xpost fm GD thread reply: FOOD PANTRY giving guide:Bad teeth,Food allergies,No stove or fridge advce

Many of the poor have bad teeth, or food allergies: so please NO sugar, fruit, peanuts, corn, wheat, or rice (rice constipates some).

The stresses of poverty worsen food allergies, so give that factor a lot of weight.
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STOVE AND FRIDGE

Many are hmless or in motels with no hotplate nor a fridge.

---Some have no stove, so cans are the only way they can prepare food.

Others, no fridge..so again cans are the only realistic choice...no leftovers with canned food...cooked food usually means leftovers that need a fridge.
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Nutritious---

The most nutrient dense foods (from a CSPI list)..see if u can get them in cans...
Kale,
collards...
turnip greens IIRC...
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--among beans, Lima is tops..AVOID green beans (few nutrients). Bean sprouts also have few nutrients contrary to the myth. Flame away LOL.

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Many poor have bad teeth,
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please avoid ANY added sugar in (esp) canned items...even bread and milk have enough to cause bad pain for hours.

Shredded wheat bite size is a substitute for bread. But some have wheat allergy or sensitivity...for them, rare shredded grains OK. (get from ...Texas mail order..Arrowhead Mills).
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FRUIT
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PLAIN fruit is very HIGH in naturally occuring fructose sugar...Don't even THINK of giving any form of fruit!!
-Eskimos prove folks do not require it.
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Miscellaneous
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Red beets are also naturally full of sugar..
--potatoes turn to sugar-like carbs.

--Rice causes painful constipation in some. Anyone know if it is a risk for fatal obstruction?

The most common food allergies are wheat and corn.

As you know peanut allergy can kill...so dangerous its been removed from respectable airlines' food service.
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Peanut butter ..I suppose it carries the same risk.
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Milk substitutes anyone? With low natural sugars?

Don't give food that folks can't eat...that is a waste of money.
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WHAT TO GIVE
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Not a long list. Additions welcome.

So...give canned beans that are PLAIN...
-no sauces , no "southern style" no "ranch style" no "cajun style" and no added sugar.
--Avoid red beans, garbanzos, green peas - all those have added or natural sugars at hi levels. Green peas, red kidney beans...- for some reason they always add sugar. Sadly.
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--get
blackbeans,
blackeye peas,
Limas,
pinto.
Get plain canned chicken.

Tuna? Hmmmmmm after Fukushima, Pacific seafood is suspect.
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TOOTHPASTE - a giving guide

Pantries often take household items.
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Moderators- if the following is viewed as commercialism, pls erase the following but not the long part above. Thanks.
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best toothpaste: for cavity riddled teeth..IMO...Colgate Total Enamel

All three words on the box front.

According to my knowledgeable epal who says he has bad teeth.

"It has antibiotic, triclosan..only thing I found that ends the gum pain, Yes it is controversial, but if no dentist one needs whatever works." (He then cusses dentists ...at length)

Canned food with Sauces invariably contain a lot of sugar

Eg. Southern Style or...
-Ranch or Cajun or New Orleans Style

To avoid added sugar just avoid any "fancying up" --stick with a monk's diet of PLAIN food.

ask for bad (IMO) choices....eg peanut butter.. which seems to me to pose the same risk as peanuts...bad allergy risk.
Some ads ask for canned fruit. Really bad choice IMO.

The trouble is, inexpensive canned fruit -- face it, the kind most people would purchase for a food pantry donation -- is packed in "heavy syrup," which is just a sugary mess. You can certainly purchase minimally-processed "all natural" canned fruit, but it is considerably more expensive because it requires a higher quality fruit whose taste isn't masked by syrup and additives.

IMHO, I appreciate your intentions, but I think you are being overly restrictive here. Frankly, a whole lot of poor folks would be very appreciative of a bag of sugar, grits, or rice, etc.

