The cornerstone of Christmas celebrations is food and bad cracker jokes about deer. Festive feasting though is what mainly brings together friends, families and even foes (I acknowledge that those labels can be interchangeable with the same person).
However, not everyone is lucky enough to know when their next meal will be, with a staggering 3.6 million Australians experiencing food insecurity in 2017. This is a 10 per cent increase from the previous year, meaning that the need for food relief is escalating*.
I’ve been incredibly lucky to eat some fantastic local food throughout the year, and now is a chance to give back. If you feel in any way similar, pledging a packet of food is a great way to provide.
What are the best items to add to your trolley?
Let’s take a look at the most needed foods that charities are asking our help for this Christmas.
*Source: Foodbank Hunger Report 2017
However, not everyone is lucky enough to know when their next meal will be, with a staggering 3.6 million Australians experiencing food insecurity in 2017. This is a 10 per cent increase from the previous year, meaning that the need for food relief is escalating*.
I’ve been incredibly lucky to eat some fantastic local food throughout the year, and now is a chance to give back. If you feel in any way similar, pledging a packet of food is a great way to provide.
What are the best items to add to your trolley?
Let’s take a look at the most needed foods that charities are asking our help for this Christmas.
*Source: Foodbank Hunger Report 2017
When buying an item of food for someone in need, it is worth remembering that Christmas is a special time of the year, and doing something like buying a brand name item (these are often on sale anyway!) will make your recipient feel just that bit more loved.
Choosing foods with some nutritional content is a great idea too (sorry packets of lollies...).
Australia’s largest food relief organisation, Foodbank, has given us some ideas on what people doing it tough need a bit of help with:
Other ideas include:
Choosing foods with some nutritional content is a great idea too (sorry packets of lollies...).
Australia’s largest food relief organisation, Foodbank, has given us some ideas on what people doing it tough need a bit of help with:
- Breakfast cereal/ muesli
- Canned fruit, vegetables and pulses
- Long-life milk
- Long-life meals
- Pasta, rice, noodles, couscous
- Tea and coffee
- Spreads (Vegemite, jam, peanut butter, honey)
- Cooking and baking supplies
- Shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste and toilet paper
Other ideas include:
- Canned fish
- Canned meat
- Plum puddings
- Long-life custard
| If you shop at Woolworths and forgot that extra packet of cereal, you can still help people from going hungry by buying a 50 cent meal token at the register. Woolworths and OzHarvest have teamed up this year to support hunger relief during the festive season with these cheap as chips meal tokens that go a long way towards helping someone out. You also get to write your name on a paper bauble to be hung up in store. |  |
Adding a can of peaches to our trolleys is easy, but what do you do with it once you’ve bought it?
- Foodbank has offices in capital cities around Australia
- The Salvation Army also has collection points around the country
- Some shopping centres have made it easy as well with food drop-off points set up near grocery stores
If grocery shopping is only marginally more fun than root canal for you, there is another way you can help out right from your computer.
For $45 you can order a box of food including fresh veggies, meat and a Christmas cake from Aussie Farmers Foundation.
Foodbank will deliver these Project Rudolph boxes via its network of 2,600 charities across Australia to anyone who would not otherwise have a fresh meal during the festive season.
For $45 you can order a box of food including fresh veggies, meat and a Christmas cake from Aussie Farmers Foundation.
Foodbank will deliver these Project Rudolph boxes via its network of 2,600 charities across Australia to anyone who would not otherwise have a fresh meal during the festive season.
If you have braved the shops at Christmas time and picked up a plum pudding from the shelf, you may wonder who it’s actually going to go to?
It was interesting to find out that of the people Foodbank provides food to, almost half (48%) are employed, however these people still find it difficult to make ends meet.
Kids are a particularly vulnerable group that go hungry. Foodbank notes that 40% of households experiencing food insecurity have dependent children, with 89% of these kids aged under 12.
Regional and remote Australians make up 29% of people going through food insecurity, because there is just not enough money in the first place for them to know where their next meal is coming from.
Source: Foodbank Hunger Report 2017
It was interesting to find out that of the people Foodbank provides food to, almost half (48%) are employed, however these people still find it difficult to make ends meet.
Kids are a particularly vulnerable group that go hungry. Foodbank notes that 40% of households experiencing food insecurity have dependent children, with 89% of these kids aged under 12.
Regional and remote Australians make up 29% of people going through food insecurity, because there is just not enough money in the first place for them to know where their next meal is coming from.
Source: Foodbank Hunger Report 2017
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Foodbank has also introduced us to some people it has helped out, letting us put a face to the statistics.
Source: Foodbank Hunger Report 2017
Source: Foodbank Hunger Report 2017
Christmas is a wonderful time of gratitude and giving.
I’m genuinely thankful to know that my friends, family and myself have access to local, fresh, nourishing food.
Now it’s time to give to those who don't.
I’m genuinely thankful to know that my friends, family and myself have access to local, fresh, nourishing food.
Now it’s time to give to those who don't.
