Using "Wasted Food"

[.429&H110]

20 years ago I worked for the MESACAN food bank. I built three big freezers from recycled restaurants. Why do you need big freezers? When a refrigerated truck is unloading at a supermarket, when the store is full, the rest goes in the dumpster, or food banks, come and get it.(Not really that simple) If I had a fourth freezer, I could have filled it. The Book says "Feed my sheep".

But we are feeding criminals...

Surely. But. If a woman wanders into Mesa AZ and has a baby, that kid is a hungry American.
Mesa AZ figured out illegal immigration 100 years ago. Now it's everybody else's turn.

There is a big morgue in Phoenix. If you are murdered without ID nobody cares. Is this ok in America?

[MaryB]

I agree with a lot of what you said, but I still think a lot of what is given out would be hard for a person or family to use. Last year we got a pallet of boxes of shelled walnuts. In each box was 12 two and a half pound bags of walnuts. We have limited space to store said walnuts so each week everyone who comes through the line gets a bag of walnuts till they are gone. Perhaps it is just me, but 2 1/2 pounds of walnuts will last me the rest of my life IF i live another 50 years. One piece of walnut will last my wife the rest of her life if she lives 1000 years. If I were getting a bag of walnuts every week for a couple months the vast majority would be wasted. I'm guessing about 25% of the people we help live in motels. They may have access to a small frig and microwave oven, but have no way to cook 5 pounds of chicken, a package of ground beef or a bag of dry beans so I suspect those items get wasted.

I won't argue about people with $500+ cell phones. I see it all the time as they drive up in newer cars than I have. It might be their own fault they are hungry, but they are still hungry and as long as I am able to help I will.

2 1/2 pound bag of walnuts? I would chow those down in 2-3 weeks LOL love them!

[Handloader109]

Yep, a pound of shelled walnuts would last about a week around here. Just snack on them. They are good for you.
We have lots of food banks here in NW Arkansas. Walmart donates tons of food every week. We see stories every month or two showing the drive by pickups. Half the folks drive better cars than I've ever owned, and $80k pickups. Most ate just coming because its free. Yes there are legitimately hungry folks. But most aren't.

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[JonB_in_Glencoe]

mmm I love walnuts.
I lightly coat them in Olive oil, roast at 350º for 17 minutes, then sprinkle lightly with sriracha salt. It makes for a healthy evening snack, so I can avoid high carb snacks. A pound probably lasts 3 weeks, if I behave myself.

[JimB..]

Black walnuts are the best walnuts!

[snowwolfe]

I don't like wasting food. But I am not going to force myself to eat it for more than 2 days straight. Leftovers are fine for one extra day and after that they go into the garbage or go to the local wild animals. Americas passion for not wasting food is why so many of us fight our weight all our lives.
My parents wouldn't allow us to get up from the kitchen table unless we cleaned our plates every meal.
Those type of habits need to die.

[trebor44]

48,000 Seniors in Idaho need "food security"! Really! "Food begathons" are good publicity and assuage the guilt of those who need it!

[Good Cheer]

We wanted to donate fresh zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes from our garden. We were told that the recipients probably did not know how to use any of that stuff.

I'm still eating last year's. We have a short growing season so I'm working towards getting the seedlings started. Expanding the perimeter deer fence this year. Planning on preserving more because I suspect I may be feeding more.
Seems as though there's really no rest in retirement; that's not a complaint.

[country gent]

Had a couple sister laws that got the holiday boxes of goods from local churches to make prepare a holiday meal. Never once did they not complain about not liking something. Like the new "immigrants" complaining about housing food not being to their standards.

I donate canned goods to local churches for their kitchens Most are upset by the above people complaining about what they get.

[IHuntDragons]

Convince the food bank to invest in a couple freeze dryers and start freeze drying the excess for longer term storage when times get lean and they have less to provide.

[DukeSoprano]

I am the manager of a large dairy, not a farm but a milk processing plant. Besides what we donate, we sell milk to the large food banks at a low cost.
Our quality supervisor was off one day so I took a complaint call from a lady.
Her complaint was that the gallon of milk she had spoiled before the expiration date and she wants a coupon sent to her.
I start asking the routine questions, like what was the date on the gallon, processing plant number and time stamp so I can do an internal investigation.
One of the questions was, what store did she buy it?
"I didn't buy it, I got it free at the food bank"

[.429&H110]

We are called sheep in Scripture for a good reason and it's not a compliment.

