G's Commodity Food Facts

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Wonder how to use food pantry items?

Exchange student remorse turned me into a bona fide foodie.  While other young women obsessed over the latest fashions, I was busy flipping through Gourmet and Food and Wine subscriptions. Julia Child's 'How to Cook' and 'The New Basics Cookbook' by Russo and Lukins were among the romance novels that I read from cover to cover.  I walked in off the street and scored an informal internship in a hotel kitchen and finally earned degrees in Pastry Arts and Food Service Management.  With all that food experience under my belt, my true cooking education came when I connected those culinary dots as a client (and later as a nutritionist) at a local Food Bank.

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G, How Long is Food Safe
(After the Expiration Date)?

About 30% of edible food is trashed every year.  Food Banks are in the business of gathering, cleaning and sanitizing food and non-food items to meet emergency needs.  Food banks work with food safety experts to determine how long foods are safe after the expiration date.

Lots of food is still good past the date on the box or can - as long as it was always handled safely.  Ideal temperatures for dry storage food items range between 50 and 70 degrees - with relative humidity between 50% and 60%.  What's the big deal about humidity? Roach eggs won't hatch if the humidity is 55% or less?

To keep them safe, they must be stored in a climate controlled space.  As such, storage pods, attics and garages are not proper storage spaces as they heat up like ovens and speed up the spoiling process! This is not an option - especially for agencies that distribute state TEFAP AND USDA food commodities.

G, what are TEFAP and USDA commodities?  Back in the day, people lined up at neighborhood churches to get government cheese and other commodity food items (an Express Times File Photo from an article written by Lynn Olanoff from Lehighvalleylive.com).  G, who gets the cheese? At our local food bank, the cheese (now reduced fat) is part of a monthly distribution to seniors. Remember I told you that many seniors only qualify for $10-$15 worth of Food Stamps (now known as SNAP funds).

Today the process is more streamlined as most government agencies work directly with food banks to manage the program. Along with the quality food from TEFAP and USDA come specific guidelines as to how food should be handled.  Ignoring them could put your food pantry, soup kitchen or even your regional food bank distribution center at risk.

If handled safely, canned veggies are safe to eat up to 2 years after expiration date.

So How Long is Food Safe to Eat after the Expiration Date?

CANNED FOODS
Fruit - 1 year
Vegetables and sauces - 2 years
Seafood - 4 years
Meat - 5 years
Military MRES (meals ready to eat) are canned foods too.

BOXED FOODS
Cereal - 6 months
Pasta or mac and cheese kits - 2 years

CONDIMENTS, SPICES
Mayonnaise - 3 months
Pickles, salad dressing, jelly and spices - 1 year Ketchup - 18 months
Vinegar and mustard - 2 years

DRY GOODS
Sugar - 4 months
Sauce/gravy mix - 6 months
Cake mix - 9 months
Grits and flour - 1 year
White rice - 2 years

JUICE AND OTHER DRINKS
Canned juice - 6 months
Evaporated milk - 9 months
Tea bags - 18 months
Bottled juice - 1year
Powdered drink mixes - 2 years

To ensure safety, food pantries should check a sample of its food inventory every 3 months.

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The Best Lasagna I've Ever
Tasted in My Life...

When I started working at the Food Bank, we had fun team exercises for staff to start looking at random food items in a different way.  One particular activity came in the form of an Iron Chef style competition between two teams.  I challenged them to create a recipe using the matzoh, ground turkey and the marinated artichoke hearts.  The teams didn't disappoint.  We got a beautiful ground turkey meatball dish and lasagna.  Lasagna?...
 
One team member coated the each matzoh square with egg white and used them in place of lasagna noodles.  She then mixed the chopped artichokes and ground turkey into the sauce.  The secret ingredient was just the right amount of cream.  As the contest judge, I got to sample both dishes. While the meatballs were good, that lasagna blew us all away.  After taking the first bite, I threw my little plastic spoon on the table out of frustration.  DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY YEARS I'D BEEN TRYING TO MAKE MY LASAGNA TASTE HALF AS GOOD AS THIS RECIPE?  Aaaaaaah!!!

Pueblo Stew

Got cactus (nopales)? No problemo!

