Monday 9 May 2016

Free food for the community

Hello. I picked up this leaflet from Tesco on Friday night, it looks as though they are going to make food donations to Fareshare. There is a web site to explain how it all works, but I am still not understanding how they are going to get the yellow sticker food which I normally buy, to the people who need it, in a short space of time. By the time it has had three markdowns, and numerous people handling it, it is often looking a bit tired, and some of it needs to be eaten within 24 hours. 
Fareshare is a go between for those donating the food and those needing the food. They receive the messages from the stores, and pass on the information to community groups who then have to organize collection. I can see this working for tins and packets, but not sure how a bag of salad is going to find it's way from Scunthorpe to Hull in the evening and be served up the next day. There isn't usually a lot left after customers have taken what they want, it's hardly going to be worth it to send a van for a few items. The only way they can make it worthwhile is to do away with yellow stickers altogether so there is more to donate and collect, but I can't see that happening. The quickest and easiest way to get rid of it is to sell it off cheap, then at least they still get a bit of income from it. We shall see.

My lunch today was YS sprouting beans, houmous, and salad leaves, with a quarter of quiche, baby toms and cucumber.

Dinner tonight was steamed potatoes and carrots from Aldi, and YS mushrooms with Quorn pieces in a creamy garlic sauce, made with garlic powder and cream cheese.

This weather is lovely, isn't it. Lets have more please. Thanks for popping in. Catch up soon.
Toodle pip

10 comments:

  1. I agree. My mum often picks up whoopsies and the salads etc need to be eaten immediately so I don't know how it will survive a journey. Good luck to the charities though. I am still waiting for rain here. Nothing has happened today. Have a good night. kitx

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  2. It wouldn't work for every charity, but for a group that prepares food on a daily basis, I can see where it could work. Kudos to the store for putting the effort into trying a new system, anyway! All the planning and organization is likely to be a thankless job for them.

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  3. Your meals look delicious. I imagine TESCO will get a tax write off for donating food to charity (well, it works that way in the US, not sure about the UK), while if they sell it cheaply I don't know how that affects them tax wise. You sure find brilliant YS deals there.

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    Replies
    1. If they did away with the yellow stickers in the US, they could write off the retail price instead of the yellow sticker price.

      It is my understanding that in the UK there are no tax deductions for donating to charities.

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    2. Yes they did do away with yellow stickers here in the US. I will sometimes see an employee push a big cart through the produce dept. filled with less than prime produce. It is supposedly going to charity. They also lock down all the dumpsters so who knows what is really going on. I depend on sales and Aldi to keep our costs down.

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  4. The fresh food donation is done before food expired, say a few days. It is great help for Food banks in Australia.

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    Replies
    1. Hi. This Fareshare system is different to the Food Bank system. Food banks accept large and small quantities from almost anyone. Individuals can contribute to it by buying extra and dropping it in a box. The box is then donated to a specific charity.

      Fareshare puts supermarkets and manufacturers in touch with lots of charities which might benefit from receiving free food. The food is then cooked up into meals and given away in luncheon clubs and suchlike.

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  5. I think they are referring to the mountains of surplus food that would otherwise go to waste, which is a good thing. The food must be before the sell by date, the food given will be for the vulnerable of our society. So the YELLOW STICKERS are safe. Everybody wins.

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    Replies
    1. Hi. I think you might be right there. By all means give away food when too much is produced, tins and packets.

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  6. I think this will be more about warehouse stock , supermarkets frequently cancel orders literally as they deliver them to the door .

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