Pistachio Jell-o and W(h)ine.

[PepperElf]

L: You're wasting food! Those could have gone to needy children! Think of how happy it would have made them!

when i was growing up, mom saw a lady try to donate rags - i mean tshirts - at the church. they refused to accept the rags and the priest had a few words with the lady. mainly...that the poor still have dignity and should be treated as such.

(and yeah i like pistachios too! but not expired food, that's icky)

poor should be happy to eat anything given to them free

sure let's give them expired meat too. yeah it might hurt them but they're poor so they should be grateful

bleh. like i mentioned above, being poor doesn't mean you have to live without dignity.

my own personal standard for donations: if it's ripped, stained, obviously worn, then I'll only donate it to the trash can. that's not to say i won't donate - when i dropped 60 pounds most of my clothes went to the local CHKD to be resold to lower income people, and the only thing "wrong" with the clothes was the fact that they didn't fit me anymore.

likewise some of my furniture went there too when i moved cos i just didn't want to deal with taking it with me.


also, since it's about donations and food banks, i'd like to bring up something called "Hunters for Hunger". It's an organization of hunters who take their kills (usually deer) to butchers to have the meat processed & packaged properly. Then they donate it to food banks for the poor. Yep, high quality low fat meat for the poor. Since 89 they've donated over a million pounds.

Also, do local food pantries (sorry, I've never donated directly either, always through some store or such) collect other items such as clothes or pet food? I believe I heard they collect toiletries...

There are some places that do, usually for resale to the poor/lower income people at very low prices. Usually you can take them to thrift stores, the salvation army, St. Vincent DePaul (catholic). The CHKD i mentioned above is a thrift store benefiting the children's hospital of kings dominion. most of the places will also give you a receipt for tax purposes.

[napoleana]

More Jell-o!

Idiot

Steak Sauce

douchebags

Grrr.

Total utter douche-canoe.

The Gospel of John

I don't want to start any religious stuff, but <rant>I've known a few people who converted, and it sure as hell wasn't because of those things. In fact, they make me want to switch sides; especially since I only get handed them when I'm dressed a little bit gothy. Excuse me, but could you at least ask if I'm Christian first? (Preferably with words that aren't cheesy and a voice that isn't creepy?) You might learn something new about the world. </rant>

[Nakajo]

Tell me, is Ramen considered a good thing to donate? My work sells packs of 80 for $5.69, and I was thinking of donating a few cases to my local soup kitchen and pantry, but I didn't know if it would be appreciated... I mean, I love Ramen...

Also, if your area is anything like mine, we have a HUGE deer overpopulation during certain months of the year, and LOTS of people end up hitting them with their cars, killing too many to use, etc. So the local kitchen set up with a local butchery to process deer for free for the kitchen. People drop off the deer that they cannot use, or the deer that are hit and killed by cars. (Side note for the city folks: usually when a deer is hit, all injuries sustained are internal, it doesn't even look hurt or damage the carcass, so it is safe to eat, and lots of people will butcher them. If a deer is hit and you cannot take it home, you call a special number and they haul the deer to the kitchen's butcher for free.) In the late summer, fall months, they can get a good 100 lbs a week out of it all, it feeds a lot of people (and deer meat is very healthy and yummy!)

[HereWeGo]

That steams me. Why do people think it's acceptable to give garbage to the poor and expect them to be grateful?

When I was a child, I was a part of one of those houses the local churches donated to regularly because we were filthy poor. As such, breakfast, lunch and dinner was usually beans and rice (no salt or butter, cooked over a gastop range outside, plastic dishes washed under the garden hose because we didn't have a sink) for months straight and it was STILL humiliating and irritating to have people drop off endless cans of cranberry jelly, tang, gravy, and ramen noodles and smile at us like they'd just saved us from starvation. And Christmas was worse, because we'd get excited when they brought by a box of toys, only to find that they were all smashed and broken and unusable. Board games missing pieces, dolls without clothes, that sort of thing. Garbage, in other words. My sister and I would abandon the box o' broken toys quickly and go back out into the yard to play with our usual sticks, dirt, and imagination.

So yeah, pistachio lady, the next time you clean out the pantry and donate all those items unfit for your own children, how about stuffing them in your ear instead of congratulating yourself on how happy you're making someone else.

