24 Healthy Donation Ideas for the Food Bank

With the holiday season fast approaching, this is the time of year that most of us think about donating to our local food banks. Before you go to the cabinets and clear out what you don’t eat or pick up a box of Kraft dinner, I challenge you to provide healthier options to our friends in need.

Here are 24 healthy donation ideas for you to choose from:

• Assorted/mixed nuts (no salt or sugar added)

• Nut butter or seed butter (try to go for natural)

• Canned tuna, mackerel, salmon or chicken

• Canned vegetables

• Canned lentils, chickpeas and beans

• Canned fruit packed in juice or water

• Lentil and vegetable soup (canned or add water)

• Low sodium soups (e.g. minestrone or vegetable)

• Ryvita crackers

• Wasa crackers

• Black bean pasta noodles

• Edamame & mung bean fettuccine noodles

• Quinoa penne pasta noodles

• Whole wheat pasta noodles

• Long grain brown rice

• Roasted chickpeas, edamame beans or black beans (e.g. Palace Deli or Good Bean products)

• Evaporated milk (skim, 1% or 2%)

• Powdered skim milk

• Oberto`s Beef Jerky (all natural, nitrate free)

• Elevate Me bars

• Simply Protein bars

• Lara bars

• Kashi bars

• Granola, muesli and oatmeal

Even if you’re not buying these product for yourself, I still encourage you to take a look at the ingredients and see if you can visualize them. This is especially important when selecting non-perishable food items as food producers often add additives to help keep them shelf stable.

Happy shopping!