I've been talking with some friends, we have many homeless around the cities near here and we wanted to feed them a few times a week and help out.

The place I work at throws away around 3 crates of good ripe food just because we have newer food. Things like pineapples, bananas and so on. I also heard there is a bread store around here that gives out expired bread for like feeding ducks and stuff, but if its not hard or moldy would it be safe for human consumption? I used to work at a place that also gave expired or not so good looking meat to this charaty.

I'm just trying to clear up what's okay and what's not.

Could someone give me a detailed idea of what works.

Exp;ressly no expired meat; I know what you mean and on the streets of Toronto, restaurants put food out at the curb, that night, and homeless take what they think they can eat which is mainly good fruit, good bread rolls, but they don't put out meat in any form.

You are doing the right thing. These people are people who have eaten good food on a regular basis so know what they can and cannot eat, they don't want to be sick from eating bad food.

So, keep it at fruit and bread, only at night, not in the daytime where the fruit sits in the sun. Bananas tire easily but pineapple lasts a good two or three days, grapes no, applies okay, etc. whole, but not pieces.

God bless you
Tick

I volunteer at a local food pantry. We routinely get expired food products from Walmart, Kroger, BJ's etc. They are visually examined, all open packages discarded and the food is distributed to the needy. In general, food we get is 2-4 days over date, freezer burned etc. In the 2 years I have been doing this, never had any health related issues. The food may not look so great but it's free.

Part of the homeless problem is storage and refrigeration. Our library homeless guy would get so frustrated when people handed him big cans of stuff or whole loaves of bread or five-pound bags of fruit or bunches of bananas. "I can eat only so much at a time, and where will I put the rest of it that I'm not eating?" he moaned. He was given bags of dried pasta and soup mix -- and what was he supposed to do with that? He didn't have a big pot or water source or stove.

Just because they are homeless doesn't mean they will eat anything (overripe fruit or "not so good looking meat"). And how are they supposed to cook the "not so good looking meat"? And my homeless friend's biggest fear was that he would eat something spoiled that wouldn't agree with him and he'd be without a nearby bathroom.

I've read of restaurants that pull together their cooked food that is left over each evening and offer it to a soup kitchen. I suppose some overripe fruits and day-old baked goods could be offered to the homeless, but don't insult their intelligence or disregard cooking/storage needs.

Maybe I should have been a bit clearer. We do not service a homeless community. We give the food to needy people who have a home, drive to our church and we put the boxes in their car. We supply USDA and SNAP programs along with regular donations. USDA and SNAP are new unexpired canned goods.

Bread is often good weeks after date, who has not frozen bread for months to toast and chop up.

They use color tags so that the bread is fresh on the shelf, many sell it in outlets for up to another week, but have to move it out, so it is not confussed, most bread is tracked by color ties. So bread that is not moldy is fine.

Most other expired items not expired by more than a few days, since most dates are "best when used by" not actually expired.

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

I've read of restaurants that pull together their cooked food that is left over each evening and offer it to a soup kitchen. I suppose some overripe fruits and day-old baked goods could be offered to the homeless, but don't insult their intelligence or disregard cooking/storage needs.

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I am sure insulting the homeless is not the OP's intention. Well meaning people don't think first, I am sure, and offer food that can't possibly be dealt with by a person who is transient.

I actually know of restaurants in the Toronto area that put aside good edible offerings for the homeless (and Toronto has many) and place it out in a protected area where they know it will be found and consumed. There doesn't have to be any dumpster foraging.

In fact, it is not only the homeless who take advantage of this; it is many downtrodden individuals who have their own lodging but not enough food.

Tick

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Originally Posted by tickle

I am sure insulting the homeless is not the OP's intention. Well-meaning people don't think first, I am sure, and offer food that can't possibly be dealt with by a person who is transient.

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I agree. Many people are good-hearted, but don't allow their minds to go past their giving nature. I don't know how many times Jerry brought me foods that he couldn't eat for whatever reason. I'd sort through it all and take anything worthwhile to my local food pantry. But when Jerry handed me an opened box of chocolates (opened not by him -- and I'd known him for ten years, so trusted his word) with pieces missing and even little bites out of some of the pieces, my faith in mankind slumped. It's like "Here, I don't want this, but you're homeless and will eat anything."

His favorite "donation" was money for or toward a night in a motel so he could shower and lie flat to sleep.

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Originally Posted by hugostrange22

I'm just trying to clear up whats okay and whats not.

could someone give me a detailed idea of what works.

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Hello h:

It WORKS to feed the hungry.. It's OK to do it too.

Those questions, however, call for CONCLUSIONS - not points of law. To ME, it's simple... There's food, and there's hungry people. The only thing that SHOULD stand in the way, is the delivery system, and THAT can be overcome.

But, in the REAL WORLD, you run up against the law. It STANDS in the way of all that. If it was ME, I'd just give the food to the hungry people and tell the health inspector to find something else to do.. But, that's just me.

excon

There should be a meal delivery system in the area to sort the food and give it to the poor. You should check of an organization of this kind in the city, they could make sure that the <a href="http://diettogo.com/">meals delivered</a> get into the right hands. It's really nice from you to want to do something for these people.