Who knew the prickly pear cactus was edible? I precooked the cactus and added it to an easy delicious and nutritious recipe remix that your family will enjoy. JoeBob22's original recipe also used hominy, another not too common food ingredient from my Food Bank past.

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Easy Recipe for Canned Salmon

Canned salmon is healthy and delicious!

Canned salmon is a prized ingredient in many Southern homes. If it isn't your radar yet, pass on this easy canned salmon recipe if it shows up on your warehouse floor or in your pantry box.

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Fresh pumpkins are super easy to process and use!

10 Things You Can Do with Fresh Pumpkin

October 31, 2010

The pumpkin pushing tips come from a lesson we shared at the Neighborhood Harvest Festival this past weekend.  Our tips are divided into four categories: cooking, gardening, beauty and awareness.

Cooking (you can substitute pumpkin puree in any recipe that calls for mashed sweet potatoes, like sweet potato souffle).
1) Homemade pumpkin pie, many websites like Allrecipes.com have great recipes for fresh pumpkin.
2) Pumpkin pancakes
3) Roast the pumpkin seeds and eat them whole.  A handful has 19 grams of protein, 5 B Vitamins, magnesium, iron and monounsaturated fats.  The chewy shells are great from prostate health.
4) Freeze the pulp for later use in recipes.
5) Pumpkin pie bread pudding. My article on Helium.com tells you how to make gourmet bread pudding that will please any palate.

Gardening
6) Don't roast all of the seeds.  Save some for the garden.  Clean them off and let them dry completely in a sunny window.  Save them for use in your garden next summer.  We live on the Coastal Plain so Clemson Extension recommends that we plant pumpkin seeds July 1-15.
7) Toss the moldy carved pumpkin in the compost pile instead of the landfill.  Cut it up first so it'll break down quicker.

Beauty
8) Vibrantglow.com recommends that fresh pumpkin makes a great skin exfoliator.  That's because pumpkin is "chock full of rich vitamins, amino acids and enzymes - just like the hottest beauty products out right now, but for a fraction of the cost.  This homemade natural treatment will gently exfoliate the skin like an alpha-hydroxy acid to minimize fine lines, age spots, freckles and rough skin."  Apply the pureed pumpkin to your face and let it set for 10 minutes before rinsing.  Don't know how to cook fresh pumpkin.
9) Popular natural hair expert, CurlyNikki recommends using pumpkin as a deep conditioner.  After washing your hair, mix 1/2 cup cooked pumpkin, 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, and 2 Tbsp honey.  Let the mixture cool to room temperature (if the pumpkin is hot when you mixed it) before applying it to your hair. Apply the pumpkin conditioner to your hair in sections, smoothing down the cuticle.  Let it sit for 10-30 minutes depending on your hair type or the level of dryness. Rinse with cool water. 

Awareness
10) Spread the word. I know a lot of food banks across the country will get volumes of pumpkin donations in the coming weeks and months.

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G's Top 10 Food Bank FAQ's

Food stamps (aka SNAP) recipients can get food bank food

If you've ever spent time as a Food Bank employee, you have literally heard every food related question under the sun.  This article will hopefully answer a few of the most common questions I received and inform the public of how food banks operate.

Question 1: Who is eligible to receive emergency food assistance?
Basically any person or family who doesn't have the food they need to make a healthy meal (food insecure).  PLEASE NOTE: While anyone with an emergency need is eligible to receive food assistance, different food pantries are also free to set guidelines on who they choose to serve (a specific neighborhood or town, the homeless, pregnant teens, seniors, etc.).

Question 2: Our organization wants to host a fundraiser to benefit Project XYZ.  Can we get discount food from the Food Bank?
No, using emergency food supplies for fundraisers is one of the big no-no's from Feeding America.  Individual Food Banks can't even do it.

Question 3: Are Food Banks and Angel Food programs the same?
No.  With Food Banks, all food and grocery items are distributed to clients at no charge. Whether you receive one bag of bread or 80 pounds of food. IF A FOOD PANTRY IS CHARGING CLIENTS (OR ASKING FOR DONATIONS) IN EXCHANGE FOR FOOD REPORT THEM RIGHT AWAY. Angel Food programs charge a fee for the food they distribute.

