Food Banks

[josephusminimus]

Back before my SS pension kicked in and I was trying anything I could find to beat the rent, utilities, food and auto insurance into a package every month I discovered these.&nbsp; There's nothing involved but signing up and getting a card to be stamped once a week&nbsp;so's you can't run them into the ground.<br /><br />Most towns have at least one, getting donated, near-out-of-date food from grocery stores, donated near expiration date produce, bread a few days old they pulled off the shelves, that sort of thing.<br /><br />Saint Vincent de Paul is most common, almost everywhere in the US, but most towns of any size have several, some run by churches, some by charitable organizations.&nbsp; &nbsp;<br /><br />For folks with kids there's even usually near-expiration date milk.

 

[Les H]

(I keep buying the homoganized stuff from a store near me, 4L for $2)

ZOIKES!!! ( think shaggy from scooby doo cartoons)
Here in Alabama, its $4.00/ gal at Wamart. Convenience store will set you back $5-6!!
When I left Ny a year and a half ago it was $3.28 with your "savings card"! Damn subsidies....
We now return you to your regularly scheduled program, currently in progress..

 

[Mortisha]

Well I do not drink milk nor any dairy at all. No meat. No eggs. No fish. No breads/pastas. No processed foods at all and no additives or preservatives. I mostly dehydrate my own fruits and vegies or use them fresh.&nbsp;<br /><br />Now don't think I eat like this out of choice LOL I have a real bad time with foods... digestive wise and so I stay far away from just about everything =( &nbsp;Plus it does make me feel healthier. HuggZ

 

[josephusminimus]

The food banks I've been to wouldn't have provided milk as an option except for families providing for kids.&nbsp; Milk, baby food, formula etc, were the only things they got adults without kids&nbsp;supplementing their groceries there were excluded from.

 

[josephusminimus]

They do sometimes have a few pounds of pinto beans, rice, flour, which I neglected to mention.&nbsp; Also eggs sometimes, and usually a few near-out-of-date canned goods, or cans with dents.&nbsp; I never took any of those because they're loaded with MSG, which shoots my blood pressure through the roof.<br /><br />Never known them to have meat of any sort, except once in Grants, NM, turkeys they sold for $5.00 each.<br /><br />Food Bank Locator<br /><a href="http://feedingamerica.org/foodbank-results.aspx">http://feedingamerica.org/foodbank-results.aspx</a><br /><br />To give a better illustration, here's one in San Francisco:<br /><br /><a href="http://thefoodpantry.org/">http://thefoodpantry.org/</a><br /><br /><img src="http://thefoodpantry.org/images/img_mission.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://thefoodpantry.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dance-below-dance1-1024x767.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://thefoodpantry.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/bigbread1-300x168.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://thefoodpantry.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/rudytomato-300x252.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://thefoodpantry.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/melons-300x225.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br /><br />

 

[yesican]

Is that a food bank or a farmers market?<br />Rae

 

[josephusminimus]

Is that a food bank or a farmers market? Rae

<br /><br />Food bank.&nbsp; I'm on a dialup and I'd have to click the link again to be certain, but if my memory serves correctly it's a Saint Vincent de Paul food pantry in San Francisco.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

The milk I'm buying for $2 is normally $7<br />Although 4L of milk (the cheaper brands, &amp; 2%) is usually around 4.50. &nbsp;I won't drink anything but Homoganized, &amp; it's about $1 more<br />I'm also in Canada, so our prices are higher

<br /><br />Plus it comes in bags up there, which is just awesome. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/rofl.gif" alt="" align="absmiddle" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />We have a small church run food bank near me.&nbsp; They are only open the last 4 days of the month or something.&nbsp; I went to take my mom once.&nbsp; Well, then other people started asking me if i could also take them to, and before i knew it i had made 5 trips to the place.&nbsp; I was worried they might think i was scamming them or something <img src="/images/boards/smilies/rofl.gif" alt="" align="absmiddle" border="0" />&nbsp; I heard some people actually charge people like 5 bucks to take them to the pantry since they have no other way to get there.&nbsp; I dont think i can do that with a clear conscious...<br /><br />They typically give you 2 sizable bags of grocieries, 3 for larger family.&nbsp; It includes quite a bit, canned veggies, corn flakes, rice, beans, canned fruit, soup, macaroni and cheese, and a vacuum packed bag of frozen chicken.&nbsp; Oh and a bag of sugar coated dates, i guess as a treat.&nbsp; I think this food could last someone with nothing else most of the month...but it would be slim pickins at dinner.&nbsp; The beans and rice would really make the difference i think.

 

[josephusminimus]

The milk I'm buying for $2 is normally $7<br />Although 4L of milk (the cheaper brands, &amp; 2%) is usually around 4.50. &nbsp;I won't drink anything but Homoganized, &amp; it's about $1 more<br />I'm also in Canada, so our prices are higher

<br /><br />Plus it comes in bags up there, which is just awesome. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/rofl.gif" alt="" align="absMiddle" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />We have a small church run food bank near me.&nbsp; They are only open the last 4 days of the month or something.&nbsp; I went to take my mom once.&nbsp; Well, then other people started asking me if i could also take them to, and before i knew it i had made 5 trips to the place.&nbsp; I was worried they might think i was scamming them or something <img src="/images/boards/smilies/rofl.gif" alt="" align="absMiddle" border="0" />&nbsp; I heard some people actually charge people like 5 bucks to take them to the pantry since they have no other way to get there.&nbsp; I dont think i can do that with a clear conscious...<br /><br />They typically give you 2 sizable bags of grocieries, 3 for larger family.&nbsp; It includes quite a bit, canned veggies, corn flakes, rice, beans, canned fruit, soup, macaroni and cheese, and a vacuum packed bag of frozen chicken.&nbsp; Oh and a bag of sugar coated dates, i guess as a treat.&nbsp; I think this food could last someone with nothing else most of the month...but it would be slim pickins at dinner.&nbsp; The beans and rice would really make the difference i think.

