I'm introducing a new feature here on the Make Do Mansion - a chronicle of life on a food pantry diet. I'm hoping to bring attention to the fact that most of the foods given out by food pantries are less than healthy and give a better picture of just how hard it can be to survive on what a food pantry gives out. So look for weekly posts, normally on Saturdays, of our Food Pantry hauls and end of week recaps, normally on Fridays of what we did with those items to supplement our diet over the week.
We've had to resort to using a food pantry often over the last few months. With the rising prices of groceries, a change in store policies meaning clearance items are now donated instead of being discounted, and a gap in SNAP benefits, it's become a persistent need over the last few months. I've settled into a routine with it - most of my weekly food pantry visits are on Saturday mornings, so it's easy to leave the child at home {she is 9 now, and old enough to stay home unsupervised for a few hours with me reachable by skype, as our buses have free wifi and I have a freedompop smartphone}. I head to the bus with my trusty stroller in tow - yes I have found that a discarded baby stroller works FAR better for hauling food pantry fare than those small personal grocery carts sold at stores {the wheels often break on those, normally at the WORST time possible}. After paying my fare, it's a short 15 -20 minute ride to the two closest pantries, which luckily alternate Saturdays so I can plan for weekly visits for the first 4 Saturdays of the month. Occasionally I hit up a 2nd pantry that is farther away but has the same saturday distribution schedule, but they give out much needed cat food. If we had access to a car, I'd do both on a regular basis but without one it is often impossible to do both due to limitations on how much we can haul on the bus. In addition to this schedule, I have periodic visits to other pantries - one I can use monthly, the other every 60 days. I'm always on the lookout for new pantries - sometimes you can find better ones than where you are currently using. Anyways, I'm rambling.
Today was the 1st Saturday of the month, and that means visiting Pantry #1 - we'll call it Hope. Hope gives out every 1st and 3rd Saturday - normally. But in practice, I've learned to call first, as often they aren't open for some small reason {last month they were closed both days, one due to remodeling and the other due to a church event}. The people at Hope are friendly, and greet regulars by name, asking how they have been over the past 2 weeks. Sometimes their pantry runs fast - I can get in and out in less than an hour. Other times it runs slow, like this week where I took nearly 2 hours to get through a short line. As usual with a food pantry, you never know what you will get. This church doesn't do client choice, so I'm handed bags / boxes without knowing what is in them normally {though you get a feel for what they have that day by looking at other boxes being carried out while you are in line}.
Here was our haul for today:
2lbs ground Venison - a real treat!
4lbs chicken thighs
2lbs Taco meat in sauce - this will be passed on to another family as there are no ingredients listed, making it iffy for allergy safety for my daughter.
2 loaves of bread
2 packs of hamburger buns
2 packs of hot dog buns
1 giant box of Cheesecake trimmings - Rasberry, New York and Turtle.
1 case of Peanut Butter Cups - these will be passed on due to peanut allergies
6 packs of premade Guacamole - will be passed on due to allergies
1 box Bacon Cheddar sandwich crackers - will be eaten by daughter due to my pork allergy
1 box Pumpkin Cheesecake sandwich crackers
1 giant can of Gatorade powder mix - this will be great this summer when it's so hot
1 case of Skinny Cow Candy Bars
1 case of Nestle Delightfuls filled chocolate chips
3 bags of Cheeze-it Crunched, spicy flavor - these will be passed on to another family due to dd's oat allergy
1 loaf of Whole Wheat and Honey bread
3 bags of Dove chocolate cover blueberries
1 family size bag of pretzel sticks - a great treat
6 bags of assorted Sweetarts candies
I passed up the case each of Grape fanta and toasted coconut, as it would have been just too hard to get those home on the bus.
As you can see, not a very balanced haul today. Sometimes this pantry has fresh produce and milk, but today was not one of them. Today it ran very high to carbs and sweets, for which I'm grateful to have a deep freeze so I can stretch out things like bread to use over time rather than having to use all at once before spoiling.
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