[LifeCarnie]

actually I like Pistachio pudding . . .I know it is a personal choice . . .you might try it sometime if you are out somewhere that serves it . . .see if you can just get a taste to see if you like it. (like cafeteria style resturant or buffet

Mmmmm....Pistachio pudding, it's the only pudding a like.

In Marine Corps bootcamp they served bread pudding with almost every meal.

Since I left Paris Island, the stuff has made me gag everytime I've tried to eat some. I can't stand the taste or texture.

[tollbaby]

They make this stuff?
Not terribly sucky, but someone donated a few packs of jello-pudding (the kind in the cardboard box that you make at home). I will not envy the soul who ends up trying pistachio-flavored. Unfortunately, they all expired back in November, so we had to pitch them just in case.

Hey now... no bashing Pistachio Jell-o pudding!!!!! That stuff is AWESOME!!!!! (but a bit of common sense thinking - milk is really expensive.... and it takes 2 cups of milk to make that stuff... someone wasn't thinking!)

[trunks2k]

A couple comments.

Why must the steak sauce be used for those specific cuts of meats? Just because it says it was made for a certain type of meat doesn't mean it can't be used to make something else tasty. Though the short shelf life is a problem.

And, yeast is helpful to have. Use it to make various types of dough.

[rvdammit]

Why must the steak sauce be used for those specific cuts of meats? Just because it says it was made for a certain type of meat doesn't mean it can't be used to make something else tasty. Though the short shelf life is a problem.

I was thinking along those lines. I'd try it as flavouring for a stew. Might need to add it near the end of ccooking though.

[Tria]

But it's still icky to bring packets of yeast in a Victoria's Secret (or any lingerie) bag. .

I find it funny actually. The imagery is there even though the clothes probably never touched the bag after being worm. *Steals it for creative wrting*

[walking with scissors]

The steak sauces I can see. I've put steak sauce on hamburger and it can be pretty tasty. And you can add it to other things to make them taste better, etc. etc. Likewise, the packages of yeast that can be made into homemade bread very cheaply.

Expired, dirty and maggoty "donations"? Not so much.

[BookstoreEscapee]

She had a fit because someone donated a few boxes of Ritz crackers, and shame on them, because there is no nutritional value in those.

But they're soooo yummy!

Personally, I hate steak sauce. My dad says that steak sauce is for people who don't actually like steak

[PepperElf]

If a deer is hit and you cannot take it home

slightly OT, but if you hit a deer, make sure it's dead before you put it in the car. My bf knows a lady who didn't really check and it came to and broke all her windows.

and toys... yay for toys-for-tots. not sure what's nicer... donating a nice toy, knowing that a kid's gonna be happy...
or the look on the marine's face as he's guarding the box outside of the toy store... when he realizes you went inside the store ONLY for stuff to put in his box.


come to think of it... I did donate food to CHKD too. But yeah, it was food i'd have eaten... I just didn't feel like packing it in the move.

[Nakajo]

slightly OT, but if you hit a deer, make sure it's dead before you put it in the car. My bf knows a lady who didn't really check and it came to and broke all her windows.

AAHAHAH, priceless! Usually everyone has a pickup truck around these parts, or know several people that do, that's usually how they get moved around here. Putting it in your CAR is not really the best, esp for that reason.

[Gawdzillers]

Good grief.

There is just so much and so little to say about all these things....

There used to be a program called SHARE (might be still around) that was sort of a food co-op for people in need, run by a church, near me.

I was, at the time, a kiddo VERY into the Animorphs books, in which 'The Sharing' is an organization used as a front to recruit people who the end up controlled by alien brain slugs.

....My friends and I were quite certain that we had to stop SHARE from turning everyone into aliens!

Holy hell Animorphs ruled.

[Geek King]

But they're soooo yummy!

Personally, I hate steak sauce. My dad says that steak sauce is for people who don't actually like steak

Amen. If you need sauce with your steak, it wasn't cooked well to start with.

That's a me thing though. I like to grill, and I usually do at least one good session for my buddies every summer where I provide meat (burgers, metwurst, and bratwurst normally, and I marinate) and basic drinks, they bring some "filler."

Geek "Grill Snob" King