Down to the last few tins.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Will farmers help out in rural areas ?

I suppose the children are off school, days are less structured, so possibly families don't do a 'big shop' as often as during term time.

I only donate when I'm doing a big shop, which is rare in this heat!

For those going without, the school holidays are probably when they could do with a bit more help.

I always try to put a bit extra in during school holidays, mainly things that children could prepare for themselves. Many won't be getting their school dinners.

I suppose a lot of people are away or out and not doing their usual shop.

there are a lot of schemes here that provide school meals throughout the year for children who need fed.Maybe you could look into any organisation who could get something set up and at least those at the very bottom can have one meal a day that their parents needn't stress about

Our food bank buys big boxes of ramen noodles from an Asian supermarket which sells them much cheaper than the regular supermarkets.

They make them up with fresh veg into packs, alternating some with potatoes or rice (also bought in bulk) and tinned foods.

It's always worth looking for ways to save foods, even from a food bank.
For instance a big bag (3kg) of flour/rice etc wouldn't be given to anyone who can't eat it.

As it's winter here, oats and Weetabix are much in demand for breakfasts and we always get day-old bread which is still soft and if not exactly nutritious, at least filling. That tends to go with peanut butter, jams, honey and margarines.

Other food banks just make up a box of staples but we have found that leads to wastage.

People just throw out what they can't eat. We can't take it back as we are strict about Best Before dates.

Most of our donated stuff is quite near to those and we can only go over them by a very short margin and never over a Sell By date except in very rare circumstances.

So it's a case of wise husbandry in the food bank just as it would be at home.