So I’m in the hospital, having recently given birth, and some sort of social worker / busybody type comes by to tell me about this program that sells cheap groceries by the pre-assorted box.
Thirty dollars buys you: 1x 4.5lb whole frozen chicken, 1x 28oz meatloaf, 2 lbs lasagna, 1 lb ground beef, 1.5 lb hamburger patties with cheese, 1x 12" frozen pizza, 1 lb hot dogs, 1 lb baby carrots, 2 lbs random frozen vegetables, 15oz baked beans, 1 box “skillet meal helper”, 1 cabbage, 1x 11oz box of cereal, 1x 32oz box of shelf-stable milk, and 1 dozen eggs. Plus a random dessert item.
I live in Texas, where food is pretty darn cheap, but this is insanely cheap, to the point that it makes me suspicious. Has anyone tried this out? What’s the catch?
Brand new moms and infants are at high risk for malnutrition. Sounds like the busybody is just trying to make sure you and the tyke have what you need to be healthy.
And they’ve done some of your shopping for you. It’s not everything you’ll need but it’s a least one less trip someone will have to take to the store, pick out stuff, stand in line to pay…
Might not sound like a big deal but a couple weeks after the baby is born and sleep deprivation sets in, you’ll look for anything that makes life easier.
I don’t think there is any catch. I know a person or two (more cheap and lazy than actually poor or homebound) that have used such services. You buy that kinda stuff in bulk (which they do) and or get some stuff donated once in awhile and that price certainly seems doable.
I think the only real downside is if the selection REALLY isnt the kind of stuff you would want to eat.
It’s run as a charity, so they buy food at huge bulk discounts and volunteers create the boxes and do the selling to at risk groups. They have a website too.
It’s not available in my area but I’m not sure I’d use them if they were.
Personally, I’d rather mix my own meatloaf and lasagna but that may be ok for some.
I’m pretty sure what’s in the boxes change each time, too, so keep that in mind if you use them more than once.
I, too, have seen them discussed on other forums and some people swear by them. It does sound like quite a bit of food for thirty bucks.
As for the busy body, I agree she sounds like she was just passing on some information she thought might be useful. There are other programs, too, such as WIC (Women, Infants, and Children), which provides dairy products for children under the age of five (I think) and mothers. I’m not sure what the income guidelines are but I know a lot of women use the program.
I informally toted up the individual items and it came to $27 plus the “random dessert” (which I didn’t feel could be accurately priced.
Some of those items are thing I rarely buy, so there was substantial guess work. And I assumed low, somewhat-on-sale prices since it’s their choice what they sell you.
It doesn’t seem like a trick or gimmick.
I think I could go shopping at the local grocer, buy nothing but sale items and do better for myself.
I didn’t do the math but you’re probably right. Especially if you shop like I do. I buy my extra lean ground beef from a butcher and, if I buy at least five pounds, it costs $2.29 a pound. Any other meat, I always buy from the discount/marked down for quick sale bin - usually at half or less than its original cost. Take it home and either eat it that day or it goes in the freezer and it’s fine. Canned food can be bought at pretty good savings at scratch and dent stores. I don’t buy much convenience foods and I never buy things like Hamburger Helper (I do buy a few boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese each month for quick lunches for my kid).
But, for a mom with a new baby, a thirty dollar box of food like mentioned in the OP might come in handy.
If you lived in a “food desert” area (no good grocery stores within a reasonable distance), that would be very helpful. It sounds like that isn’t the case for the OP, though, so she’d have to sit down and do the math to see if it fit her needs and costs.
Not a scam at all. My elderly mom & dad (fixed income) take advantage of this every month. Around here its only $25 per box, or at least it was when they started doing it. I have heard the program called different things in different areas of the country. Here it is Angel Food Ministries, where my nephew lives out west its called Bountiful Baskets.
I like that it is available to anyone, regardless if income.
