Give the needy food and other items they would actually like.

I had to do the shopping for my parents tonight; my mom had asked me to get a few specific things for the food bank, and I grabbed an extra item. Tonight’s choices were/are not really nutritionally sound, but we generally try to include a few “treat” items with every monthly donation.

I did grab some nice shampoo and conditioner last week, so that will go with this lot too.

I think I will have to go to Loblaw’s to get better quality (read: nutritionally dense) food items. They have their own line of low-fat FABULOUS tasting foods called Blue Menu. There’s also an organic line that’s pretty good too. There’s a pasta e fagioli soup in the Blue Menu line that is just stunning. (Ever called a soup stunning? ha.) It’s low in fat, high in fibre and protein, and a good source of veggies. And it actually tastes pretty awesome! So yes, the plan is to go to Loblaws tomorrow and get some extra items for the donation on Sunday.

I went to walmart tonight to get a few things, including some personal hygiene items. So everything I bought for me, I decided I had to buy for someone else. I bought a new toothbrush, some mouthwash, toothpaste, and some feminine hygiene items.

I remember my grade eight teacher (good Lord, that was 16 years ago!!) impressing upon us how important it was to always donate baby food since its so expensive and so few people do donate it. I assume that things like toiletries get neglected as well. I know from looking in the bin at the store that it’s often filled with the staples – peanut butter, cereal, tuna….but very few non-food essentials. And as a woman, you can be damn sure that if I only had five bucks left in my wallet and I had to choose between food or tampons – I’d be buying the tampons. So I like to think that by donating some of these essentials, someone else’s dollar can go a little further to cover another necessity.