What about basic spices, like pepper, garlic, onion powder, oregano, etc? Wouldn’t it be nice to add, so they can, well, “spice up” an otherwise boring meal of beans and rice?
When in your cereal aisle, look up. The top shelf or two will be filled with the more nutritious cereals, above the boxes of crap with cartoons on it. Flakes, Low-fat granolas, stuff with “bran” in the name, that sort of thing. Kashi is one of my favorite brands at the moment, and can often be found on sale at my local stores. Even good old Life cereal is pretty healthy, and tasty too.
Guinastasia, spices are a great idea.
At one point I needed and got food donations. I was grateful for everything, even stuff I’d never dealt with before. When they handed it out, they asked you to check the bag for things you couldn’t eat and return it. If there were other leftovers from the last couple people you could swap for those. I always returned anything with fish, due to allergies, but was never able to swap.
I am now going to donate for the dogs and cats. Maybe fishie food too.
I was very thankful to receive canned goods and other dry goods. Thanks for the beans and rice when I was short on funds.
The OP raises a valid point. At many churches I’ve attended, people have treated the food pantry as a chance to get rid of items they’re never going to use. And odds are, if YOU can’t use a can of celery soup or a jar of Cheez Whiz, a homeless man can’t use it either.
If you’re donating to a food pantry, you might want to ask the people running it what kind of clients they get. There are different KINDS of poor people, after all, and the items you’d give to a pantry serving homeless men would be different from those you’d give to one serving single moms with a couple of kids.
If the pantry is providing mostly for homeless men, you might want to consider donating packages of small, single-serving, pop-top canned goods (saomething a guy on the street can open and eat quickly and easily). If they’re serving single moms with kids, a large can of Spaghettios or Chef Boyardee spaghetti & meatballs (or some other complete meal) might be useful.
And in BOTH cases, toiletries are likely to be needed. Remember: a single mom who’s getting food stamps can use those food stamps to buy almost any food items, but she CAN’T use them to buy a lot of basic toiletry items.
So again, ask the pantry coordinators if they like getting toiletries. I expect many will say, “Definitely.” If they’re serving homeless men, small, travel-size bottle of shampoo or hand soap would be good choices, as would travel size deodorant sticks, small cans of shaving cream, and toothbrushes or razors. And a single mom with kids would probably like getting a package of Charmin, a large bottle of shampoo, a few tubes of toothpaste, et al. And in many cases, baby supplies (be it Pampers, wipes, powder, Vaseline, whatever) are very much needed.
Before she died my elderly grandmother greatly appreciated the help the local food pantry gave her. She was on SSI and had to count every penny. My parents tried to assist her but they didn’t have much money themselves.
She was Jewish and also greatly looked forward to a gift basket of Jewish themed food local Jewish charity groups would give her at certain holidays like Passover and Purim.
That’s another thing many people might like: ethnic food. Sometimes people would like to celebrate certain holidays but they may not have the money to spend on specific foods. My grandmother always adored items like gefilte fish, ring jells and matza.
I much prefer to donate money to these kinds of food pantries. They can make the decision about what types of food poor people need better than I can. I just don’t have time to pick out food items at the supermarket and then find a pantry to donate them to. Donating money is much more efficient for me.
See, I don’t see this at all. I think a homeless person tends to see it as “food is food is food”. Sure, celery soup might not have been what they had at the top of their wish list, but I certainly don’t believe they’re going to scoff at it or turn it down.
I can’t use the twenty cans of tomato soup that were left behind by a previous tenant, but that doesn’t mean someone else can’t. And I’d be willing to bet there are people who are thinking “God, what I wouldn’t give for some crackers and a little bit of cheeze whiz right now!”
I was going to mention the toiletries too. TP, for sure, soap and shampoo, along with toothpaste, razors and sanitary pads or tampons and facial tissue.
On the subject of petfood, in Canada, food has a little logo from the Canadain Veterinary Association that insures that the food is adequate. I’ve seen cases where the cheapest food is sometimes labeled and a more expensive brand isn’t. Posters have mentioned dogs, cats and fish - I’ll add budgie and canary food. Elderly folks often have small birds.