If the meatloaf and lasagna and pizza are pretty regular items, also that’s about week’s worth of dinners that are already cooked for you, and for a new mother, time savings can be even better than the money savings. Having a new baby around means a lot of adjustments, and the deal seems to be a pretty decent one, if you’ll eat the food.
Our church does Angel Foods, and I have bought a few baskets - a meat one and a frozen dinner one. The meats were decent. Four okay steaks, some kielbasa, four very good pork chops, a pork loin, a turkey breast, and a few pounds of burger. The frozen dinner one was not so fabulous. it was very clearly marked for seniors (discovered after received) and the food was very bland.
Our church is in an inner city, the majority of the congregation is eldery and on fixed budgets. Most of the neighbors are at or below poverty guidelines. What we’ve taken to doing is supplementing the Angel Food baskets with foodstuffs from our food shelves. For some people they can stretch the $25 they pay for the AF box a few weeks with what is added on the side.
I’m able to feed my family without charity; however, will buying one of these boxes support the charity, or take away from it? In other words, can someone of able means buy one of these boxes with a clear conscience?
FTR, I don’t see us actually buying a box due to lifestyle. I can’t tell from the site if the food is the charity or if buying the food gives them buying power/leverage to provide boxes to more people.
Our local supermarket does it’s own box of food type thing around the holidays except they are 6 or 7 dollars to buy a box. No meat but all the fixings for a holiday meal and all non perishable. Some of the stuff people won’t use like the lasagna noodles. Poor people can’t afford the ricotta and mozzarella to make lasagna. A box full of Macaroni and cheese dinners would be more appreciated.
Charity is huge for me and having volunteered at food pantries for years it has gotten really bad. I hate to say it but your money isn’t only going to the poor families but to the thieves. I have told a few I’m on to them but they keep coming back. It is so important to feed the poor children I keep at it but it is so sad to see the trend. Such a good thing gone terribly wrong.
The couple that took over the running of a local pantry along with a lot of great volunteers have left. They were good people that got fed up. Theft is so bad I know when I leave the volunteers that stay behind are stealing the place blind. There isn’t anything I can do about it. It’s an inside job. I can’t really think of anything lower then stealing from a food pantry but it is running this one out of business!
There are a couple reasons for this that I am going to try and get addressed at the next meeting. I am also going to be hated for it and probably lose my volunteer job over it but there are plenty of other charities. I am a minority in that I volunteer for one reason. To feed the hungry… period.
The number one problem is “The Chicken In The Hen House Syndrome”. You can’t ever put people without morals in a position of power. They will steal you blind every time. The church run food pantries where volunteers are not in need themselves run well. The state funded ones are all broken and it’s by the people running them. They are basically stealing from the poor to better themselves. Some of the volunteers probably save hundred of dollars a month shopping for food by stealing it. The pantry at the local welfare office is a joke. The poor people get the left overs. The volunteers along with the people not in need that go to them justify the theft to themselves, “It’s only a little that I’m taking” or some other nonsense. If your pantry is stocked and you have 50+ families come through in two hours it is depleted by the end of your shift and people go home with little or nothing. Many put down they are a family of seven which is the maximum. We know they live alone or off a girlfriend who is with them with her own slip for 7. There is a 400 hundred pound man that comes through… Then there is the trailer park crew who all pile in a van and come through seperately and joke how this is going to really help with the beer money this month. It goes on and on the stories I can tell. It’s sad.
Sorry to go on so long but this is something I feel passionately about. I want to help feed the poor, not the thieves. I personally don’t buy the boxes. Angel Ministries is legit. I donate to my local church run pantry directly. I just help out at one that is not doing well due to looting.
I was taught true charity is something given freely of the heart with no thought of recompense or recognition. In other words you don’t go to get something free for yourself to supplement what you already have. You don’t volunteer to steal.
I don’t have the answer to this problem. True christian charity has gone by the wayside along with morals. If people don’t start getting some morals soon there may not be a food pantry to get help from.