Question 4: My daycare center accepts children who receive ABC benefits (state funded child care assistance for low income families).  Can we participate in the Kids Cafe or Backpack Buddies program?
No. Kids Cafe is an after school childhood feeding program.  Food Banks typically collaborated with nonprofit and faith based organizations that offer free or low cost childcare services AND do not charge a fee for food. These programs are mostly located where schools have free/reduced lunch rates that are 50% or higher. Food Banks often work public schools to operate Backpack Buddies programs a weekend childhood feeding program. A Food Bank's ability to offer these programs depends heavily on available funding.

Question 5: My cousin's church is a member agency of a Food Bank.  Can they help us buy Food Bank food for our Christmas Basket program?
Yes they can, but these types of transactions can put the member agency at risk if the unaffiliated program misuses the food and grocery items they were given or they rack up a sizable balance at the Food Bank.  Think of sponsoring a non member organization the same way you'd think about co-signing on a loan, proceed with caution.

Question 6: What type of organizations qualify to become member agencies of a Food Bank?
Nonprofit organizations with a valid federal 501c3 and faith based organizations with 501c3 designation or documentation of its affiliation to a larger church.  Some Food Banks also want to see the budget history to ensure new organizations have the resources necessary to sustain their feeding program.

Question 7: Why doesn't my food pantry have more food products like eggs, milk and flour?
Food Banks do not operate like grocery stores.  The items that are available within the warehouse are determined by what's available within the Feeding America network (or the food and grocery items connected to donors).  For those mysterious or random food items, check out the list of recipe ideas at the end of this page.

Question 8: My local food pantry gives out food with expired dates.  Should they be reported?
Not necessarily. Food safety experts work with Feeding America to determine shelf life details. Many foods are still safe to eat well past their expiration date.  If however, your food bank has a consistent habit of distributing food that is moldy, or improperly wrapped (holes in plastic), then contact your area food bank.

Question 9: Our food pantry was giving away tons of peanut butter right after that big recall last year.  Were they giving away tainted peanut butter?
Probably not.  When a specific brand of food is recalled, consumers typically stop buying that specific food item and any similar food items, whether they were affected by the recall or not.  As such, food banks often receive large donations of foods, like peanut butter, within weeks or months of the announcement.  Normally, there's someone on staff who keeps up with the recalled products to be sure that they don't get distributed to clients. If you're having trouble locating a facility that will serve you, use Feeding America's Food Bank locator tool below and connect with your local Food Bank to find a food pantry that is able to serve you.

Question 10: Do Food Banks operate any other programs besides the Kids Cafe and Backpack Buddies programs?
Many food banks do offer other programs.  One that comes to mind is the USDA or TEFAP program. You can read the article on the shelf life of expired foods for more details about the USDA or TEFAP program.

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Need Food Assistance? Use Feeding America's
National Food Bank Locator

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G, Am I Eligible for any other State and/or Federal Help?

Quite often the same people that need emergency food assistance have other financial hardship issues.  Billions of state and federal dollars sit unclaimed every year because the people who are eligible for programs either don't know that they qualify or don't trust the system. States like Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina are working to eliminate the barriers to receiving those funds. If you need financial help but dread the idea of wasting a day of work wading through red tape in an office, the Benefit Bank is the answer to your dreams.

With this free system, low income individuals and households can work with a trained counselor to determine eligibility for programs like food assistance (SNAP or Food Stamp programs) and medical outreach (Medicaid, the State Childrens Health Insurance Program or Medicare Part D), childcare assistance (ABC), utility assistance (LIHEAP), student financial aid, rent and real estate tax rebates.

Find a Benefit Bank in your area.

Here's how it works.

• Find a Benefit Bank partner in your area.
• Visit the Benefit Bank during their service hours.
• Work with a trained counselor to enter your income and household information.
• Find out in a few minutes if you're eligible for any or all of the available programs
• All forms are filled automatically.

Does you or your family qualify for state or federal benefits?

You can even use the secure Quick Check tool to pre-qualify for these programs.

G, IS BENEFIT BANK SAFE FROM IDENTITY THEFT?
Personal information stays private because each client creates their own secret code that must be entered in combination with a counselor's code.  There is no software program that stores your information either, making it safe and easy for nonprofits, churches, libraries, school and other institutions within your community to get the help you need.  There is even a Self Serve program that allows households earning less than $57,000 to file their own taxes online for free.

