Elizabeth has begun a new blog called "Saving Pennies". One theme of her new blog is to feed the hungry, by using coupons and sales.
It would be wonderful if people everywhere would use their coupons to help stock food pantries, wouldn't it?
Here is one example of making use of coupons to feed the hungry:
Like many of you, I received several coupons for Rice Krispies Cereal from Vocal Point. One of these coupons was even for a free box. The others were for $1.00 off each box. We would never eat that many boxes of Rice Krispies, but it occurred to me that this would make a great food pantry item. To sweeten the deal, last week Food Lion had these large boxes on sale for $1.99. So I purchased 5 boxes using the $1.00 off coupons, making each box only 99 cents. So for $5.00 I was able to get 5 boxes of cereal for my church's food pantry.
I know $5.00 isn't alot, but many times I will think in terms of spending $5.00 for groceries to donate to the food pantry. I try to get the most groceries I can get for that $5.00. Some weeks that might be 2 boxes of spaghetti and 2 jars of spaghetti sauce.
It also helps to think in terms of some people not having the means to put other items with the food. Who ever gets the Rice Krispies, will need milk. So that is a drawback. I wonder if some people even have electricity to cook the food. So in that case it would be nice to donate canned meats or other items that don't have to be cooked. Any ideas for that?
Today is Frugal Friday at Life as Mom. You can get lots of frugal ideas by checking out all the posts!
7 comments:
If you think about it, not having to spend $4 on a box of cereal leaves more room in the budget for milk. Anyone that poor could be on WIC, which would provide the milk for free.
I think you have a sweet idea. Someday I need to find out where our local food banks are, but in the meantime I've been collecting a bag for when the postal workers pick them up again, or for some other food donation drive. My shopping list is pretty small these days because of a good stockpile, but I'll keep my eyes open for deals for charity!
And btw...don't forget our furry friends. The local animal shelter could always use food and litter!
If you have abundant garden produce, some food pantries will accept it on certain days. You can find pantries that will accept it here: http://www.ampleharvest.org/index.php
If your pantry does not accept it, you can encourage them to sign up with Ample Harvest to start accepting fresh produce from gardens.
What a great post!
You spent $5.00 but just think of the retail value of your donation. It far exceeds $5.00!
That is a very good thought. I should start doing that, setting aside $5.00 a week for food donations and seeing what I can get combining sales with coupons.
Melinda
Hi Debbie,
Thank so much for support. Together we can make a diffence. I got a good buy on cereal today too. I am deepening my pantry.
Hugs,
Elizabeth
I do agree with the prudent homemaker - there are not a lot of fresh food options at food pantries. Sometimes an abundance in one's garden is a great way to donate (with minimal cost too).
Some of the the products needed at my state's food pantry system are: canned soup, nuts, peanut butter, dried fruit, juices, crackers, cheese and cracker packages, granola bars, canned beans - many of these being ready-to-eat food products.
Lyn
You and Elizabeth are really tugging at my heart... I am going to start doing this next week. I need to find a good food bank in our area. And I love the idea from Mom2fur... the little furry ones need food too!
That's an awesome idea for the food pantry. I try to do this as well, but I've fallen off the bandwagon on coupons lately with my diet of whole foods. I need to find those coupons again for the pantry. Thanks for the reminder.
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