If you donate food . . .

[janedoe]

When do you donate it? What kinds of food do you donate? Is it just you or do you get together with a group?

I have become the unofficial buyer for a shelter and any information on donation habits would be greatly appreciated.

[Jollymolly]

Is this for a pantry or to be cooked at the shelter?

[janedoe]

Is this for a pantry or to be cooked at the shelter?

Good question. Both. There are 78 "apartments" with very small refrigerators for each unit and communal kitchenettes with low power microwaves for each floor. They also have a 9 bed overnight shelter with a fridge, pantry and dishwasher and a large kitchen with multiple fridges and freezers and a floor to ceiling shelved pantry. When we started donating, everything was empty. Now they are kind of fighting for storage space. I just bottom basement shopped anything and everything I could extreme coupon, including produce and meat. They have since gone from a couple of communal lunches a month to two a week which includes the local church efforts. Now I think I need to back off a bit since the holidays are coming up and people tend to donate during this time. I'm wondering what usually comes in so that we can go to filling in the gaps instead of full scale stocking efforts.

[smartrock]

The Boy Scouts and post office collaborate on a project they call Scouting for Food. They ask for non perishable food, no produce, meat, or anything like that. Nothing in glass jars like spaghetti sauce. Tuna or canned meats are ok. This all goes to a food pantry, not a shelter.

When I helped with food drives at work, they were for families with kids in the school and it was held just before Thanksgiving. The students only knew the food was for "needy families " and brought in non perishable foods. The school bought a frozen turkey for each family as well. A local church accepts food all year for their own food pantry. Most food donations I've done run similar to these. Shopping for a shelter as you do sounds like a major undertaking.

[PinkDragon14]

I helped my grandpa with shopping for church food donations up until he passed away. We would try to stick to things such as canned soup, tuna, pasta (boxes), canned ravioli, cereals, etc. We also tried to buy things that everyone would enjoy (kids, adults, etc.), so we bought some fun cereals, pasta shapes, etc. The plastic jars of peanut butter and the plastic squeeze containers of jelly were also great to purchase as well. Canned fruit or fruit cups and applesauce are good too.

If I were you, I'd try to focus the "big" donations around the holidays and winter months, as many shelters take in more people around this time. You could also donate more soups in the winter and "cooler" foods in the summer.

[janedoe]

Perfect, thank you. It sounds like I should focus on fresh food and avoid turkeys.

[Jollymolly]

Are there any grow farms in the area that mught donate fresh produce?

I agree canned goods, Pastas and cereals. But making monster pots of fresh soups , pastas with sauces, Chili or heary stew or sandwidges with a fruit and a drink were always appreciated.


Good luck