By the end of 2017 Greenwich Foodbank will have fed 7,000 people and given out 60 tonnes of food. This means that food is constantly flowing in and out of the Foodbank’s doors!
The Foodbank relies on the generous donations of people in Greenwich. Every donation makes a difference, but some food (like tinned carrots) is in short supply and other food (like baked beans) is plentiful. Once fresh fruit and vegetables, frozen and refrigerated items are excluded from the shop, it can be hard to know what food can go into the Foodbank’s emergency parcels. So how do I know what to donate?
[Our baked bean room! Currently, there are 20 tonnes of food in the Greenwich Foodbank warehouse. 7 tons are baked bean tins.]
People who come to the Foodbank don’t have a choice about what they will eat that week. Many are families, so food that is adaptable and that children are likely to eat without a fuss is very useful. Based on experience, the types of food that people value are essential items that are easy to incorporate into meals. Food must also be in date otherwise the Foodbank cannot distribute it.
If in doubt, the five golden items are:
- Tinned carrots,
- Long life fruit juice,
- Long life milk,
- Tinned fruit,
- Sugar
But there is an even easier way to decide what to donate. The Greenwich Foodbank has an app, freely available from the Google and Apple stores, which is updated regularly. So next time you’re out shopping, to find out in ‘real time’ what’s on the red list of desperately needed food, just click on the Foodbank icon and scroll.
To download the app: search Foodbank on the Google play store or the Apple store