Pantry Tithing

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=100611623317443

So, how's your stockpile doing? Have you looked through your pantry lately and noticed some items that you thought might be a good idea at the time but now are just taking up space? Have you noticed more and more great deals at the grocery?

If you answered yes to these [or even just one of them] then it's time to take advantage of some great deals and your natural, or hard-learned, coupon work to help others in need.

Community Food Banks and local food pantries get plenty of attention around Thanksgiving but especially in these trying economic times it's not unusual for them to be empty or running low come the end of the month. Most in the Richmond area can only give families a 3-day emergency supply of food while they help them to make a plan for the future. While I agree that this sounds like a wonderful idea we know that things are different these days.

So, here are some things that we can do to help:
1. Use your coupons to help. Do you have coupons that you're not going to use for items that are a great deal? If you go ahead and buy it will it significantly increase your receipt or cause you hardship? If the answer to the latter is no, then why don't you go ahead and add it to your cart then put it in a bag for your local food pantry.
2. Use your grocery stores weekly deals to help. Does your store run 10/$10 deals or something similar? Do you regularly take part in these deals? How about if you add one or two more to your cart for the food pantry?
3. Use your own stockpile to help. If you've been using coupons for a while then odds are you might have developed a substantial stockpile. Right now I have 10 boxes of pasta. Will I use all of those boxes? Yes, I will. But I can certainly share then right now. Call it Pantry Tithing maybe - for every 10 items you have in your pantry pick one item to share with your local food pantry. Make sure it's non-perishable and useful and be sure to check the expiration dates [something we should do in the pantry periodically, anyway] and add it to the bag.

There you go. These are just off the top of my head so I know they aren't definitive. What ideas do you have for helping local food pantries in your area?

And if you're interested in finding out what others are doing this week as part of the Couponing for Community week head over to the Facebook event page where you can post comments or pictures!!