Our family has decided to by food and give it to a food bank for the holidays.

[redirish28]

Granted we don't make much and my wife usually donates two or three dollars here or their throughout the holiday season so it ends up being a total of $40 dollars.


Any ideas on what to buy?

[raccoon]

1. That's a great idea. I guess the usual non-perishable rules would apply.

Canned foods, canned meats, maybe cereals.

[sufrommich]

2. Can I make a suggestion, my daughter in law runs a food

bank here in Michigan, save your donation until the end of January, beginning of February when food donations drop off and food banks are in greater need.The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the one time when food banks are swamped with donations . Call your local food bank and make a commitment for a later time period.

[supernova]

3. Couple of ideas

1) Call the food bank and ask if they are running low on a particular kind of item then fill that need.

2) Think about storage. Anything in tin cans and plastic (either regular or new eco packaging made from starch or soy). A couple of years ago a food bank around here had to trash a lot of rice and cereal because bugs had eaten into the cardboard packaging. They had to start over with more durable containers.

You're a lot of good souls. :hug:

[ChazII]

5. Good idea.

Our church and one down the street both have food banks that I donate to through out the year. I check to see what they are running low on and bring that item to help fill the need. One of them tries to help the folks with diabetes so I bring Boost and other similar products to that church.

[AimeeS]

4. WOW!

*smiles* That is so awesome. I love to help those less fortunate as I too.

[ZombieHorde]

6. Why do you hate America you freaken socialist traitor!?

Just kidding, recommended.

[NNN0LHI]

7. Might be better off just donating the money to the food bank?

Around here most of the food banks are supplied by the Chicago Food Depository which gets the food donated donated to them from the large grocery store chains and then sells it to the food banks for only a few cents per pound. So there is a good chance that the food banks could get a lot more food out of that 40 bucks than you could.

Don

[Cal Carpenter]

8. Give them the cash

They can make it go a lot further.

If you have kids and you want it to be more of a tangible learning moment for them, go ahead and buy stuff - most food banks need cereal all the time, other staple foods like pasta, rice, and hearty soups and stews.

But honestly money goes further. It all adds up and I don't mean to discount the importance of food drives etc.

eta: in the future, maybe consider giving at a different time of year, in the summer people don't think about this stuff, for example, but in the holiday season everyone does.

[GoCubsGo]

13. Agreed.

Our local food bank says they can get three to four times more with the cans than what you get by donating canned goods.

[niyad]

9. don't have a lot of money, but I do couponing, and buy non-perishables with the coupons all through

the year (we have food drives at various times, including easter, and for the local domestic violence shelters)

donate all sorts of things that way.

[niyad]

10. the local AIDS chapter here cooks turkeys and makes complete meals for

their clients. I try to buy a couple of turkeys, potatoes, etc (always on sale here for very little at holiday time) and get it to them far enough in advance.

[piratefish08]

11. we had an extra free turkey to donate - it was a grocery store promo

they also had lots of store brand Thanksgiving food on sale, so for $16 I was also able to buy a box of potatoes, stuffing , gravy, boiled onions, diner rolls, a tin of cookies and 2 cans each of corn, beans and cranberry sauce.

it felt good to be able help out in this economy.

[madmom]

12. Yesterday, I, along with 5 other members of a local volunteer organization , went grocery

shopping. We helped the local college freshman class raise $500 for this project. We are donating it to the local home for families in need. This is a place were families can go when they have no money and need everything from a place to live to food to eat. It was exhausting but very fulfilling. We deliver the food today.

[DeschutesRiver]

14. Like others said, definitely call the food bank and ask what they need

both our local food pantry and our humane society have lists of what they are short of and would like us to bring in.

You are simply awesome to help out like this - it makes no difference how much you bring, because it is true that every little bit helps so much.

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. I 2nd the idea of contacting the food bank and asking what they need.

Different food banks have different needs in different places.

I have been reading that food banks are having shortages, but have no idea of where/which ones.