Community Food Pantry Love & Wellness

Community Food Pantry Love & Wellness We are here to promote love and wellness and work toward tearing down barriers for those who shop at local food pantries.

There is a community supported food pantry at the Social Jutice Center that serves the needs of some of our most vulnera...
06/02/2020

There is a community supported food pantry at the Social Jutice Center that serves the needs of some of our most vulnerable community members. Our homeless neighbors don't have access to refrigeration or kitchens. So how can we better help them grocery shop or have prepackaged daily meals available for them?

At the request of a community member who helps care for the food pantry here is one way to help have a fairly nutrious day of food ready to grab and go.

Prepackaged items are helpful.

Breakfast
Cereal & milk add a banana or other fruit too.

Snack
Applesauce cup & granola bar (protein bar & apple would work too)

Lunch
Tuna pouch with a mayo pack & two slices of bread to make a sandwich.
Cheese round or cheese stick

Bottle water & powerade would be a great addition to this ready to meal for the day.

Some suggested donations to help the pantry prepare meals like this are
* Tuna pouches or meat in packages that don't need a can opener or cooked
* granola & protein bars
* veggie & fruit cups
* fresh soft produce
(bananas, grapes, peaches, apples are hard to chew with dental issues)
(soft is best as many of our homeless have dental needs as well)
* Gogurt
* Fruit & veggie squeeze pouches
* Prepackaged cereals
* Single serve boxed milks
(these do not require refridgeration unless opened)
* Bottle water
* Bottle powerade
* Single serve powdered juices like crystal lite
* Sandwich bags
* Gallon ziplock bags or brown paper bags
* Plastic wear & napkins

My mission is to create the dishes as healthy as possible with items known to be available at the food pantry with little to no cost outside what a pantry patron might have access to. As I work toward sharing healthy ways to use community supported pantry foods I am challenging my community to consider the diverse dietary, ethnic, & cultural needs of our neighbors who rely on the pantries for their grocery shopping needs. ❤

A food pantry shopper asked me to come up with 'soul food' using foods available at local food pantries. This was my fi...
05/18/2020

A food pantry shopper asked me to come up with 'soul food' using foods available at local food pantries. This was my first ever attempt at Soul Food. My mission is to create the dishes as healthy as possible with items known to be available at the food pantry with little to no cost outside what a pantry patron might have access to. As I work toward sharing healthy ways to use community supported pantry foods I am challenging my community to consider the diverse dietary, ethnic, & cultural needs of our neighbors who rely on the pantries for their grocery shopping needs. ❤

Without further a-do tonights

Community supported food pantry 'soul food' challenge!

Roasted chicken
Place chicken in a greased or sprayed oven safe pan
I stuffed a lil onion under the skin
Season salt & pepper
Baked on 350 for about 20 minutes

Baked mac n cheese
4 cups macaroni cooked to Aledente
4 tblspns butter softened
1 egg
Seasonings you have on hand (I used onion salt, salt, & pepper)
1.5 cups milk (I used powdered milk made to directions)
4 cups shredded cheese (I used bacon cheddar & I think it was white cheddar-it was not labeled)

Preheat oven to 350
Cook pasta to aldente
Strain then add pasta, butter, 3 cups of cheese, seasonings, & milk.
Stir it up
In a separate bowl whisk the egg then add it the pasta
Put pasta in a greased/sprayed oven safe pan
Cover with in foil and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes
After 40 minutes add the remaining cheese
Put under broiler for about 5 to 10 minutes until cheese is golden brown

Sweet potato & Greens hash
Diced sweet potato
Diced onion
Sautee in a lil oil until potatoes are tender
Add harty greens that you have available
Salt to taste
Sautee until greens are tender

Roll on the side

Here it is! Diabetic friendly curry over cauliflower rice.This was partly food pantry & partly reduced grocery prices.C...
05/18/2020

Here it is! Diabetic friendly curry over cauliflower rice.

This was partly food pantry & partly reduced grocery prices.

Cauliflower was $.49 for the full head. I cut it up into large chunks. Pot in pot of water and brought it to a boil. Turn down the water then let sit in hot water about 5 minutes to let cook. Drained and let cool a little. Chopped it into small pieces.

Curry:

1 sweet potato diced
1 can black beans
1 can chick peas
1 can diced carrots
1/2 small onion diced
4 tspns curry paste
1/2 can coconut milk
Salt to taste (optional)
Cilantro (optional)

I used my Instapot but you can make this stove stop.

Put sweet potatoes & onions in Instapot and cook for 2 mins. Add ingredients minus coconut milk, stir gently and cook in Instapot for 1 minute. Add coconut milk & stir.

To serve place cauliflower in bowl scoop curry onto garnish with cilantro.

If cooking on stove top sautee onions & sweet potatoes until potatoes are tender. Add ingredients same as above. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add coconut milk just before serving.

Diabetic friendly, Vegan, healthy, & delicious! 😋

05/18/2020

Good Morning! Happy Monday!

Today's community food pantry topic for healthy recipes is:

What types of recipes would you like to see from food pantry food options?

So far suggestions are:

Vegan
Gluten Free
Diabetic
Soul Food

I am working on a diabetic curry over cauliflower rice recipe this morning. :) Will post later this how the food pantry made this possible.

Add suggested ideas to comments 👇👇

Tonights food pantry recipe.I stopped at the McKenna Blvd pantry to drop off shopping bags and checked out what they had...
05/15/2020

Tonights food pantry recipe.

I stopped at the McKenna Blvd pantry to drop off shopping bags and checked out what they had for a sweet tooth fix. I found this peanut butter. (They have lots available)

I had a cup of yogurt in my fridge still & an apple. (Both have been available at each pantry that I have seen)

Peanut butter fruit dip

1 cup yogurt (vanilla flavored if you have it)
1 tsp vanilla (if you wish)
2 tblspns peanut butter

Stir until all blended together & smooth.

Slice up an apple, dip & enjoy 😋

Healthy, filling, & delicious!

"Give a man a fish feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish feed him for a lifetime."Food bank/pantry foodie hacks.I'm o...
05/15/2020

"Give a man a fish feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish feed him for a lifetime."

Food bank/pantry foodie hacks.

I'm on a mission to show everyone that food from food banks/pantries are nutritious & there are many ways to use them. Hopefully this is helpful!

1. Peach crisp ice cream sandwich

2. A canned foods take on a traditional Mexican dish called picadillo with rice & beans.

3. Mexican style street corn

All ingredients used are in photos.

The only ingredients not from the food pantry were the lime, cilantro, & chili pepper.

Recipe in comments. 😋😋

05/15/2020

Inspired by seeing food from CARES boxes being thrown away, this page is being built to help connect food pantry shoppers & food pantry directors. The goals of this page are to

1. Share healthy recipes with the foods found at our local pantries.
2. Open up disscussions for shoppers, directors, & community members to help our community end the stigma of community food pantries.
3. Community professionals will be added as connections are made to build healthy resources for pantry shoppers.
4. A diversity leadership group will be created to help tear down barries for the diverse demographic our community serves.

All posts must be positive and work toward spreading love, kindness, wellness, & innovative solutions for our community food pantries and shoppers.

No politics, no religion, no bickering as this page is to be welcoming to all as a come as you are. Absolutely no selling of any kind. Rules may evolve as the group grows.

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Madison, WI

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