It's bad enough if someone is in such dire straits that they can't go to the store and get a meal for their kids; you're going to limit them to beans and canned meat because "some" people have lousy teeth and food allergies? And no stove? Plenty of people sliding off to the food pantry are not homeless under a bridge or stuffed into a cheap hotel room--they live next door, pay their bills, burn one light and turn the heat way, way down (or off, and wear a coat indoors), and hide in plain sight. They just run out of money at the end of the month, and need a little help. The people in that situation will gravitate to the frozen meats, chicken, sausages, etc, from the local supermarket, the eggs, the sack of potatoes, the fresh veggies that are at their sell-by date but still completely edible--whatever they can get to make a nice meal for their kids--not just open cans (which have their own dangers--that crappy lining they put in some of those cans is hormone-altering and carcinogenic).

People should give what they can; ask the food pantry workers to find out what is needed if there are choices yet to be made, and if they don't have time or resources to offer food, offer cash instead.

There's not much a pantry will turn down. If they can't use it, a feeding center (AKA soup kitchen) can usually find a way to make it work.

Beans. Lots of beans, and not even beans most people like. Garbanzo beans and Lima beans? You're barely scraping by, you just want a hot meal and all you can eat is garbanzos and Lima beans because some kid might have a peanu allergy, and rice binds up someone else? My guess is, if you know rice gives you a problem, you'd push it aside and eat the other stuff.

Check out last week's episode of "Restaurant: Impossible" wherein Robert Irvin did a makeover of a soup kitchen. 150 people on a given day, and they all seemed quite happy with their mixed plates of vegetables, meat and fruit. They're having a difficult enough time as it is without having to rely on garbanzos and Lima beans for dinner.

I appreciate your ideas here, and if somebody wants to give this perhaps they should call their local food bank and see if it's needed for certain cases etc.

However, as someone who has been poor enough to have to beg for food at a food bank, and has also volunteered at one, I would tell people to give what they would personally eat, otherwise it sits on a shelf and gathers dust. I also used to help clean out sec 8 apartments as part of my rent and there were always unopened leftover bags and cans of beans, wheat, peas, collards etc. left in the cupboards. These people HAD stoves and they couldn't figure out what to do with this stuff. Are you suggesting they are going to eat stuff like collards and plain, unseasoned beans from the can?

I'm not saying 'send cookies', but putting the poor on a bland diet just because a few might have issues is condescending and rude. I know I would have been insulted and dismayed to receive many of your suggested foods, especially if I knew your rationale. It's just about as patronizing as the attitude carried by rich Victorian ladies as their benevolent groups toured poorhouses and factories where they employed child labor. The attitude of giving people only what the moralizing rich were sure the poor would need and not what the poor felt they would like probably made the philanthropists feel good, but didn't help the poor (who were already cast out from humanity's general habits) one bit. If you want to donate allergy or special needs foods, call ahead, if they need them, fine. I have a gluten intolerance, If I were in that position, I'd trade the wheat flour for a bag of rice in a heartbeat, and I would hope some donor out there was thinking about my plight; But assuming ALL poor people have these rather esoteric needs is overkill.


PS: As a cook, I say, give cooking oils, staples (including rice, flour, sugar, and seasonings like salt and pepper), One-package skillet meals, pasta and lots of decent canned soups. Give what YOU would eat. Maybe some hot sauce, maybe some jelly. Be kind, not spartan or sanctimonious.

As you said, "LOL Flame away".
:evilgrin:

ran an article this morning on healthy food donations.

Here is the list they suggest, coutesy of the local food bank.

Food bank donation suggestions

The good

low-sugar cereal such as Cheerios or Chex
peanut butter
cans or plastic containers of juice (make sure it's 100 percent juice)
canned vegetables, any variety, marked lite or low-sodium
bags of pinto or black beans
rice
canned tuna fish
and powdered milk fortified with vitamin D

The bad

foods high in sodium, fat, oils or sugar
chips, candy, cookies and crackers
sugary beverages
items in glass bottles
items that are expired or in damaged packaging


perishable foods can't be donated directly. The best way to ensure the hungry get fresh food is through a charitable cash donation.

And don't give them fruit, really?

Not everyone has the metabolism of an eskimo.

:shrug: