I do some volunteer work for our local church food bank and call tell you first hand, the foods they hand out, are rarely “junk” food. Some convience food like lipton side dished etc, but rarely cookies or pop tarts.

When they are fortunate enough to get some in, it is usually little Debbies and they are expired. If our church got some in, they always make sure to give it to the families with several kids, since those would be considered treats for them .

This month we gave a doz eggs, 1 whole chicken, a case of canned veggies, 1bag of rice, 1 lg pasta,1 bag flour, 1 can of orange juice, 1 shelf milk, and a few cans of canned fruit (and its only once a month).

Supplies are so limited all over, so any donations to your local food bank are appreciated.

The form doesn’t print at Walgreens. The form is from the Kraft back to school booklet.

Mercedes

Peace -
MaryAnn

Mercedes

I just added the link to the details of the Kraft rebate and where you can find it. I also found the booklet at one of my local grocery stores.

Mercedes

I see your point entirely. But there are several things to consider.

1) I doubt people are eating these as meals. not knowing how a food bank works I get the impression that people who go to it are able to get everything they eat from there. I think they use it to supplement their food stamps. And I am hoping they are using that to buy fruit and vegetables.

2) I also doubt the food bank will let one family walk away with all four boxes of cookies.

3) Be ready for this shocker: I like to indulge in an occasional treat. Yes, you read me right, my husband loves oreos and I love GS thin mints. However, we do not have them every day nor do we eat them all at once. In fact a package will last us a few long weeks. Even the nutrigrain bars I bought, I made sure they were long dated because I don’t feed these to my kids everyday. The five boxes I bought should last us at least six months.

4)It’s about balance. While we may have a package of oreos in the house, you will not find any hamburger helper, lipton side dishes, not even frozen waffles OR pancake mix in our home. Even frozen meals are not liked in our house. And I don’t judge anyone who uses those either because I think that just a much as my family balances meals, others do as well.

So, no I don’t feel bad about taking some chips ahoy cookies to the food bank because I think others are entitled to treat themselves every now and then and I also doubt many people are bringing chips ahoy on regular basis. I also doubt the food bank will let one family walk away with all of the packages available and I doubt that family will sit down and eat them all in one sitting.

Mercedes

You mentioned donating some of these “junk food” items to the food bank, and that struck a cord with me. I have been struggling with the ethics of donating junk food that I would not feed my kids to the food bank for others to feed to their kids, and I don’t know what I think about it. On one hand, I know that PopTarts are better than nothing, but on the other hand, I feel guilty for not donating healthier food. What do you think?