't think I would be very damned picky about what I ended up with.

[Psychoblues]

Seems like if I was starving to death and didn't have money for food and relied on Food Pantries for my groceries, I don't think I would be very damned picky about what I ended up with.

Has anyone said that those starving to death and didn't have money for food were in ANY way being picky, LM? That would be ridiculous, wouldn't it?

Psychoblues

[ConHog]

I agree. That you can get wholesale is fantastic! That $1k goes so much further. The message from that food pantry is a weird one. If people only donate specialty goods, they are going to get far less, as folks are donating what they can afford. Now if I were just 'shopping' to give canned foods, yeah I'd pick up low sodium soups, but that will not feed nearly as many for the $1.39 as a 10 pack of ramen noodle for a few cents more. Throw in some vegetables and an egg and that ramen noodle is pretty darn good, albeit high in sodium.

Just an update. The company my brother works for (He's actually a VP and does all their purchasing) is matching our family donation dollar for dollar so our local food bank is getting $2K in merchandise from us.

[Shadow]

Just an update. The company my brother works for (He's actually a VP and does all their purchasing) is matching our family donation dollar for dollar so our local food bank is getting $2K in merchandise from us.

That's nice when companies are willing to do that. My employer will usually match donations too when you give money to one of the charities they sponsor.