[farmbif]

wish I had access to dumpster of free old food. there is an old pigpen on my property that I would put back to use

[TreeKiller]

I have run a Food Bank that distributes USDA food for 13 years. i had a lot of trouble when i first started with the people getting food since i had carried mail for 34 years and delivered mail to them. I finely decided that i was here to pass out food and then it was in the Lords hands. If you have a lady strand and cry because she is grateful is replaces the 100 that are just looking for free food so they can spend the money on drugs and alcohol.
Some if what i am getting on the 16th of this month;
Shrimp salad 350-500 count25 cases 20/2#
Chicken leg qtrs 5# 26 cases 8/5 per case
Cheese shered 197 cases 6/2
other can and dry items
total weight 17514.490#
also fresh milk,butter and bread
we do between 1300to 1400 family's a month 2700 to 3000 individuals

[MaryB]

I have run a Food Bank that distributes USDA food for 13 years. i had a lot of trouble when i first started with the people getting food since i had carried mail for 34 years and delivered mail to them. I finely decided that i was here to pass out food and then it was in the Lords hands. If you have a lady strand and cry because she is grateful is replaces the 100 that are just looking for free food so they can spend the money on drugs and alcohol.
Some if what i am getting on the 16th of this month;
Shrimp salad 350-500 count25 cases 20/2#
Chicken leg qtrs 5# 26 cases 8/5 per case
Cheese shered 197 cases 6/2
other can and dry items
total weight 17514.490#
also fresh milk,butter and bread
we do between 1300to 1400 family's a month 2700 to 3000 individuals

What would help people out is partnering with FoodSaver or some other company to provide vacuum sealers for the poor. And put on a class showing how to use them to break down bulk packages of food and how to seal and freeze leftovers.

For 10 years(my back is to bad now...it was a lot of work to setup a portable kitchen then tear down and cleanup) I taught a cooking class using basic tools, microwave, electric fry pan, a crock pot... and a toaster oven(you would be amazed what can be made in one, I did a turkey dinner for 6!). So many had no clue how to cook what they were given. I still answer questions via email and try to find an online tutorial for people to watch.

[.429&H110]

Mesa AZ, NoPole AK, was an education for this Yankee and so is Green Valley.
There are thousands of old folks here.

Some old folks will not/can not/don't want to cook. Microwave ovens are a good thing.
Grocery stores here will deliver, and have pick up service, and an app for that using coupons.
Old folks can't walk 100 yards but they can drive(?) and live on drive through whoppers. Not a great diet, and getting expensive. These independent old men are usually veterans, and I am glad to see veterans stepping up and helping, the need is great. These old boys burn out housekeepers quickly, landscapers have a no-go list. You can find old folks at Veteran's Breakfast, but some won't go.
Maybe to live so long we have to be really stubborn...

[Wag]

This thread is prompting a ton of memories for me. Not good, either.

Yesterday, the wiff and I went and volunteered at the local food bank. For many years now, we've donated to them and we've heard about their food drives they do every year, especially at Christmas and Thanksgiving. They always rake in a ton of food and money with the local radio stations as the driving force behind those food drives.

So, fast forward to yesterday and we go to volunteer. We had no clue ahead of time what was in store for us but when we got there, we discovered that it is a HUGE warehouse. The real estate alone must be worth millions of $$$. They have pallet racks and pallet moving gear, forklifts and a ton of other commercially viable equipment to handle a LOT of "stuff."

I was amazed. It's truly and enterprise.

Combine that experience from yesterday with a lot of stories that compare with the ones above and it's clear that we as a nation are so wealthy, we aren't even able to use the stuff we have. And yet, we always produce more.

It reinforces my policy of not giving things to the people panhandling on the corner. They can go to the local shelter or rescue missions.

--Wag--

[Shawlerbrook]

A couple different issues here. First unused food should either be composted or used for animal feed. The second issue is dependency and the fact that many expect to live on handouts. I am all for helping those that honestly cannot help themselves or are experiencing a hard time. But we have raised a sizable part of our population that have know idea that man was made to support himself. Big reason for this was LBJ and his Great Society. In wildlife management they teach that feeding wildlife is bad because the population will grow to depend on it and lose the innate ability to fend for itself. Well us human are just highly specialized mammals .

[.429&H110]

Yah, a freezer you can drive a forklift into is a big freezer...
But one guy can unload ten tons of turkeys if you build it so that he can.

[BrassMagnet]

What would help people out is partnering with FoodSaver or some other company to provide vacuum sealers for the poor. And put on a class showing how to use them to break down bulk packages of food and how to seal and freeze leftovers.

For 10 years(my back is to bad now...it was a lot of work to setup a portable kitchen then tear down and cleanup) I taught a cooking class using basic tools, microwave, electric fry pan, a crock pot... and a toaster oven(you would be amazed what can be made in one, I did a turkey dinner for 6!). So many had no clue how to cook what they were given. I still answer questions via email and try to find an online tutorial for people to watch.

Well done!
We can surely use more of this!
Maybe some of our church food banks can try a little of this and see if it helps.
I vaguely remember a lady many years ago that could only buy the higher priced cut up chicken parts rather than the much cheaper whole chickens. I asked why? She didn't know how to cut up a chicken. After I taught her how she began buying whole chickens/