As a past recipient, I’d say the stock stuff, rice etc, does come in handy. Just watch the cans. Artichoke hearts and escargot (really! ) aren’t exactly on everyone’s dinner menu.
An idea for the people who have limited cooking facilities is good quality granola or breakfast bars, lots of bread with PB and jam and small cans of meat paste or tuna. Food replacement drinks like Ensure or Boost help too.
I don’t know if they’re accepted, and you should ask first, but if possible check out basic medicine too. Asprin/acetiminiphen, bandaids, sunscreen and OTC cold remedies are all hard to afford. Bottles should be sealed, of course.
Finally, what about small everyday things like little sewing kits, pens and pencils, paper or notebooks, batteries, house cleaning items (sponges, potscrubbers, brushes) toiletry items like razors, combs and mirrors, laundry soap, dish soap and garbage bags. All of these are things you don’t really think about until you don’t have them and can’t afford to get 'em.
Damn straight! And celery soup is nice with rice.
Prior to the end of November when hubby started a wonderful new job, I made good use of several local food pantries; now, we weren’t starving, but saving that money on groceries made it a little easier for us to pay the utilities and such. We were a family of five (my, hubby, two teenagers anda preschooler), and here are the things I appreciated most:
pasta (plain or mac n cheese)
canned soups
jars of spaghetti sauce
canned fruit/veggies/applesauce
dry cereal
oatmeal
rice
egg noodles
instant mashed potatoes
canned tuna
crackers.
baking mixes (cakes, brownies, muffins, quick breads)
I could buy some meat on sale at the market, and use these things to stretch it, stretch it, stretch it.
Now that the good paychecks have started, I’m the one doing the donating. I’m a strong believer in the Golden Rule.
I do, however, second those who recommend you not give really weird stuff. Someone, somewhere, might want that jar of pickled cactus or that bottle of borscht. But most people don’t.
You also might want to talk to your local food pantry and see what grocery stores in your area offer food boxes or bags. In our area, Food Lion sells boxes of canned goods that are specifically for the food pantry. The items are pre-selected - you just pick up a box, the cashier scans it for you, you pay, and then you put the box in the food pantry donation container. Each box is $5.
Basic staples our food pantry likes to get:
Soup
Canned green beans and corn
Corn Flakes
Infant formula
Juice boxes
Canned tuna
My all-time lowest was when I donated a can of saurkraut juice to a food drive. :o
Ooooooh, I think you need to redeem yourself by donating a box of peanut butter or something far more palatable.
Good point, which deserves emphasis. Obviously, if you don’t have a kitchen, you can’t refrigerate, cook, bake, or heat anything, and food items that need to have something added (milk, eggs, butter, water, oil) are especially useless.
I agree about the Cheez Whiz and celery soup. When it comes to donating food, “beggars can’t be choosers” should not apply. I’ve never donated anything that I wouldn’t have been glad to get.
My local grocery store (it’s the only one in town) does something similar. They have started selling what’s called “Birthday in a Bag” for the food shelf. You can pick up a bag that has everything needed for a kids’ birthday party—cake mix, frosting, candles, balloons, napkins, treats for the kid to take to school, etc. The grocery store charges their cost only, and delivers them to the food shelf. At Thanksgiving/Christmas time, they had packages made up with all the fixings for a holiday meal that you could buy, too. Basically they included everything but the turkey, which you could buy separately. Terrific idea, I think.
Exactly. I had beans and rice (and tamales) for dinner last night, and I’m a long way from poor. The rice was from a packaged mix, just like the ones people sometimes give to food banks. I eat instant mashed potatoes, too, just because sometimes I don’t have the time or energy to make real ones. I imagine that poor people often have the same kinds of time and energy constraints.
I didn’t know that food banks would take pet food. I will remember that next time I am donating food.
And, TellMeI’mNotCrazy, you could send me the twenty cans of tomato soup 
Just to clarify, I don’t think people should just donate crappy stuff because they figure that “beggars can’t be choosers”, but I also don’t think that anyone should just toss something they already have believing that no one would want it.
Most food banks will accept cash donations as well, which are used to purchase produce and fresh meat for people.
If you feel better about providing those things, you could switch to dropping off a few dollars in lieu of the boxed goods.