Oh, SNAP! Food Stamp Use Hits Record in May 2010

Food coupons can help seniors, others stretch limited Food Stamp benefits.

August 8, 2010

A recent Boston Globe article highlighted the record numbers of Americans eligible and receiving food stamp or SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits.  While the general public may think that SNAP recipients are living in the lap of luxury, wasting funds on prime rib and premium ice cream, the truth is that many receiving benefits get very little - how about $10-$15 a month.  That's the common benefit for seniors, folks. Picking your jaw up off the floor yet?

Even as a food bank employee, I used to think that $10-$15 of monthly SNAP benefits could only last for 2 boxes of brand name cereal. That was before I discovered couponing.  Tomorrow, I plan to show just how far you can stretch $15 bucks at a regular grocery store, no rollback required.

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What to do with Cranberry Sauce?

Cranberry Sauce Dump Cake

Dump cake is a Southern dessert favorite.  It gets its name from the fact that all the ingredients are dumped into a baking pan.  The name doesn't do the finished product justice.   From bottom to top its crushed pineapple, cherry pie filling, dry cake mix, butter or margarine and nuts.  In 5  minutes you'll have a dessert similar to a apple crumble. Before you think of re-gifting that cranberry sauce at the next church food drive, here's a modified recipe to try.  Of course, I diluted the not so good for you things by adding tart frozen whole cranberries and old fashioned oats.

• 1 can crushed pineapples with the juice (I used pineapple chunks)
• 1 can cranberry sauce
• 1/2 to 1 cup frozen whole cranberries
• 1 box dry yellow or butter cake mix
• 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

Layer ingredients in a baking pan coated with cooking spray.  I used a spoon to break the cranberry sauce up into pieces around the pineapple. (Don't worry, the heat from the oven will get it to the proper texture.  Sprinkle the frozen cranberries over the fruit.  Mix oats and cake mix together in a bowl and spread over top of fruit.  Dot with cut up butter and nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  Once your whole house smells like dessert, its done.  WARNING: Save this recipe for a party.  We hadn't made it a couple months and it didn't last two days in our house, I didn't even get a picture of the final product.

How To Use Random Commodity Foods?

I often answered calls from the public asking for specific food items, like meat, eggs or baby food. There was a public misconception that a food bank ran like the local grocery store and had staple items is stock at all times.  In reality, food bank inventory depends heavily on what's available in the network.  Often there's an item or two that come in large quantities that you may not be a normal part of your family's diet. 

Whether its pallets of marinated artichoke hearts (agencies thought it was tuna), matzoh squares stacked up to the ceiling or a couple cases of seaweed, food banks are challenged with finding ways to use this stuff too!  I'm thankful for that Baking Technology class every day, because it paid off big time when solving these riddles.

Feel free to use these tips when the next mystery item hits your food pantry shelves.

Grains and Starches...
Texture and Seasoning - If the grain is dry, they can usually be ground as used like bread crumbs.  For a wet starch, like gnocchi or hominy, use them like dumplings.

Vegetables...
As long as the random veggie doesn't have a really bitter taste, 9 times of out 10, you can add it to a tomato based dish (spaghetti, chili, etc.) and not change the flavor one bit.  For bitter veggies, I would cook them like greens.  Or you can chop them up and make a sort of rice pilaf type dish.

Root vegetables...
Add them to greens or mash them with potatoes.  They can also be roasted (not the most popular treatment in the South, but...)

Seaweed...
The seafood like flavor made them a great addition to a rice dish an intern and I developed.  We chopped up a seaweed square and cooked it with fresh diced carrots, butternut squash and onions.  Then we mixed it in with brown rice.  Very tasty.

MREs (Meals Ready to Eat)...
Often used by the military or for camping, I was no idea what to do with this stuff.  If you incorporate spices and rinse off some of the marinades, the possibilities are endless.  Another group of dietetic interns helped whip up lots of recipes that we assembled on a flyer along with other useful tips.  Once skeptical food pantries started stocking their shelves with MRE's in a matter of days.

Baby food...
Canned prunes can replace the fat in cake and muffin mixes.  Mixed vegetables work well to thicken soups.

Need more help with random commodity foods?

Military MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat)
One of the Best Kept Secrets in Food Banking...

Coming Soon!