Food Donations

Every once in a while, I clean out my kitchen cabinets. I find the old stuff in the back of the cabinets that I totally forgot were there. I have lentil flour? Oh yea, I vaguely remember buying that for an experiment. Extra boxes of prepackaged meals I haven't been eating lately. Yes. What does one do with all of this stuff?

Donate it! Food waste is such a huge problem in our country. People throw away tons of good food on a daily basis. Some of that food is misused, but some of it is thrown away because people simply don't want to eat it! This is not good for people or the environment. When it comes to non-perishable items, such as rice or prepackaged meals, cans of soup or veggies, all of these can easily be donated to your local food pantry or food bank. Or if your neighborhood has a blessing box, those items can be shared there. In this way, people who don't have access to enough food for themselves or their families can find what they need. Naturally some of the food thrown away on a regular basis is fresh or frozen foods which are getting too old or have been touched by freezer burn. With a little extra effort, these too can be donated.

Fresh foods that don't have much longer to live or freezer burned foods can usually be given to local shelters, soup kitchens, or church feeding programs which can use donations to feed their clients that day. Many shelters have volunteers who cook or provide food and being told that someone else is donating a bunch of tomatoes and onions can help them whip up some fresh salsa. Be sure to check with your local shelter for their donation rules, but many can use an extra dozen eggs or some almost growing potatoes to help their clients stay healthy. Donating food you aren't going to eat helps cut down on food waste and helps keep your local shelters or food insecure neighbors healthy. 

Even food pantries, food banks, shelters, and other meal programs help each other out. The food pantry at the church I serve will sometimes have extra vegetables or fruits at the end of our distribution. They won't last the month until the next distribution, but we know some of our other local agencies could use them. We contact them and deliver or load up pick ups to share our extras for the good of our greater community.