Health unit and food banks asking for healthy donations
The health unit is encouraging people to donate healthier food to Windsor-essex food banks.
Pick the soup or pasta sauce that’s lower in sodium. Choose canned fruit that’s packed in water, not sugary syrup. Donate more canned tuna or salmon packed in water and include chick peas to add healthy proteins to your foodbank donations.
“We always say think outside the box,” Heidi Benson of the Unemployed Help Centre said Tuesday.
That means asking people to scan labels for the healthier option, donate a broader variety of foods, and even think about donations for those with special diets, such as gluten-free pasta or soy milk.
The Windsor-essex County Health Unit consulted with dietitians and the Windsor-essex Food Bank Association to compile a list of healthier suggestions earlier this month as generous people donate to food banks before the holidays.
“We’re looking to really highlight the healthy donations,” Benson said from the Unemployed Help
Centre, which is the main hub for the 15 food banks within the local food bank association.
Donating food including healthier items will remain important in the new year. Food banks tend to start running low on items in January and February, and the cost of groceries is going up.
The price of food is expected to increase two to four per cent in 2020, according to the recently released forecast from Canada’s Food Price Report.
The report estimated the annual cost of food for the average Canadian family will be $12,667, an increase of $487 over 2019. Meat is expected to go up in price by four to six per cent. Fruit could increase by 1.5 to 3.5 per cent, the forecast said.
Canada’s Food Price Report 2020 is released jointly by Dalhousie University and the University of Guelph.
“Already, one in eight Canadian households is food insecure,” said Guelph Project lead Simon Somogyi of the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics. “With wage growth stagnant, Canadians aren’t making more money, but they still have to eat. The ever-increasing use of food banks across the country is an example of how Canadians can’t afford to put food on their plates.”
Rising food costs may increase the number of people needing to use a food bank and will make continued generosity important, Benson said.
“You think of yourself incurring that two to four per cent increase but everybody experiences that,” she said.
Last year, the association of 15 food banks had 137,000 visits from people in need, which represents more than 10,000 households, she said.
Food banks always need more proteins, she said, so the healthy suggestions include dry or canned beans, chickpeas and lentils, canned meat such as chicken, turkey and fish. Choose items packed in water or ones with lower sodium, she said. Consider donating peanut butter and other butters such as almond butter and sunflower seed butter.
The health unit list includes 100 per cent vegetable cocktails, 100 per cent fruit juice, and applesauce or fruit cups without added sugar.
Think whole grains such as whole-grain pasta, quinoa and cereals with at least three grams of fibre per serving.
Benson said it’s not that difficult to look for foods lower in fats, sodium and sugar.
“It’s just taking maybe those few extra seconds to scan the label,” she said.
People can always donate money and if they choose, call ahead to be sure the food bank has refrigerators/freezers so they can donate fresh or frozen vegetables and fruit, lower-fat cheese and yogurt, milk, eggs and fresh or frozen meat.