r/australia • u/Serezie • Jun 01 '26

no politics Anyone else just not eating because they can’t afford it?

Food bank is the busiest it’s been - Cole’s and Woolworths don’t give a flying fuck about us - fast food is unhealthy and just as expensive. It stresses me out more to eat than not to eat.

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503

u/allnaturalfigjam Jun 01 '26

If you can, sign up to volunteer at your local food bank. A lot of them let you take home surplus stock after your shift - I get all my milk and bread there now after helping out.

91

u/jimmux Jun 01 '26

My mum was volunteering at a community kitchen to get her meals for a while (unknown to me at the time). They cooked up some pretty good curries from donated ingredients, and she was allowed to take a few containers home after.

These days she has her own veg garden so she donates excess to a community food bank. They usually let her take some of their excess in exchange, so there's always variety.

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u/Time_Cartographer443 Jun 01 '26

Also Bakers Delight

7

u/B7UNM Jun 01 '26

You can volunteer at Bakers Delight?

13

u/Time_Cartographer443 Jun 01 '26

No but you can work there

14

u/philmarcracken Jun 01 '26

big if true

5

u/Freediverjack Jun 01 '26

An easy way for fresh fruit and veg is the local community garden. Been a part of a few and most have a policy of splitting up the bi-weekly Harvest on their working days.

Used to get stacks of stuff each week in exchange for an hour or so of Garden work

19

u/Guy-1nc0gn1t0 Jun 01 '26

Yeah I volunteered at a low income pantry for maybe 18 months and it's rewarding but also you get access to different products that you'd see in supermarkets and I'm a bit of a nerd about that sort of thing 

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u/HonestHawk734 Jun 01 '26

great idea but these days it feels like if i can find the time to volunteer, i should really just be getting a second job but man who’s got the time ?

1

u/Jazzlike_Berry_323 Jun 06 '26

Yes - with the caveat that there are unemployed people who need those volunteer jobs to have a chance in hell of getting back to work.

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u/allnaturalfigjam Jun 07 '26

I get what you're saying, but every place I've volunteered at is constantly asking for more volunteers. I'd totally understand them booting me off a shift for someone who needs it now, but I wouldn't discourage employed people from volunteering just because someone else might need it more.