I went to the food bank one day in Fort Collins, (my husband is unemployed) and they were offering beautiful Roma tomatoes. The sign above the crate of tomatoes said, "take all your family can use". So I happily said to the woman standing next to me, "yummy, I can't wait to get these in the freezer" as I filled a bag full of tomatoes. She looked at me and asked, "how do you do that, do you have to cook them first?"
There is an old saying it goes something like this, "You can give a man a fish, or you can teach him how to fish, which is better? If you give a man a fish, you must then always give him a fish, but if you teach a man to fish, then he can catch his own".
So I realized that there are probably quite a few people that get food from the food bank that could be benefited even more if they knew what to do with the food once they got it. Then when they no longer need to go to the food bank, if they learn what to do with food, they could save money by knowing how to store food.
If you are among those of us who have found ourselves at the food bank please read on.
Getting food at the food bank can be like solving a mystery. You see, sometimes there may be produce in abundance. Then other times there may be mostly bread and some yogurt etc. Solving the mystery is getting the creative juices flowing and figuring out what to do with the food once you get it. You may have to save the tomatoes until next week when they get in some pasta, or the week after when you get beans with your commodities, then you can make chili beans.
If you qualify and can go to the food bank find out how often you are permitted to go. Then if it is twice a week, go twice a week, because every time you go they have something different. You get your commodities once a month so the food bank can keep you going in between your commodities and even your food stamps.
If they offer all the tomatoes your family can use then think about how many are in your family and about how many you will be able to eat fresh. But, if you have a freezer, you can take more and blanch the tomatoes in boiling water (for about a minute) then put them into a sink full of ice cold water and split and remove the skins. Your tomatoes are now ready for the freezer. You can use freezer bags or just empty bread bags that are clean and double them to prevent freezer burn. Oh and try to press out all of the air from the bag before freezing them. You can make your own chile, salsa, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, etc. etc. with those tomatoes. This will save you alot of money at the store when you are able to buy food if you have tomatoes that can be used for all of your recipes that call for them.
Likewise, when they offer you fruit, you have many choices of what to do with it. For example last week they offered grapefruit in abundance. I happily took a large quantity and went home and made a gallon of grapefruit juice with them. The apples were also being offered so I baked some pies. I will also make some apple juice, you can also do fruit roll-ups, fruit leather, apple sauce, dried apples, or just simply eat them fresh. They store well in a basement or garage as long as it doesn't freeze and you keep the mice away. Obviously I have a citrus juicer and a regular juicer. I have seen both at the Goodwill. I love my juicers and have used them often. This is great to do with many of the different types of produce offered there. I have made carrot juice also. I have made carrot cake too.
When there is too much bread, I make bread crumbs or croutons for stuffing by baking it in the oven till dry and store it after it has completely cooled in a large jar in the pantry. You can also make bread pudding.
By the way, the woman I mentioned at the outset, was given instructions on how to preserve her tomatoes while another woman standing nearby also listened in. As I walked away both of them were filling a bag full of tomatoes to share with their families
By doing these things with the food you get you can make your groceries last so much longer and your family will be healthier because you are making real food and not junk. So utilize the food bank wisely and especially don't take any food that will not get eaten. Someone else can use it. And If you can cook, or have great recipes, or know how to can or dehydrate food, share this knowledge with others and..........."Teach a man to fish".