<br /><br />Hi Dazar: My impression was when I went to the one while I was living in Placitas that the pickings changed, depending on what was donated from stores and bakeries.&nbsp; I don't think the intent is, so much, to take care of all the food needs, so much as to just fill in gaps where they're able with food that would have been disposed of otherwise as waste.<br /><br />I can't recall what days that was open, but my dim memory of it all is that it was only open a day, maybe two, per week.<br /><br />A lot of people who went to that one travelled by several families per car.

 

[She]

Well I do not drink milk nor any dairy at all. No meat. No eggs. No fish. No breads/pastas. No processed foods at all and no additives or preservatives. I mostly dehydrate my own fruits and vegies or use them fresh.&nbsp;<br /><br />Now don't think I eat like this out of choice LOL I have a real bad time with foods... digestive wise and so I stay far away from just about everything =( &nbsp;Plus it does make me feel healthier. HuggZ

\<br /><br />Just had to reply... Me too!!! I also take enzymes which helps SO much!!!

 

[She]

Wow Joesph that food bank looks really stocked with healthy foods!!!

 

[josephusminimus]

<span id="post_message_1275016873">"Wow Joesph that food bank looks really stocked with healthy foods!!!"<br /><br />Seems to be.&nbsp; The one I went to occasionally had a lot of veggies, some of the other food was less healthy.&nbsp; Just a matter of what's donated by the grocery stores, I reckons.</span>

 

[fluffabear]

I have been to a few food banks in WA and what I got was a lot of onions, apples and other local veggies, and then a lot of dry pasta and beans.

 

[oldsoul]

Ive used food banks in the past and will again should the need arise. There,s no reason anyone should have to go hungry in our overabundent society. After all thats what they are there for. Theirs one up the road from me called Loaves and Fishes, and i know several people who use it on a regular basis.

 

[angeli]

I've volunteered at our small town foodbank, as well as used it's services upon occaision.&nbsp; We do not have produce at all.&nbsp; But we do occasionally get fish being so close to both the Atlantic and the gulf (florida).<br /><br />I don't know if this is true across the US, but here in this region, the supermarkets have decided that donating food to a foodbank is an unnecessary liability and stopped doing it about 3 years ago.&nbsp; The shelves are filled with local personal donations which are almost non-existent and US gov't surplus which is lots and lots of sugary goods and cans.&nbsp; Occasionally, there's also a roll of toilet paper as well, which food stamps doesn't buy.&nbsp; But recently they've had to stop giving that out.&nbsp; Things are tough for a lot of people out here, for sure.&nbsp; Last time I had to use the bank, they were able to give me 2 cans of beans, 1 small bag of white rice, and a loaf of bread.&nbsp; You are allowed to go back once a month.

 

[Hereandthere]

I'm in a small town and they let me cook for the food bank. I do beans and rice, with &nbsp; spices mostly, and bag it up and freeze it before the weekly date they are open. They buy a little meat for people too.

 

[yesican]

This is just my opinion and mean no disrespect, but aren't Food Banks and places similar for those who cannot provide for themselves&nbsp;and not for those who&nbsp;will not to provide for themselves?&nbsp; A decision not to work for your own keep is one thing and being unable to due to circumstances is another.&nbsp; And, in case you haven't noticed, there are so many people in the unable catagory that Food Banks and such in many places do not have enough to help all those in need.&nbsp; Taking away from someone who&nbsp;can't versus someone not willing&nbsp;is pretty low.&nbsp; But, like I said, its my opinion.&nbsp; I think because vandwellers already have a negative view by society, we have to&nbsp;be careful not to fan the flames&nbsp;by misuse of services that help those in need.<br><br>Rae

 

[Hereandthere]

Rae, I agree, AND sometimes that line between cannot and will not does get blurred... for example, in people with depression.

 

[frickinducky]

yesican, I am sort of with you... sorta. &nbsp;I will be full-timing, but I am disabled, on a fixed income with a hubby who can only work part time due to my medical needs which wax and wane. &nbsp;I never thought I would need a food bank. &nbsp;College educated, homeowner, blah, blah, blah. But poop happens, no matter how well you think you are prepared. &nbsp;<br><br>But what I will say is that I have seen people abuse the food banks. &nbsp;Not many, but enough for me to be unhappy. &nbsp;However, there really is no way I can see to fix that without closing them off to those in need. &nbsp;In my area, there are a lot of full+ time workers who need the help to feed kids they had when times were better. Or themselves, a disabled parent. &nbsp;But yep, pisses me off when I see someone with a smart phone, new suv, nails all done, hair all factory fresh in line. &nbsp;But I use to contribute monthly and despite the bs, think it has social and community value that out weighs the bs.

 

[Hereandthere]

yeah, I wonder about that, but think there are ways to game most systems and some people will find them. I would rather help the people who need it + some others, than not help people in need.