January – Food Donation Month

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During our 2020 challenge of 12 months of giving, January is food donation month. So let’s get started with what we have in our kitchen to donate.

Not everyone has the same spaces in their kitchen, but I’m going to cover them all. If you have questions about what else is on our list of 12 months of Giving, check out this post.

Where to start:

Pantry

Generally pantries hold dry goods. So let’s start there –

• Remove extra boxes of rice, cereal, pasta, and lentils (beans, grains etc)
• Do you have extra crackers you aren’t going to eat?
• Costco trip gone awry?

There is no point in holding on to something you won’t eat just because you bought it. If it will expire before you will eat it, its FOOD WASTE! I don’t see the sense in that.

If you want to see what I did in my pantry, check it out here.

Lazy Susan

If you have one of these, it’s a great place to store your canned goods.

• Did you buy 4 cans of cream of mushroom soup for Thanksgiving? Will you use them before they expire? Gravy?
• Pie making supplies – evaporated milk, pumpkin, pie filling….etc
• Canned veggies, again, Costco trip that didn’t work out like you thought?

I tend to hang on to things I THINK I’m going to use…and then they expire before I get around to it. WHY???? I use pumpkin ONCE a year….Let it go!

Baking Supplies

The key to knowing what you have is cleaning out and reorganizing the place you keep the goods! Check out how we made over our baking cabinet.

• Will you use 4 cans of frosting you bought for gingerbread houses?
• Do you need 3 kinds of cake mix?
• Too many containers of salt?

Cold goods

Shelters and food banks generally shy away from perishable items. This is due to limited space to store it and the liability that you didn’t keep it cold while it was at your house…..so if you have these things to donate, call the place you are donating ahead of time.

However, if you find a place that will take these items, check out this post to see how to organize your fridge.

What to put your goods in

There are several options, do NOT buy anything special. Just use what you have. Especially because it was just a holiday….I know y’all have Amazon boxes still!!!

• Plastic bins
• Cardboard boxes (like Amazon)
• Bankers boxes

Where to donate

Check out Food Pantries for a list of donation sites in your area.

I donate to our local community kitchen. They supply afterschool snacks to 3 area programs, dinners to high risk teens living at a shelter near by, and it is all FREE of charge to the people it serves.

I wish I could do more…….but here is my box.

Feels pretty good, doesn’t it??

Stay tuned for more donation challenges. Thanks for completing the January food donation challenge.

Happy Giving,